Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — According to the State Tax Committee, the volume of value-added tax (VAT) refunds in Uzbekistan declined significantly in the first half of 2025.

Between January and June, the total amount of refunded VAT decreased by 17.7%, amounting to 8.79 trillion soums. By comparison, in the same period of 2024, VAT refunds had grown by 20%, exceeding 10.69 trillion soums (in 2023 — 8.89 trillion soums, up 13.7%).

During the reporting period, tax authorities received 5,488 refund applications from 3,272 companies. The number of applications increased by 18.2%, while the number of applicants rose by 16.9%. However, the average refund per application fell by 30.4%, totaling 1.6 billion soums.

More than half of the applications came from exporters, who collectively received 3.13 trillion soums in refunds — 32.8% more than a year earlier. Their number of applications surged by 38.8% to 3,089, while the number of exporting companies grew by almost 50%, exceeding 1,400.

The largest share of refunds was allocated to industrial enterprises, totaling 5.99 trillion soums, a 15.4% increase year-on-year. The services sector ranked second with 956.2 billion soums, though it recorded a 29.2% decline. Meanwhile, the transport sector showed the most notable growth, with refunds rising 3.3 times to 641.4 billion soums.