Coursera and Canva Become VAT Registered in Uzbekistan
Coursera and Canva Register as VAT Payers in Uzbekistan
In a significant development for the education and design sectors, the online education platform Coursera and the graphic design service Canva have officially registered as value-added tax (VAT) payers in Uzbekistan, as confirmed by the State Tax Committee. This move marks Coursera, Inc., based in the United States, as the 69th foreign legal entity to be added to the tax authority’s registry, effective May 2. Prior to this, Canva, a widely popular platform for graphic design and presentations, registered on April 24.
The registration of these two companies is part of a broader trend this year, with 11 foreign companies recently registering for VAT in Uzbekistan—a figure that is double the total number of registrations from the entirety of 2024. Among the notable global entities that have made their debut this year are Alibaba Cloud, eBay, OpenAI, and Bloomberg.
Reflecting on the previous year, the pace of new registrations had notably slowed in 2024, with just six companies, including Etsy Ireland UC, the Irish arm of the e-commerce platform Etsy, applying during that period.
This year has also seen other foreign companies, including French payment solution provider Nexway, UK-based Contactpay Solution, AI translation service DeepL, language course aggregator SaySomethingin.com, and UAE-registered Global Intellect Service, join the ranks of registered taxpayers.
In terms of fiscal impact, tax revenue from foreign tech companies in Uzbekistan reached an impressive 36.2 billion UZS during the first quarter of 2025, reflecting a remarkable 50% increase compared to the same timeframe in 2024. The top contributors in this surge were tech giants Apple, Meta, and Google, followed closely by OpenAI and the restricted platform TikTok.
Overall, the registration of Coursera and Canva as VAT payers in Uzbekistan signals a growing recognition of the importance of digital platforms within the country’s economy and aligns with ongoing efforts to integrate more foreign businesses into the local tax framework.
