Uzbek business owner’s 95 million soum fines cancelled after legal review

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — An entrepreneur from Uzbekistan’s Jizzakh region, who was serving a prison sentence, has had 27 administrative fines totaling 95 million soums cancelled following intervention by the Business Ombudsman for the Protection of the Rights and Legitimate Interests of Entrepreneurs.

According to the Business Ombudsman’s press service, the head of LLC “A.A.”, identified as S.B., filed a complaint challenging decisions by tax authorities that held him administratively liable for late submission of tax reports.

During the review, it was established that under a criminal court verdict issued by the Mirzachul district court on 24 July 2024, the entrepreneur had been sentenced to imprisonment. Despite this, during 2024–2025 the Sharaof-Rashidov district tax inspectorate repeatedly imposed administrative penalties under Part 2 of Article 175 of the Administrative Responsibility Code for violations related to accounting and reporting requirements.

In total, 27 penalty decisions were issued against the entrepreneur.

The Ombudsman’s office noted that holding an individual criminally serving a sentence liable for failure to submit reporting documents contradicts legal requirements. Based on this, legal conclusions were submitted to the Jizzakh regional tax authority citing the absence of an offense or corpus delicti.

As a result, all 27 tax decisions were reviewed and cancelled, and the fines amounting to 95 million soums were annulled.