Receiving housing as a gift in Kazakhstan may seem like a good deal, but when such property is later sold, owners risk facing significant tax expenses. Let's figure out how to avoid unnecessary payments, reports the website infohub.kz.
In Kazakhstan, housing can be acquired in various ways: buying with a mortgage, in installments, or for the full price, exchanging, or receiving as a gift under a gift agreement. Many view a gifted apartment as an opportunity to quickly obtain a large sum by selling it with almost no costs. However, as the portal PRG.ZANGER notes, this approach can lead to additional expenses related to the individual income tax (IIT).
The very fact of receiving housing as a gift does not create a tax obligation for the recipient: it is not considered income of an individual for tax purposes, so no IIT is required. This rule also applies to other property, as well as to work or services received free of charge, if they are not related to entrepreneurial activity. However, the obligation to pay tax arises when selling the gifted property within certain time frames.
According to the source, income from the increase in value when selling a gifted apartment that has been owned for less than two years is determined as the positive difference between the sale price and the appraised value of the property. The appraised value is the value established by the State Corporation for calculating property tax as of January 1 of the year in which the ownership right arose. Exception: if the property was received free of charge before January 1, 2026, and is sold after that date, a holding period of less than one year applies.
Typically, IIT is 10% of the income, i.e., the difference between the purchase and sale amounts. For example, if an apartment is bought for 20 million tenge and sold for 22 million tenge, the tax is levied on the 2 million tenge profit and amounts to 200 thousand tenge. But when an apartment is received as a gift, the income from the increase in value is determined as the entire sale amount, since there is no acquisition cost. Thus, when selling gifted housing within the first two years of ownership, IIT will have to be paid on the entire amount: at a price of 22 million tenge, the tax will be 2.2 million tenge.
The Tax Code provides for cases where another value can be taken instead of the acquisition cost, which allows reducing the tax. These cases include: the value previously included in income as property received free of charge (if the apartment was included in the taxable income of an individual entrepreneur or individual); the market value at the time of receipt according to an appraiser's report (when selling property received as inheritance or charitable assistance); the appraised value used by the state for property tax as of January 1 of the year of receipt; cadastral (appraised) value for land plots; zero value in other cases.
Thus, selling a gifted apartment or house before the two-year holding period expires (from January 1, 2026) can result in significant tax expenses. Experts recommend waiting until the end of this period to sell the property without paying IIT.