Employer Payroll Taxes and Contributions in Kazakhstan 2026: Income Tax, Pension, Social and Medical Insurance Charges

The 2026 payroll burden in Kazakhstan consists of three deductions from the employee's income — individual income tax (IIT), the mandatory pension contribution (OPV) and the medical insurance contribution (VOSMS) — and four charges borne by the employer: the employer pension contribution (OPVR) at 3.5%, social contributions at 5%, employer medical insurance deductions at 3% and social tax at 6%. Two statutory indicators run through every calculation: the monthly minimum wage (MZP) and the monthly calculation index (MCI).

A terminology note that matters for accuracy: Kazakh law distinguishes deductions (otchisleniya), which the employer pays on top of salary, from contributions (vznosy), which are withheld from the employee. Both exist within medical insurance, at 3% and 2% respectively, and conflating them is the most common source of error in English-language summaries. From 1 January 2026 the framework is set by the new Tax Code (Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 214-VIII of 18 July 2025), the Social Code, the Law on Compulsory Social Medical Insurance and Law No. 239-VIII of 8 December 2025 on the republican budget for 2026–2028.

The headline change of 2026 is not a rate — it is a ceiling. Medical insurance rates are unchanged (3% employer, 2% employee), but the capped income base for employer deductions rose from 10 to 40 minimum wages, and for employee contributions from 10 to 20 minimum wages. For a person earning KZT 4,000,000 a month, the employer's medical insurance charge rises from KZT 25,500 to KZT 102,000 per month — an extra KZT 918,000 a year for a single employee.

What changed on 1 January 2026

A new Tax Code and amendments to the social payments legislation took effect on the same date, touching four of the seven elements of payroll cost.

●      Income tax became progressive: 10% applies up to 8,500 MCI of annual income, with 15% on the excess.

●      The basic tax deduction rose from 14 to 30 MCI per month, while the 90% adjustment for low salaries and most other personal deductions were abolished.

●      Social tax fell from 11% to 6%, but the offset against social contributions was removed at the same time, leaving the effective burden broadly unchanged.

●      The employer pension contribution rose from 2.5% to 3.5%, on a path to 5% by 2028.

●      Medical insurance ceilings were raised sharply: to 40 minimum wages for employer deductions and 20 for employee contributions.

Rates for pension contributions (10%), social contributions (5%), employer medical deductions (3%) and employee medical contributions (2%) did not change in 2026.

The practical consequence is uneven. A company whose payroll consists of modest salaries pays roughly what it paid in 2025, sometimes slightly less thanks to the larger income tax deduction. A company employing managers above KZT 850,000 a month absorbed a real cost increase that is attributable to no rate change at all.

The legal framework: which law governs what

Four separate instruments govern payroll in Kazakhstan, and they should not be conflated: each has its own administrator, its own base and its own ceiling rules.

Charge	Governing instrument	Recipient
Income tax, social tax	Tax Code No. 214-VIII of 18 July 2025	State budget
Pension contributions (OPV, OPVR, OPPV)	Social Code	Unified Accumulative Pension Fund
Social contributions	Social Code	State Social Insurance Fund
Medical insurance (VOSMS, employer deductions)	Law on Compulsory Social Medical Insurance	Social Health Insurance Fund
Minimum wage, monthly calculation index and all derived ceilings	Law No. 239-VIII of 8 December 2025 on the republican budget for 2026–2028	—

The distinction matters operationally. Income tax and social tax are taxes, administered by the tax authorities and reported in Form 200.00. Pension, social and medical payments are "social payments" — a defined term in article 4 of the Tax Code — which are not taxes but are administered and reported alongside them.

A structural change worth isolating: social tax is no longer reduced by social contributions. The former regime applied 11% and then credited the 5% social contributions against it. The 2026 regime treats them as two independent charges computed on different bases.

The 2026 base indicators and every ceiling derived from them

Every threshold in Kazakh payroll is expressed as a multiple of two statutory indicators fixed by article 7 of the budget law.

From 1 January 2026 the minimum monthly wage (MZP) is KZT 85,000 and the monthly calculation index (MCI) is KZT 4,325. The minimum wage was held at its 2025 level; the index rose from KZT 3,932.

Parameter	Formula	2026 value, KZT
Basic income tax deduction	30 MCI per month	129,750
Annual cap on the basic deduction	360 MCI	1,557,000
Threshold for the 15% income tax rate	8,500 MCI per year	36,762,500
Ceiling for pension contributions (OPV and OPVR)	50 minimum wages per month	4,250,000
Ceiling for social contributions	7 minimum wages per month	595,000
Floor for social contributions	1 minimum wage per month	85,000
Ceiling for employer medical deductions	40 minimum wages per month	3,400,000
Ceiling for employee medical contributions	20 minimum wages per month	1,700,000

Because the minimum wage was frozen, the pension and social contribution ceilings are unchanged in absolute terms from 2025. Only the medical insurance ceilings and the index-linked figures moved.

The full map of payroll charges

Three charges are withheld from the employee's gross pay and reduce net income; four are paid by the employer on top of the salary and never appear in the employee's income.

Charge	2026 rate	Borne by	Base and ceiling
Pension contribution (OPV)	10%	Employee	Gross income, capped at 50 minimum wages
Medical insurance contribution (VOSMS)	2%	Employee	Gross income, capped at 20 minimum wages
Individual income tax	10% / 15%	Employee	Income less OPV, VOSMS and deductions
Employer pension contribution (OPVR)	3.5%	Employer	Income between 1 and 50 minimum wages
Social contributions	5%	Employer	Income less OPV, between 1 and 7 minimum wages
Medical insurance deductions	3%	Employer	Gross income, capped at 40 minimum wages
Social tax	6%	Employer	Income less OPV and VOSMS

A separate charge applies to hazardous work: mandatory professional pension contributions at 5%, payable by the employer for occupations on a government-approved list. They do not arise in an ordinary office payroll.

Individual income tax: the progressive scale and the new deductions

Income tax is charged on a two-step scale from 2026: 10% on income within 8,500 MCI for the calendar year and 15% on the excess. A single 10% rate applied previously regardless of income.

The 15% threshold for 2026 is KZT 36,762,500 (8,500 × 4,325).

The threshold applies to taxable income, not to gross salary. Article 441 requires the tax agent to accumulate the employee's taxable income from 1 January of the calendar year, apply 10% to the part within row 1 of the table in article 363 and 15% to the excess. Since taxable income is struck after pension contributions, medical contributions and the basic deduction, the gross salary at which progression actually begins is materially higher than KZT 36,762,500 a year.

Article 441 of the Tax Code sets out how a tax agent computes the tax withheld from employment income. Taxable income is built sequentially: exempt items under article 400 are removed first, then the personal deductions listed in article 401 are applied in a fixed order.

1.   Deduction for social payments (article 402) — the assessed pension and medical insurance contributions.

2.  Basic tax deduction (article 403) — 30 MCI for each calendar month, capped at 360 MCI for the calendar year.

3.  Social tax deductions (article 404) — 5,000 MCI a year for persons with first- and second-group disability, and 882 MCI for third-group disability, war veterans and several other categories.

The list of deductions in article 401 is exhaustive. Deductions available before 2026 — mortgage interest, medical expenses and others — are simply absent from the new Code. Employee applications filed on those old grounds cannot be given effect.

The basic deduction applies at one employer only and only where the employee has filed a written application. Without that application the tax agent must compute tax without the deduction, and the employee recovers the difference only through an annual declaration.

What the removal of the 90% adjustment actually did

The 90% reduction of taxable income for employees earning below 25 MCI has been replaced by the larger basic deduction, and the outcome for low salaries is broadly favourable.

Under the old mechanism, income was reduced by 90% and tax fell on the remaining tenth — but only for salaries below 25 MCI. Under the new one, a flat KZT 129,750 is deducted regardless of salary level. At the minimum wage both produce the same answer of zero tax; between roughly KZT 200,000 and 300,000 the new deduction is materially better, because the old adjustment never reached that band at all.

Salaries up to approximately KZT 139,250 a month produce no income tax in 2026, once the basic deduction and the pension and medical contributions are taken into account.

Two different pension charges

The 10% pension contribution is withheld from the employee, while the 3.5% employer pension contribution is paid on top of salary and never deducted from pay. Both are credited to the same individual pension account at the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund.

The employer pension contribution follows a fixed schedule: 1.5% in 2024, 2.5% in 2025, 3.5% in 2026, 4.5% in 2027 and 5% in 2028.

Its base is bounded on both sides — not less than one minimum wage and not more than fifty per month. The employee contribution has an upper limit only, at fifty minimum wages.

The employer contribution is not payable for everyone. The Social Code exempts employees born before 1 January 1975, those who have reached pension age, persons with indefinitely established first- or second-group disability, military personnel and staff of special state and law enforcement bodies, among other categories.

The date-of-birth exemption is a reliable source of error. An employee born in 1974 generates no employer pension contribution; one born in 1975 does. Beyond a few dozen staff this stops being a manual check and becomes a payroll-system configuration question.

Social contributions: 5% within a floor and a ceiling

Social contributions are paid by the employer to the State Social Insurance Fund at 5% of the assessment base, unchanged in 2026.

The base is the employee's income reduced by the mandatory pension contribution — a material difference from the medical insurance base, where the pension contribution is not deducted. The State Social Insurance Fund has separately confirmed that pension contributions are excluded from the base notwithstanding the absence of an express provision in article 245(2) of the Social Code.

The base may not exceed 7 minimum wages (KZT 595,000) a month. Where income falls below one minimum wage, contributions are computed on 1 minimum wage (KZT 85,000).

The floor is the trap in part-time arrangements. A half-time employee on KZT 60,000 generates social contributions on KZT 85,000 rather than on the KZT 54,000 that remains after the pension deduction — KZT 4,250 instead of an intuitive KZT 2,700.

Where payroll and HR administration are not properly configured, discrepancies of this kind accumulate quietly and surface on audit. UPPERSETUP accounting services and HR services address this at the process level rather than after the fact.

Medical insurance 2026: same rates, ceilings up fourfold

Compulsory social medical insurance comprises employer deductions at 3% and employee contributions at 2%. The rates were preserved; the capped income bases were not.

Parameter	2025	2026	Monthly maximum, 2026
Employer deductions, 3%	Capped at 10 minimum wages	Capped at 40 minimum wages	KZT 102,000
Employee contributions, 2%	Capped at 10 minimum wages	Capped at 20 minimum wages	KZT 34,000

Until 2026 medical insurance froze at an income of KZT 850,000: employer and employee paid a fixed KZT 25,500 and KZT 17,000 however high the salary went. The employer ceiling has now moved to KZT 3,400,000 and the employee ceiling to KZT 1,700,000.

For an employee earning KZT 3,400,000 or more, the employer's medical insurance deduction rises from KZT 25,500 to KZT 102,000 per month — KZT 76,500 more each month and KZT 918,000 a year per person.

From 1 January 2026 the list of income exempt from medical insurance charges also changed; the Ministry of Health issued its clarification on 24 October 2025. Some payments that were within the base in 2025 have been taken out of it.

The change hits a narrow but expensive population. Official commentary put the affected group at roughly 9% of employees — those earning above KZT 850,000 a month. For companies with expatriate management, engineering teams or financial-sector staff, this is a payroll budget revision rather than a technical footnote.

Social tax at 6%: why a lower rate did not lower the cost

Social tax is charged at 6% under article 557 of the Tax Code, replacing an 11% rate that was creditable against social contributions. The headline rate nearly halved; the economics did not.

The arithmetic of the old design — 11% of the base less 5% of social contributions — produced roughly 6% of net social tax. The new design fixes that 6% directly and severs the link between the two charges. The computation rules in article 558 no longer provide for any reduction by social contributions.

The base is the employer's expenditure on employment income, reduced by the exclusions in article 556(2): pension contributions, medical insurance contributions and the exempt income listed in article 429. For an ordinary salary the working formula is social tax = (income − OPV − VOSMS) × 6%.

The most frequently missed rule is the 14 MCI floor. Under article 556(3), where the monthly object of taxation is anything from one tenge up to 14 times the monthly calculation index, the object is deemed to be 14 MCI — KZT 60,550 in 2026. The only exception is the month in which the employee is hired or dismissed. A salary of KZT 50,000 therefore produces social tax computed on KZT 60,550, not on the actual base.

Who does not pay social tax at all

Article 555(2) removes entire categories of business from the charge, and this reshapes any cost comparison.

●      Taxpayers applying a special tax regime — the simplified declaration regime, the regime for self-employed individuals, or the regime for peasant and farm enterprises.

●      Specialised organisations of persons with disabilities under the Social Code.

The practical consequence is that a company on the simplified declaration regime computes no social tax on its employees at all — neither at 6% nor under the 14 MCI floor. Comparing the general regime with the simplified regime without accounting for this provision is meaningless: social tax alone accounts for 6% of the base per employee.

Article 557 retains a reduced rate of 1.8% for the production and processing of own agricultural produce. Individual entrepreneurs and persons in private practice pay fixed amounts instead: 2 MCI for themselves and 1 MCI for each employee.

Three worked scenarios

The calculations below cover the minimum wage, a mid-level specialist and a senior manager. All figures are monthly, in tenge, for a Kazakhstan tax resident born in 1980 who has claimed the basic deduction.

Scenario 1 — salary of KZT 85,000 (minimum wage)

●      Pension contribution: 85,000 × 10% = 8,500

●      Medical contribution: 85,000 × 2% = 1,700

●      Income tax: the base of 85,000 − 8,500 − 1,700 − 129,750 is negative, so tax is nil

●      Net pay: 74,800

●      Social contributions: the post-pension base of 76,500 is below one minimum wage, so 85,000 × 5% = 4,250

●      Medical deductions: 85,000 × 3% = 2,550

●      Employer pension contribution: 85,000 × 3.5% = 2,975

●      Social tax: (85,000 − 8,500 − 1,700) × 6% = 4,488

Employer cost above salary: KZT 14,263, or 16.8%. Total cost of employment: KZT 99,263 to deliver KZT 74,800 net.

Scenario 2 — salary of KZT 500,000

●      Pension contribution: 50,000; medical contribution: 10,000

●      Income tax: (500,000 − 50,000 − 10,000 − 129,750) × 10% = 31,025

●      Net pay: 408,975

●      Social contributions: (500,000 − 50,000) × 5% = 22,500

●      Medical deductions: 500,000 × 3% = 15,000

●      Employer pension contribution: 500,000 × 3.5% = 17,500

●      Social tax: (500,000 − 50,000 − 10,000) × 6% = 26,400

Employer cost above salary: KZT 81,400, or 16.3%. Total cost of employment: KZT 581,400.

Scenario 3 — salary of KZT 4,000,000

●      Pension contribution: 4,000,000 × 10% = 400,000 (below the 4,250,000 ceiling)

●      Medical contribution: capped at 20 minimum wages, so 1,700,000 × 2% = 34,000

●      Social contributions: capped at 7 minimum wages, so 595,000 × 5% = 29,750

●      Medical deductions: capped at 40 minimum wages, so 3,400,000 × 3% = 102,000

●      Employer pension contribution: 4,000,000 × 3.5% = 140,000

●      Social tax: (4,000,000 − 400,000 − 34,000) × 6% = 213,960

Employer cost above salary: KZT 485,710, or 12.1%. The regression reflects four of the seven charges hitting their ceilings.

Annual income tax under this scenario: taxable income of KZT 41,235,000, of which KZT 36,762,500 is taxed at 10% and the excess of KZT 4,472,500 at 15%, giving KZT 4,347,125 against KZT 4,123,500 under a flat 10%. Progression adds roughly KZT 223,600 a year.

The scale is applied by the tax agent on a cumulative year-to-date basis. A payroll system computing month by month without accumulation will under-withhold by year end, and the shortfall lands on the company. Verify the configuration before the KZT 36,762,500 threshold is crossed, not after.

The single payroll payment: who can use it

The single payment mechanism consolidates income tax, both pension contributions, social contributions and both medical insurance charges into one transfer, which the state corporation "Government for Citizens" then allocates. It is governed by a dedicated division of the Tax Code.

It is available to individual entrepreneurs and legal entities that qualify as micro or small businesses and apply a special tax regime — principally the simplified declaration regime. Companies on the general regime cannot use it.

The single payment rate from 1 January 2026 is 24.8% of employee income, up from 23.8% in 2025. Within that rate, pension contributions account for 40.3%, employer pension contributions for 14.1% and social contributions for 18.1%.

This figure carries a lower level of confirmation than the rest of this briefing. The 24.8% rate and the allocation shares are supported by specialist accounting sources and payment-provider reference materials, but the primary provision fixing the 2026 rate could not be verified in open sources during this review. Confirm it in the taxpayer's cabinet or by written enquiry before switching.

The rate and allocation shares are revised annually and are among the most frequently amended figures in Kazakh payroll. The choice between the single payment and separate settlement also depends on workforce composition, since exempt employee categories are treated differently under the consolidated mechanism.

Foreign employees and EAEU nationals

What is payable for a foreign employee turns on migration status and tax residency rather than nationality as such. Three statuses produce three different outcomes.

●      Nationals of EAEU member states — Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Russia — working in Kazakhstan are treated as local employees for social payment purposes: pension and medical contributions are withheld, and social contributions, medical deductions and employer pension contributions are paid.

●      Foreign nationals holding a residence permit are treated as permanently residing and taxed on the general basis.

●      Temporarily present foreign nationals without a residence permit and outside the EAEU generally fall outside pension and medical insurance; income tax and social tax still arise.

An individual is a Kazakhstan tax resident where present in the country for at least 183 calendar days in any consecutive 12-month period. Residency governs entitlement to income tax deductions, not the composition of social payments.

A non-resident employee cannot claim the 30 MCI basic deduction: tax is withheld on the full taxable amount. Payments to non-residents under civil-law service contracts attract a higher rate. The exact configuration depends on status, country and any applicable double tax treaty, and should be confirmed case by case.

Hiring foreign staff in Kazakhstan rarely stops at payroll: work permits, visas and corporate structure follow. Status and permit work sits within UPPERSETUP visa services; for background, see LLP in Kazakhstan for Foreign Founders 2026and Kazakhstan's Neo Nomad Visa 2026.

Civil-law contracts instead of employment

A civil-law service contract no longer delivers the saving it was traditionally used for. Payments to individuals under such contracts attract pension contributions, medical insurance contributions and social contributions.

For social contributions the base is the payment less pension contributions and less amounts that reduce income under article 400 of the Tax Code, subject to the same ceiling of 7 minimum wages. The one-minimum-wage floor does not apply to civil-law contracts concluded with tax agents.

Characterising the relationship correctly and documenting it properly is an HR and legal task rather than an accounting one — covered by UPPERSETUP HR services and legal services.

Substituting a civil-law contract where the relationship has the hallmarks of employment — subordination to internal rules, a workplace, regular payments — is recharacterised as employment, with back charges, late-payment interest and administrative liability. The saving on social tax and employer pension contributions does not cover that exposure.

Payment deadlines and reporting

All payroll charges are remitted monthly and reported quarterly on a single form.

Obligation	Statutory deadline	Frequency
Income tax withheld at source	No later than 25 calendar days after the end of the month in which the income was paid (article 440(4))	Monthly
Social tax	No later than the 25th of the month following the tax period (article 560)	Monthly
Pension, social and medical insurance payments	No later than the 25th of the month following the month of payment	Monthly
Declaration on individual income tax and social tax (Form 200.00)	No later than the 15th of the second month following the reporting quarter (article 562)	Quarterly

The tax period for social tax is the calendar month, while the reporting period for the declaration is the calendar quarter (article 561).

Form 200.00 covers income tax, social tax and every social payment in one return — no separate filings are made to the pension, social insurance or health insurance funds.

The employee's own filing obligation is a separate question. Individuals whose income for the reporting period exceeds 8,500 MCI must file a personal declaration, except where employment income taxed at source is their sole source and the higher rate has already been applied to it. For the employer this means that applying progression correctly at source spares the employee a personal filing — and getting it wrong does not.

Late payment attracts daily interest, and outstanding liabilities allow the tax authority to suspend debit operations on bank accounts. From 2026 the trigger for suspension in respect of social contributions is tied to the amount outstanding rather than to the taxpayer's risk category.

Common mistakes and what they cost

Computing social tax on the old formula

Applying 11% and crediting social contributions produces both a wrong payment and a wrong Form 200.00. The error is systematic — it repeats every month until discovered, and correcting it means recomputing every closed period in the year.

Failing to update the medical insurance ceilings

A payroll system still configured to 10 minimum wages will keep computing deductions on KZT 850,000. For an employee on KZT 3,400,000 the shortfall is KZT 76,500 a month, and it emerges on reconciliation with the health insurance fund, by which point interest has accrued.

Ignoring the social contribution floor

Part-time work, unpaid leave and mid-month hires routinely push the base below one minimum wage. Computing on actual income rather than on the statutory minimum understates the charge across the entire low-paid population.

Applying the basic deduction without an application

The 30 MCI deduction is available at one employer and only on a written application. Applying it without one, or at two employers simultaneously, understates income tax — and the assessment falls on the tax agent, not the employee.

Not configuring cumulative progression

The 15% rate applies to the excess over an annual threshold, not a monthly one. Month-by-month computation without accumulation leaves senior staff under-withheld at year end, with the company carrying the difference.

Computing social tax on an actual base below 14 MCI

Partial months, part-time arrangements and unpaid leave routinely push the social tax object below KZT 60,550. The Code then requires computation on 14 MCI, with an exception only for the month of hiring or dismissal. Computing on actual income understates the charge across the whole low-paid and part-time population.

Overlooking the pension contribution exemptions

No employer pension contribution is due for employees born before 1 January 1975, for those at pension age or for persons with indefinite first- or second-group disability. Charging everyone uniformly is a 3.5% overpayment on that part of the payroll, and it is not refunded automatically.

Which configuration fits which situation

Situation	Working approach	Watch item
LLP on the general tax regime	Separate settlement of all seven charges	Medical ceilings; cumulative income tax
Micro or small business on the simplified regime	Single payment at 24.8% or separate settlement	No social tax is due at all (article 555(2))
Company with highly paid management	Revise the 2026 payroll budget	Employer medical deductions up to KZT 102,000 a month
Engaging individual contractors	Civil-law contract, correctly documented	Employment hallmarks; social contributions apply
Hiring EAEU nationals	Standard package of charges	Residency for income tax deductions

When professional review is warranted

●      Any employee earns above KZT 850,000 a month — the new medical ceilings change the payroll budget.

●      Annual income for any employee approaches KZT 36,762,500 — cumulative income tax computation becomes essential.

●      The workforce includes foreign nationals with mixed migration statuses.

●      A move to the single payment mechanism or a change of tax regime is under consideration.

●      A significant share of the workforce is engaged under civil-law contracts.

Company formation in Kazakhstan, accounting set-up and hiring support sit within UPPERSETUP company registration and corporate services; review of employment and contractor documentation sits within legal services. The full catalogue is in the services section.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an employer pay on top of salary in Kazakhstan in 2026?

Between roughly 12% and 17% of salary: employer pension contributions at 3.5%, social contributions at 5%, medical insurance deductions at 3% and social tax at 6%, each on its own base. The percentage falls at higher salaries because several charges are capped.

At what salary does income tax start in Kazakhstan?

Above approximately KZT 139,250 a month. Below that, the basic deduction of KZT 129,750 together with the pension and medical contributions eliminates the taxable base.

When does the 15% income tax rate apply?

To the part of annual income exceeding 8,500 MCI, which is KZT 36,762,500 in 2026. Income within the threshold is taxed at 10%.

Did medical insurance rates change in 2026?

No. Employer deductions remain 3% and employee contributions 2%. What changed are the capped bases: 40 minimum wages for employer deductions and 20 for employee contributions, against 10 in 2025.

Is social tax still reduced by social contributions?

No. From 1 January 2026 social tax is 6% of income less pension and medical insurance contributions, with no credit for social contributions.

For whom is the employer pension contribution not payable?

For employees born before 1 January 1975, those who have reached pension age, persons with indefinitely established first- or second-group disability, military personnel and staff of special state and law enforcement bodies, together with other categories listed in the Social Code.

What is payable for an employee who is a Russian or Kyrgyz national?

EAEU nationals working in Kazakhstan are treated as local employees for social payment purposes, so the standard package applies. Entitlement to income tax deductions depends on whether the individual is a Kazakhstan tax resident.

What are the payment and filing deadlines?

Payments are due by the 25th of the month following the month of payment. Form 200.00 is filed quarterly, by the 15th of the second month following the reporting quarter.

Key takeaways

●      The 2026 minimum wage is KZT 85,000 and the calculation index KZT 4,325; every ceiling derives from them.

●      Withheld from pay: 10% pension, 2% medical, and income tax at 10% or 15% above KZT 36,762,500 a year.

●      Paid by the employer: 3.5% employer pension, 5% social contributions, 3% medical deductions, 6% social tax.

●      The basic deduction rose to 30 MCI (KZT 129,750); the 90% adjustment and other deductions were abolished.

●      Social tax is no longer creditable against social contributions.

●      Medical ceilings rose to 40 and 20 minimum wages — the principal driver of higher cost for senior staff.

Summary 

In Kazakhstan in 2026, three charges are withheld from employment income: mandatory pension contributions at 10% on income capped at 50 minimum wages (KZT 4,250,000), medical insurance contributions at 2% on income capped at 20 minimum wages (KZT 1,700,000), and individual income tax on a progressive scale of 10% on annual income within 8,500 monthly calculation indices (KZT 36,762,500) and 15% on the excess. Taxable income is reduced by pension and medical contributions and by a basic deduction of 30 indices, being KZT 129,750 per month and no more than 360 indices per year; the former 90% adjustment for low salaries was abolished from 2026. Four further charges are borne by the employer on top of salary: employer pension contributions at 3.5% on income between 1 and 50 minimum wages, not payable for employees born before 1 January 1975 and several other categories; social contributions at 5% of income less pension contributions, within a floor of 1 and a ceiling of 7 minimum wages; medical insurance deductions at 3% on income capped at 40 minimum wages (KZT 3,400,000); and social tax at 6% of income less pension and medical contributions, which from 2026 is no longer reduced by social contributions. The minimum wage for 2026 is KZT 85,000 and the monthly calculation index KZT 4,325. All amounts are remitted by the 25th of the month following payment, and reporting is filed on Form 200.00 quarterly, by the 15th of the second month after the reporting quarter.

Sources

●      Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 214-VIII of 18 July 2025 on taxes and other obligatory payments to the budget — official text, Adilet legal information system

●      Tax Code, Division 9 on social tax in full: articles 555–562 covering payers, object, rates, computation, payment deadlines and the declaration

●      Tax Code, article 440 on income tax withheld at source, including the remittance deadline

●      Tax Code, article 441 on computing income tax on employment income on a cumulative basis

●      Tax Code, article 403 on the basic tax deduction

●      Tax Code, article 404 on social tax deductions

●      Tax Code, full text in the legal database

●      Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 239-VIII of 8 December 2025 on the republican budget for 2026–2028

●      Unified Accumulative Pension Fund — 2026 changes: employer pension contribution at 3.5% and the schedule to 5% by 2028

●      Unified Accumulative Pension Fund — release on the increase effective 1 January 2026

●      Unified Accumulative Pension Fund — guidance on ceilings and exemptions (PDF)

●      East Kazakhstan Regional Blood Centre — 2026 medical insurance rates and capped income

●      Inbusiness.kz — analysis of the 2026 increase in capped income for medical insurance

●      State Social Insurance Fund — clarification on the computation base and the exclusion of pension contributions

Related UPPERSETUP reading

●      Kazakhstan's Tax System 2026: the New Tax Code, CIT, VAT, IIT and AIFC Incentives

●      LLP in Kazakhstan for Foreign Founders 2026: Registration, Visa, Taxes and AIFC Comparison

●      AIFC or LLP: Choosing a Jurisdiction Inside Kazakhstan in 2026

●      Kazakhstan's Neo Nomad Visa 2026: Requirements for Digital Nomads

Disclaimer

This material is provided for information only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, investment or consulting advice. Professional advice should be obtained on the specific facts, jurisdiction, entity status and current regulatory requirements before any decision is taken. Information is current as at August 2026.