Error in VAT taxpayer account — recovered 60.7 million tenge of unlawfully withheld balance

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Situation

The client had a confirmed positive VAT balance (budget classification code 105101). In September 2025 a lawful offset of 42,735,245 tenge was made from one budget code to another. Officials of the tax authority (УГД), without the taxpayer's knowledge, performed a reverse offset with an erroneous payment purpose code (КНП); the subsequent correction led to the sum being double-counted in the "Refunded" column. Between October 2025 and March 2026 seven erroneous operations in the State Revenue Committee (КГД МФ РК) information system understated the balance by 60,767,396 tenge. On the basis of non-existent debt the tax authority issued three notices on settlement of tax debt. The client was forced to pay 15,832,924 tenge to avoid account blocking. Although by letter of 19.12.2025 the tax authority officially recognised the debt as "unfounded" and arising "for technical reasons", the error in the information system on budget code 105101 was never corrected. The discrepancy between the correct balance (120,703,888 tenge) and the figure actually shown (59,936,492 tenge) amounted to 60,767,396 tenge.

Our actions

We reconstructed the full chronology of erroneous operations in the State Revenue Committee's information system and produced an exact calculation of the correct balance on budget code 105101 based on form 300.00 returns, payment orders and tax authority opinions. We identified three independent legal grounds for the unlawfulness of the inaction: breach of the procedure for maintaining the taxpayer account (clauses 9, 10 and 35 of the Rules approved by order of the Ministry of Finance); breach of the prohibition on repeat taxation (art. 29(3) of the НК РК); and breach of the principle of protection of legitimate expectations (art. 13(3) of the Administrative Procedure Code, АППК РК) — the tax authority had assumed an obligation to correct the error but failed to perform it. Through the e-Otinish platform we filed a complaint with the State Revenue Committee (КГД МФ РК). We received a partial response: budget code 105102 was corrected and the notices marked "executed", but budget code 105101 was not brought into line. We filed an administrative claim in the СМАС of Astana with three demands: to declare the inaction unlawful; to compel the authority to bring the taxpayer account into line; and to compel it to reverse all erroneously accrued interest.

Result

The administrative claim was filed in the specialised inter-district administrative court (СМАС) of Astana. The defendants were the УГД, ДГД and КГД МФ РК. By court ruling the taxpayer account was brought into line.

Project team

Alibayev Yerkebulan

Director

Khassanov Yerbolat

Managing partner

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Часто задаваемые вопросы

A written acknowledgement of the error by the tax authority is a legally significant document. If, after acknowledgement, the error is not corrected within a reasonable time, file a complaint with the higher authority (КГД МФ РК) via the e-Otinish platform. If there is no result, apply to the СМАС with a claim to declare the inaction unlawful and to compel the authority to remedy the breach under art. 129 of the АППК РК.

No. A notice on settlement of tax debt is lawful only when actual debt exists on the taxpayer account. If the debt itself was generated by erroneous actions of the tax authority and has been officially acknowledged as unfounded, the notice is subject to reversal as an unlawful administrative act.

The correct balance is reconstructed by calculation: all returns (form 300.00), audit reports, payment orders and tax authority opinions are taken into account. The sum of all accruals in the taxpayer's favour, less lawful deductions (refunds, offsets), gives the correct balance. The difference from the figure actually shown in the information system is the unlawfully withheld amount.

No. Interest is charged only on actual overdue debt of the taxpayer. If the debt was generated by erroneous actions of the tax authority itself and has been recognised as unfounded, charging interest on such a sum is unlawful and is subject to reversal together with the principal debt.

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