Uzbekistan Launches Creative Park With Tax Incentives

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan has presented Uzbekistan Creative Park, a new initiative aimed at supporting and developing the country’s creative economy. The presentation took place at a new co-working space opened in the building of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation. The concept of the park was presented to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in February this year.

According to Creative Industries Park Director Hasan Salikhov, the project is designed to help creative professionals operate as full-fledged businesses, gain access to infrastructure and benefit from dedicated support measures.

Under the Law on the Creative Economy, the creative industries encompass 15 sectors, which have been further detailed into 142 types of activities by a government resolution. These include design, architecture, video production, digital content creation, publishing and other fields.

Limited liability companies, sole proprietors and self-employed individuals are expected to be eligible for resident status. To qualify, at least 80% of their income must come from activities included in the approved list. If this threshold is no longer met, resident status will be revoked and beneficiaries will be required to repay the incentives received.

Applications for resident status will be submitted through the Creative Park platform. The review process will take up to 15 days. Decisions will be made by the park’s management together with industry experts. A pool of specialists is currently being formed to participate in project evaluations.

Residents will be eligible for a range of tax preferences. In particular, limited liability companies will be allowed to apply a 4% turnover tax without being required to switch to VAT. A reduction in personal income tax and social tax rates to 6% is also proposed.

Sole proprietors will retain the right to pay a 1% turnover tax and will not be required to switch to VAT even if annual turnover exceeds 1 billion soums (UZS). Self-employed individuals will also continue to pay tax at a rate of 1%, while payment of social tax will remain voluntary.

The resident fee has been set at 0.1% of turnover for sole proprietors and self-employed individuals, and 0.3% for limited liability companies.

In addition, foreign specialists engaged by the Art and Culture Development Foundation and park residents will be exempt from several taxes, including VAT, withholding profit tax and personal income tax.

The project also предусматривает the creation of a dedicated platform enabling residents to participate in public procurement of creative products and services. Customs incentives for importing raw materials and equipment used in creative production are already available.

Creative Park will be implemented on an extraterritorial basis and will unite a network of creative clusters across the country. Its central facility will be located on Farobiy Street in Tashkent and will include a business centre, co-working spaces, hotel infrastructure, educational facilities, exhibition halls and concert venues.

A separate campus is planned in New Tashkent. It will focus on hosting recording studios, film and video production facilities, workshops, co-working spaces and offices for residents.

In Nukus, work has already begun on creating a creative hub based on a reconstructed hangar in Istiklol Park. A multifunctional cultural centre and a Children's Library are scheduled to open there by the end of the year.

In the future, similar creative spaces are also planned for Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, using cultural heritage sites as development platforms.