Company in Kyrgyzstan: High-Tech Park for IT

• The High-Tech Park of Kyrgyzstan is a tax regime, not a territory with offices. Residents can work from anywhere in the country, and with a well-structured structure, even remotely.
• Residents do not pay income tax, VAT, or sales tax. Instead, they pay a 1% contribution on revenue to the park's management and a 5% income tax on employee salaries.
• At the end of 2024, the regime became indefinite. The 15-year limitation, which was set to expire in 2026, was removed from the law, removing the main argument against long-term planning.
• Within 12 months of registration, the company must confirm that at least 80% of its production or revenue comes from exports, and 90% of its revenue comes from core IT activities.
• The 1% contribution is calculated based on turnover, not profit. For low-margin outsourcing, this may be more expensive than the 10% of profit under the general regime.
• For a Russian beneficiary, the status of a HTP resident does not eliminate the obligation to notify about a CFC and does not protect the company from being recognized as a tax resident of the Russian Federation at the place of its actual management.

What is the High-Tech Park (HTP) and why the comparison with an offshore company doesn't work here

The High-Tech Park of the Kyrgyz Republic is a special legal and tax regime for export-oriented IT businesses. It doesn't provide anonymity, doesn't exempt the company from reporting obligations, and doesn't exempt it from audits. What it does is eliminate the three main corporate taxes and replace them with a fixed payment based on turnover. Everything else is like a regular Kyrgyz company with a regular bank account, regular accounting, and regular tax obligations.

A Regime Without an Address and Without a Residence Permit

A HTP resident doesn't rent space in a specific technology park and isn't tied to a specific building. A registered LLC or sole proprietorship in Kyrgyzstan is sufficient. The park's management maintains a register of residents, accepts reports, and collects fees—that's all the territorial aspect of the park entails. According to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, as of May 2026, there were more than 460 companies registered in the HTP, and together with the Creative Industries Park, over 650 residents.
This structure is convenient for teams already spread across several countries. The legal center is located in Bishkek, and developers can work anywhere. But this flexibility has a downside that's rarely discussed: the less physical presence in the country, the higher the likelihood of questions from both the bank during compliance matters and the tax authorities of the country where the beneficiary resides.

Indefinite instead of a term that expired immediately

The HTP law was adopted in 2011, and the benefits it provided were intended for 15 years—that is, until 2026. This remained a weak point for the jurisdiction for years: no one wanted to build a long-term model on a regime that was about to expire. In the fall of 2024, the president signed a law removing the time limit, making the regime indefinite.
The practical implications are simple. The 5-7-year financial model is now based not on a promise to extend the benefits, but on the current version of the law. Legal risk hasn't disappeared—laws change everywhere—but it has shifted from the category of "known end date" to "standard country risk." Many articles in search results still dread the year 2026, and this is a convenient indicator that the material hasn't been updated.

How is a resident's economics calculated?

The rates in the tables are the same for everyone: 0% profit tax, 0% VAT, 0% sales tax, 5% income tax, 1% contribution. The problem is that these figures don't tell you whether it's profitable or not. You need to calculate the money, not the rates—taking into account the revenue structure, marginality, and payroll.

One percent of revenue isn't always cheaper than ten percent of profit.

The contribution to the park's management is taken from turnover. For a food company with a 50-70% margin, this is a virtually insignificant amount. For outsourcing and outstaffing with a 12-15% margin, the picture changes: 1% of revenue with a turnover of $1,000,000 and a profit of $130,000 yields a payment of $10,000, while a standard 10% profit tax would yield $13,000. There is a difference, but it no longer feels like a "tax haven," and with a margin below 10%, the general regime is cheaper.
The exemption from reverse VAT is also worth considering. A company under the general regime, when purchasing services from foreign contractors, withholds and pays agency VAT to the Kyrgyz budget. A resident of the High-Tech Park (HTP) is not obligated to do this, and for businesses that actively purchase foreign services, server capacity, and licenses, the savings are comparable to the savings on profits.

Payroll: Where the regime truly benefits

Income tax for resident employees has been halved—5% instead of 10%. But what's more noticeable is that insurance contributions are calculated not based on actual salaries, but at a rate of 12% of the estimated average monthly salary, which the tax service approves for the year for each city and district. As of 2026, the tax base for Bishkek is 28,829 soms, meaning the contribution is approximately 3,460 soms per month per employee, or approximately $40.
For a team of 10 developers with salaries of $3,000 each, this is a fundamentally different cost scale than in any jurisdiction with percentage contributions based on actual salaries. It is the salary component, not the net profit, that most often determines the benefit of relocating a team to Kyrgyzstan.

A fair comparison with the Russian IT regime

An accredited IT company in Russia pays 5% income tax and 7.6% social security contributions. If the entire turnover comes from Russian clients and the team operates from Russia, relocating to the Hi-Tech Park will not result in savings, but rather additional administrative costs for two jurisdictions. The point is when there's foreign currency revenue from foreign clients, a need to accept payments from countries where Russian payment routes are closed, or plans to attract foreign investors.

Expert opinion

"Over the past three years, we've seen a recurring situation: a company is registered, granted residency status, and then lost a year later upon export confirmation. The reason is almost always the same: part of the revenue is transferred through a Russian legal entity, and by the end of the first year, the export share falls short of 80%. This arithmetic needs to be checked not after registration, but before, at the stage when you're deciding which contracts to transfer where. We begin our work with this calculation, and in some cases, it ends with a recommendation not to join the HTP at all. The second most common scenario is the bank. The account is opened not for a fancy presentation, but for a model the bank understands: who pays, for what, where the money comes from, whether there's a website and contracts. If this picture isn't there, residency status won't do the trick".

Who meets the criteria and who doesn't?

Formally, both legal entities and individuals, including foreign founders, can become residents. In reality, the selection process is based on three filters, and the first one eliminates a significant portion of applicants.

Core activity and 90% of revenue

At least 90% of revenue must come from activities listed in the HTP law. These include software development and maintenance, information systems design and implementation, cloud services, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions, blockchain development, interactive service centers, and digital content distribution.
A company that combines development with equipment sales or general consulting will either have to split its business into different legal entities or abandon the idea. The park's expert council looks at the essence of the activity, not the wording in the charter, and applications from companies that rely solely on IT are rejected at this stage.

The 80% Export Rule

Within 12 months of registration, at least 80% of goods and services sold, or at least 80% of revenue, must be export-based. This requirement is strictly defined and verified through reporting. Serving more than 20% of the domestic market in Kyrgyzstan is incompatible with this status.
There's a nuance here that's rarely discussed: sales to foreign customers are considered exports, and Russian clients fall into this category. Therefore, the "Bishkek company serving clients from Russia and Europe" model meets the criteria if payments are made under contracts with foreign legal entities and processed through a Kyrgyz bank account.

A Business Plan That's Readable

A business plan with a three-year financial forecast, a description of the market, planned jobs, and target customers is attached to the application. The management team evaluates the feasibility of the figures and the team's qualifications, and existing companies also present their current projects and contracts. A 5-page template document with rounded forecasts raises clarifying questions and delays review. We prepare this package together with the client and base it on their actual pipeline and contracts, because the numbers stated in it will be the ones that need to be defended.

The procedure: from LLC registration to residency certificate

The process consists of two independent parts: first, a regular Kyrgyz company, then obtaining park status. There's no need to separate these steps, but combining them into a single procedure is also impossible: a resident must be an existing legal entity.

Company and Account

The LLC is registered with the Ministry of Justice. The minimum authorized capital is effectively unlimited by law. The registration period is three business days from the date of submitting the complete set of documents. In practice, taking into account notarial acts and transfers, the process takes five to ten business days. The founder and director can be citizens of any country. The company is then registered with the tax service and the Social Fund.
Opening an account is a separate step with its own compliance process. Kyrgyz banks have significantly increased their checks over the past two years due to sanctions risks and are requesting a description of the business model, information about counterparties, and sources of funds. For more information on how we handle banking support, please see the Banks and Processing section.

Initial Certificate and Confirmation after 6 Months

Following a positive conclusion from the expert council, the matter is submitted to the supervisory board, the management issues an order, the company signs an agreement with the park, and receives an initial certificate valid for 6 calendar months. The tax office at the place of registration must be notified of the status within 5 business days.
After six months, the resident confirms its actual activity, and at the end of the first year, its export performance. The entire process from document submission to status acquisition typically takes 1.5–2 months. Reports are submitted to the management quarterly, a fee is also transferred at the same time, and the annual financial statements are confirmed by an auditor's report at the resident's expense.

What happens if the status is lost?

The status is revoked upon the resident's request; upon company liquidation or failure to fulfill obligations, based on the expert council's conclusion. The decision is made by the supervisory board and can be appealed in court. The certificate is returned to the directorate within five days of receiving the notification.
The company doesn't disappear; it simply switches to the general tax regime. Therefore, it's wise to build the financial model with a sustainability check: if the status were revoked tomorrow, the business should remain viable with a 10% corporate income tax and 12% VAT.

What's important for a Russian beneficiary to consider

A Kyrgyz company resolves Kyrgyz tax issues but has no say in Russian tax matters. This is the most common discrepancy between expectations and reality, and it's the most costly.

CFCs are still in place

A Russian citizen who controls a Kyrgyz LLC submits a notification of participation in a foreign organization and a notification of a CFC in accordance with the standard procedure. Companies from EAEU countries, including Kyrgyzstan, are granted a waiver regarding supporting documents for financial reporting, but the notification obligation remains, and penalties for missing deadlines are substantial.
If a beneficiary ceases to be a tax resident of Russia, the situation changes, but this is a separate status with its own evidence—number of days of stay, documents, and sometimes a tax residency certificate from another country. Considering oneself a non-resident simply by moving is not enough.

Place of effective management

Russian law allows a foreign company to be recognized as a tax resident of the Russian Federation if it is managed from Russia. A director living in Moscow and signing all documents from there, accounts accessible only to Russian individuals, and the absence of any operational decisions in Kyrgyzstan—all these factors combined create a real risk.
Hence, the practical conclusion: if a project is being built seriously and for the long term, at least minimal elements of presence are required—a local director or hired manager, a physical office or coworking space, local expenses, and verifiable activities. We discuss this at the outset, not when a request comes from the tax authorities.

The advantage of relations within the EAEU

Kyrgyzstan is a member of the EAEU, and for the purposes of Russian currency legislation, accounts in its banks are considered "whitelisted" countries. Russian residents can freely deposit funds from non-residents into such accounts without the restrictions that apply to jurisdictions without automatic exchange. Russia and Kyrgyzstan have a double taxation agreement, simplifying withholding tax treatment.
This makes Kyrgyzstan more convenient than many traditional jurisdictions for Russian beneficiaries—not in terms of rates, but in terms of the operational ease of payments and reporting. If maximum neutrality to Russian regulations is a priority, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and the UAE are worth considering in parallel.

When is the HTP suitable, and when is another option better?

The regime was created for the export of IT services, and outside of this scenario, it becomes meaningless. Below are situations in which we discourage clients from Kyrgyzstan.

Domestic Market and Mixed Revenue

If more than 20% of revenue comes from Kyrgyz customers, or if the business combines development with trade and services not included in the list, the status will either not be granted or will be revoked after a year. In such cases, we propose a separation: an operating company under the general regime and a separate resident legal entity for export purposes.
The second borderline case is for companies whose significant revenue is generated in Russia and remains there. For them, it is cheaper to operate through Russian IT accreditation and establish a foreign structure only for a specific external contract.

Financial and Licensable Projects

Kyrgyzstan issues crypto licenses and payment organization licenses, but these are separate regulatory tracks unrelated to HTP resident status. A blockchain developer can be a park resident, but an exchanger or exchange requires a license, capital requirements, and National Bank oversight.
For projects that require financial licenses or a ready-made structure with an open account, it's more logical to compare jurisdictions using our solutions catalog or view ready-made companies with accounts. You can discuss a specific scenario and get a quote tailored to your needs by contacting us—our Moscow line +7 495 001-22-29 is open weekdays, and all support is provided remotely, without traveling to Bishkek.