Asia

Kazakhstan

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Employer of Record (EOR) in Kazakhstan

What you'll learn

  • Country Introduction
  • Employment Terms
  • Minimum Wage and Working Hours
  • Statutory Leave Laws
  • Termination Process
  • Additional Information
Kazakhstan Introduction

Kazakhstan is a transcontinental landlocked country located in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It is the world’s largest landlocked country, bordered by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The country’s capital of Nur-Sultan was formerly known as Astana until 2019. Kazakhstan generates 60% of Central Asia’s GDP, and has a democratic, secular, constitutional republic.

Employment Terms

Types of Contracts

In Kazakhstan, the following contract types are available:

  • Indefinite;
  • Fixed Term contracts with at least 1 year duration. The contract can be extended twice.
  • Part-time.

Working Hours

The maximum number of working hours in Kazakhstan is 40 hours per week.

Overtime

Maximum overtime in Kazakhstan is 2 hours per day, or 1 hour for heavy work (which is work with harmful and/or dangerous working conditions).

Minimum overtime pay is 150% of the normal rate, and payment for working on holidays, weekends, and night shifts is 150% of the normal rate.  If agreed by both parties, it is allowed to provide hours of rest for overtime work at the rate of at least one hour of rest for one hour of overtime work.

Minimum Wage

As of January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in Kazakhstan is KZT 85,000 tenge per month.

Probation Period

The minimum duration of probation is not prescribed by law. The maximum probationary period is 3 months, however, for senior positions such as heads and deputy heads of organizations, chief accountants and their deputies, and heads of branches or representative offices of organizations, this period may be extended up to 6 months.

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Taxes & Local Employment Costs

Employee Taxes

Employees in Kazakhstan pay 10% of their gross salary as income tax. Employees contribute a percentage of their gross salary towards pension, health insurance and social insurance as illustrated below:

  • Pension = 10%
  • Health Insurance = 2%

Employer Taxes & Contributions

Taxes for employers in Kazakhstan are broken down as such:

  • Social insurance contribution = 3.5%
  • Social tax = 9.5%
  • Social health insurance = 3%
  • Pension fund = 1.5%
  • Injury = 0.12%

Types of Leave

Annual Leave

The basic paid annual leave for employees is provided for 24 calendar days unless more days are provided for in labor contracts. Accessing paid annual leave is through the agreement of the parties at any time of the working year. The working year is 12 calendar months, calculated from the first day of work of the employee.

By agreement between the employee and the employer, vacation may be divided into parts. One of the parts must be at least 14 calendar days. Payment for vacation is made no later than three working days before it starts.

It is prohibited to withhold vacation or part of it for 2 consecutive years. Unused vacation days can be carried over to the following year.

Employees have the option to receive cash instead of taking leave. Upon termination of the contract, any unused vacation days are compensated regardless of the reasons for termination.

Sick Leave

An employee is entitled to a maximum of 60 calendar days of sick leave. The employee must submit a sick leave certificate.Sick leave is paid by the employer.

The employer is obliged to pay employees social benefits for temporary disability.  The amount is determined by multiplying average daily earnings by the number of working days falling on the period of temporary disability. Temporary disability benefits are paid along with wages.

Maternity Leave

Employees in Kazakhstan are entitled to a total of 126 calendar days of maternity leave, split into 70 days before the birth and 56 days after the birth. The number of days is not dependent on the employee’s length of service. The state pays for maternity leave.

Paternity Leave

There is no statutory provision for paid paternity leave in Kazakhstan.

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Benefits

Summary

Employers in Kazakhstan can typically offer the following benefits:

Statutory Benefits

Employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:

  • Pension;
  • Disability and survivor pension;
  • Health insurance.

Non Statutory Benefits

Common non-statutory benefits include:

  • Private Medical insurance;
  • Mobile phone compensation;
  • Meals;
  • Transport.

Termination Process

Process

Employers can terminate employment contracts for reasons related to business, personal, or misconduct. Terminations require written notice and explanation for the dismissal, and if the reason is misconduct the employer need to give a warning and the employee needs a chance to explain their actions.

Notice Period

The minimum notice period for terminations in Kazakhstan is 1 month. During probation, the employer can terminate the employment contract any time before the end of the probationary period by giving 3 days notice.

Severance Pay

Employers are mandated to pay out unused vacation. If the employee resigns, no statutory severance is required.

Additional Information

N/A

OVERVIEW
Language(s):
Kazakh, Russian
Currency:
Kazakhstani Tenge (KZT)
Capital City:
Nur-Sultan
Population:
19.2 Million
Cost of Living Rank:
123rd
VAT (Valued Added Tax):
12%
Employer TaxES
17.62%
(estimated)

★  3.5% - Social Insurance Contribution

★  9.5% - Social Tax

★  3% - Social Health Insurance Fund

★  1.5% - Pension Fund

★  0.12% - Injury

Get Started in 3 Steps

1

Remote candidate

You've sourced a full-time employee or contractor located in a country where your company is not incorporated.

2

Cost Calculation

Pass us the details of your candidate and we will let you know exactly what it costs to employ your candidate in that country.

3

Onboarding & Admin

Sit back and relax as we onboard your new team member and take care of all the local compliances and admin work.

Same-day onboarding
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How Remofirst employs in Kazakhstan

It can be prohibitively expensive to establish an entity in every country you want to hire talent in, so Remofirst will hire and pay your employee on your behalf while you manage their daily duties. Remofirst will handle formal HR procedures and employment contracts that adhere to local laws, so that you can simply approve invoices via our platform. When you work with an Employer of Record (EOR) you can compliantly hire the best employees around the world.

How employees in Kazakhstan get paid
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. Remofirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees in Kazakhstan are paid on time in Kazakhstani Tenge (KZT). To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Full-time Employees vs Global Contractors

Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.

Dependable support for employees
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about benefits, Visas, or anything else related to international employment in Kazakhstan, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.