From January 1, 2026, the accounting for fixed assets in Kazakhstan operates under the new Tax Code — law No. 214-VIII, signed on July 18, 2025. Article 280 still divides fixed assets into four groups with maximum depreciation rates: buildings and structures — 10%, machinery and equipment — 25%, computers, software, and information processing equipment — 40%, everything else — 15%. The figures are familiar, and this is what relaxes the accounting department: it seems that nothing has changed. In reality, the rules for disposal, leasing, and preferences have changed, along with the burden on those who manage fixed assets manually in spreadsheets.
At West Star Ltd, we have been implementing and refining 1C for Kazakhstani companies for years and see the same picture: fixed assets are the quietest area of accounting. They are dealt with once a month during the period closing, and are truly remembered when an audit comes, a truck is sold, or it turns out that half of the laptops from the cards have long been physically written off but are still on the balance sheet. In this material, we analyze how fixed asset accounting is structured in 2026, where accounting and tax accounting diverge, and what is reasonable to automate.
Two Accounts for One Asset
The main thing to understand about fixed assets in Kazakhstan is that the same machine has two lives. In accounting, it lives according to IFRS (IAS) 16 or the national standard for small and medium-sized businesses. There, the company itself determines in the accounting policy the useful life, depreciation method, residual value, and threshold below which the asset is immediately written off as inventory. Hence the first rule: accounting policy is not a formality for the auditor, but a setting on which every transaction depends.
In tax accounting, the same machine becomes a fixed asset, and there is less freedom here. The Code sets groups and maximum rates, and the taxpayer chooses the rate within the limit and fixes it in the tax register. Buildings in the first group are depreciated for each object separately, while the second, third, and fourth groups are depreciated as a whole by the cost balance of the group at the end of the year. This is an important nuance: in accounting, you see a specific loader, but in tax accounting, it dissolves in the general balance of group II.
Separately, the Code lists what is not considered a fixed asset at all: land, museum valuables, assets for which no depreciation is charged in accounting, and fixed assets whose cost has already been fully deducted. For a lessee, the right of use under IFRS 16 is not a fixed asset, except for property received under a lease agreement. In practice, it is the leasing of offices and warehouses that most often breaks the reconciliation: in the accounting balance, the asset is present, but it should not be in the tax register.
The difference between the two accounts is not an error, but a norm. The error begins when no one monitors this difference. Deferred tax is calculated "by eye," temporary differences are explained in words, and when an object is disposed of, no one can quickly say what financial result it gave in accounting and what for CIT.
What Changed in 2026
In short, the logic of groups and rates remained, but the details that emerge in non-standard situations changed.
First — disposal. For objects of the first group, the result is calculated for each disposed building or structure, but income or loss is recognized by the sum of the results of all disposed objects of the group for the year. For a company that sells a warehouse at a profit and demolishes an old workshop at a loss in one year, this changes the final CIT figure.
Second — preferences. According to practitioners' explanations, the option of allocating the cost of investment preference objects to deductions in equal parts over three years has been removed: now the cost is allocated to deductions at once. Companies that built tax planning on a stretched deduction should recalculate the model.
Third — accelerated depreciation. The double rate in Article 280 remains only for subsoil users and only under strict conditions: the asset is first put into operation in Kazakhstan and used for at least three years. For other businesses, the mechanism "bought new equipment — wrote off twice as fast" is not in the Code. We regularly encounter this misconception among owners who plan to purchase equipment for tax savings.
Fourth — related changes that indirectly affect fixed assets. The VAT rate from 2026 is 16%, and when purchasing equipment, this directly affects the initial cost for those who are not VAT payers and include the tax in the asset cost. And the receipt and movement of fixed assets between warehouses and divisions for many commodity positions still require accompanying invoices and reflection in the virtual warehouse — we wrote more about this in the material on warehouse accounting in Kazakhstan.
Fixed Asset Accounting in 1C: What Can Be Automated
1C:Accounting for Kazakhstan can maintain both accounts in parallel: in accounting — by objects, with cards, terms, and methods, in tax — through the directory of tax accounting groups of fixed assets and cost balances. The problem is almost never in the program's capabilities. The problem is that fixed asset accounting in 1C was set up once five years ago, and since then both the code and the company itself have changed.
Here's what, in our experience, is really worth automating:
- Acceptance for accounting based on supplier data. When the invoice and delivery note have already arrived electronically, the fixed asset card can be created from them, rather than manually re-entered: name, cost, VAT, date of entry. The person checks, not types.
- Automatic allocation to the tax group. The classifier of fixed assets allows matching the type of asset with group I–IV. The rule is set once, and a new laptop automatically falls into group III with a rate of up to 40%, not "others."
- Monthly depreciation and reconciliation of differences. The regulatory processing of month-end closing calculates depreciation, and a separate report compares the accounting and tax value for each object and group. Discrepancy beyond the allowable is a signal, not a find of the auditor.
- Inventory with barcodes or QR. A tag on each object and a mobile scanner turn the annual inventory from a week-long run around the office into a one- or two-day job. The result is immediately uploaded to 1C as a document.
- Event notifications. End of useful life, scheduled repair, insurance expiration, transfer between responsible persons — all this can come to employees in Telegram, not live in the head of one accountant.
If a company operates in several systems — for example, equipment is accounted for in a service program, and accounting in 1C — they can be linked through integration, without double entry. This is exactly the work we do as part of 1C integration and support and business process automation.
Where Accounting Breaks: Limitations and Pitfalls
Honestly about where automation does not save and where we ourselves see risks.
- Poor initial data. If duplicates, objects without inventory numbers, and assets that physically do not exist have accumulated in the cards for years, no processing will fix this. First inventory and cleaning of the directory, then automation — not the other way around.
- Accounting policy diverges from settings. The policy says one thing, but another is set in 1C: different term, different method, different threshold for low-value assets. Such discrepancies quietly accumulate for years and surface during an audit or inspection.
- Repair versus modernization. The line between current repairs, which go to expenses, and subsequent costs that increase the asset's value is a professional judgment. The program can suggest, but the decision and justification remain with the accountant.
- Atypical configurations. Heavily customized 1C often poorly handles updates. After switching to the new rules of 2026, we saw customized databases where tax registers simply stopped filling out correctly.
- Leasing and leasing. Distinguishing the right of use under IFRS 16 and leasing property for tax purposes is difficult to automate — each contract needs to be analyzed.
- Illusion "the program will calculate everything." The depreciation rate in the tax register is the taxpayer's choice within the limit. If no one consciously chose it, the program will substitute the default value, and it may not match the company's tax strategy.
For a specialist who manages fixed asset accounting, we would suggest starting with a short reconciliation: export the list of objects, compare the accounting and tax value by groups, check that the lease is not included in fixed assets, and the rates in the tax register correspond to those chosen consciously. This is two to three days of work that removes most of the risks during an inspection.
For the head of the financial department, the process is more important than the transactions. Who accepts the object for accounting, based on what documents, who is responsible for the transfer, how often inventory is conducted. If the answers sound like "by situation," fixed asset accounting relies on one person, and their vacation or dismissal becomes a risk. We raised the same question when discussing payroll in Kazakhstan: areas that "just work" are often the worst organized.
The owner only needs three questions. Do we know how much our property really costs and where it is located? Do we understand what tax effect the purchase or sale of a large asset will have this year? And are we not planning a purchase for accelerated depreciation that does not exist for our business in the Code? If there is no confident answer to at least one question, it's time to review fixed asset accounting.
Fixed assets rarely become the cause of a high-profile scandal. They work differently: for years they imperceptibly distort the balance, and then with one episode — sale, inspection, deal with an investor — show the real price of disorder. The good news is that this area is easier than many others to bring to transparency. The rules are clear, the tools have long been available, all that is needed is order in the data and a decision on what to calculate manually and what to entrust to the system.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does fixed asset accounting in accounting differ from tax accounting?
In accounting, the company itself chooses the useful life and depreciation method according to IFRS or the national standard and fixes them in the accounting policy. In tax accounting, the asset becomes a fixed asset, falls into one of the four groups of the Tax Code, and is depreciated at a rate not exceeding the maximum. Therefore, the cost of the same object in two accounts is almost always different, and this difference needs to be monitored.
What are the maximum depreciation rates in Kazakhstan in 2026?
According to Article 280 of the new Tax Code: group I (buildings and structures) — 10%, group II (machinery and equipment) — 25%, group III (computers, software, and information processing equipment) — 40%, group IV (other fixed assets) — 15%. For certain subsoil users on complex projects, the rates are increased.
Can accelerated depreciation be applied to new equipment?
For most companies — no. The double depreciation rate in 2026 is provided only for subsoil users under the conditions: the asset is first put into operation in Kazakhstan and used for at least three years. Other taxpayers apply the rate within the usual limit of their group.
Can fixed asset accounting be fully automated in 1C?
The routine part — yes: creating cards from electronic documents, allocating to tax groups, monthly depreciation, reconciliation of differences, inventory with barcodes, and notifications. But decisions on terms, methods, the boundary between repair and modernization, and tax strategy remain with the accountant and management. Automation removes manual labor, not professional judgment.