Valve Leads Kazakhstan's Foreign Digital VAT Ranking With 11.21 Billion Tenge

Steam's owner moves ahead of Temu, Apple and Google

Valve paid 11.21 billion tenge in value added tax in Kazakhstan between January and June 2026, putting the owner of Steam ahead of Temu's operator, Apple and Google among foreign digital companies in a published ranking. Its payment more than doubled from 5.3 billion tenge in the same period of 2025, although Kazakhstan's higher tax rate explains part of that increase.

The ranking draws on the State Revenue Committee's registry of foreign VAT payers, reviewed by tax security expert Dmitry Kazantsev. Elementary Innovation, the company associated with Temu, followed Valve with 10.06 billion tenge. Apple Distribution International paid 8.54 billion tenge, while Google Commerce Limited, which handles Google Play, paid 5.35 billion.

At Kazakhstan's standard VAT rate of 16%, Valve's payment corresponds to an estimated 81.3 billion tenge in purchases including tax. That calculation gives a sense of the taxable business connected with Steam's Kazakhstan region, where purchases include games, expansions, virtual currency and other digital items.

Russian players have also used Kazakhstan accounts to regain access to purchases after payment restrictions disrupted Steam spending in Russia. The public figures leave the share attributable to those users, the share attributable to Kazakhstan residents and the breakdown between games and other purchases unknown. Valve and Kazakhstan's tax authorities had not commented on the ranking.

How far ahead is Valve?

Valve led Temu's operator by 1.15 billion tenge, or about 11.4%. Its payment was approximately 31.3% higher than Apple's and about 2.1 times Google's. Those comparisons put a gaming business at the top of a list that also includes shopping platforms, mobile app stores and artificial intelligence services.

The published figures include the following payments for the first six months of 2026:

• Valve, owner of Steam: 11.21 billion tenge.
• Elementary Innovation, associated with Temu: 10.06 billion tenge.
• Apple Distribution International: 8.54 billion tenge.
• Google Commerce Limited: 5.35 billion tenge.
• TikTok: 1.47 billion tenge.
• OpenAI: 1.12 billion tenge.
• Anthropic: 1.10 billion tenge.
• Lamoda: 900 million tenge.

OpenAI and Anthropic together paid 2.22 billion tenge. Valve's contribution was roughly five times that combined amount, showing the scale of taxable activity associated with its gaming platform compared with the two AI businesses in this ranking.

What the 81.3 billion tenge estimate means

VAT is a tax on consumption, collected through businesses selling goods or services. At a rate of 16%, a purchase priced at 100 tenge before tax costs the customer 116 tenge, with 16 tenge going toward VAT.

Kazantsev's estimate follows that arithmetic. Dividing Valve's 11.21 billion tenge payment by 0.16 gives about 70.06 billion tenge before tax. Adding the tax produces approximately 81.27 billion tenge, rounded to 81.3 billion.

The estimate assumes the payment corresponds to sales taxed at the standard rate during the period. Actual company accounts can also reflect payment timing, adjustments and the treatment of particular transactions. The clearest description of the figure is therefore estimated purchases including VAT associated with the tax payment.

The same calculation produces about 72.9 billion tenge for Temu, 61.9 billion for Apple and 38.8 billion for Google. Each estimate follows from a company tax payment; the ranking's directly recorded measure is VAT.

A higher tax rate explains part of the increase

Kazakhstan's new Tax Code took effect on January 1, 2026, raising the standard VAT rate from 12% to 16%. For an unchanged amount of sales before tax, that change increases the VAT collected by one third.

Valve's payment rose from 5.3 billion tenge in the first half of 2025 to 11.21 billion in the first half of 2026, an increase of about 111.5%. A comparison using the applicable rates gives a more useful picture of the underlying taxable amounts.

At 12%, the earlier payment corresponds to roughly 44.17 billion tenge before tax. At 16%, the later payment corresponds to about 70.06 billion. Under the same calculation assumptions, that is growth of approximately 58.6% in the amount before tax.

Both changes therefore contributed to the larger payment: the government charged a higher rate, and the implied taxable base expanded. Readers comparing the two years need both figures to understand why tax receipts grew faster than the estimated purchases before VAT.

Why Russian players use Kazakhstan's Steam region

Russian players faced a more difficult payment environment after Visa, Mastercard and PayPal suspended services in Russia in 2022. Some publishers also stopped selling games through Steam's Russian store, reducing access even for users who could find a way to add funds.

Some players responded by switching their Steam accounts to Kazakhstan and funding purchases through Kazakh payment methods or gift cards. Those purchases helped expand activity associated with the Kazakhstan region, although their contribution remains unquantified.

Steam connects an account's store country to the user's location and payment method. Its Subscriber Agreement prohibits providing false information to obtain regional pricing. A player who changes the account region without actually living there risks restrictions on the account.

For customers, the practical issue is access: whether they can buy a particular game, which payment method works and which store region they can legitimately use. For Kazakhstan's budget, purchases assigned to its tax jurisdiction create receipts from a platform serving users across national borders.

Steam earns money beyond the game purchase

Steam sells full games and downloadable expansions, but its commercial activity also includes virtual currency, season passes and digital objects. Kazantsev pointed to this wider ecosystem when explaining the scale of Valve's payment.

Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 are free to start playing. Spending can continue inside those games through purchases such as weapon appearances, commonly called skins, and other virtual items. Cases and keys are another part of the Counter-Strike economy: players can pay to open a case containing a randomly selected item.

Steam's marketplace also allows users to trade eligible virtual items with one another. Valve receives transaction commissions, while proceeds credited to sellers remain in Steam wallets. A marketplace sale therefore contains different financial components: the value exchanged between users and the fee retained by the platform.

The published VAT totals combine activity at company level. A detailed account of Steam's Kazakhstan business would require separate figures for game sales, purchases inside games and marketplace commissions. Valve, a private company, does not publish country sales figures, making tax records an unusual public window into its regional business.

Monthly reporting now lists games separately

Kazakhstan's official reporting rules offer a more detailed view of what authorities require from internet platforms. Finance Minister M. Takiyev signed Order No. 509 on September 18, 2025, approving a reporting form and procedures that took effect on January 1, 2026.

The order covers information submitted by internet platform owners about goods, services and payments involving individual residents of Kazakhstan. Platforms must send the information to the Finance Ministry's State Revenue Committee no later than the fifth day of the following month.

The form gives computer games and video games their own category, separate from other software. It also requests information on refunds, VAT and commissions or income retained by the platform. These fields allow the tax administration to collect a more detailed picture than a list of total payments by company.

Amounts must be reported in tenge. Transactions in foreign currencies are converted using the applicable market exchange rate on the sale or payment date. The rules also make the organisation's head responsible for the accuracy and timely submission of the information.

The reporting calendar and the development of the tax regime can be traced through several dates:

• 2022: Kazakhstan began applying VAT to foreign internet platforms.
• January through June 2025: Valve paid 5.3 billion tenge.
• September 18, 2025: The finance minister adopted Order No. 509.
• January 1, 2026: The standard VAT rate rose to 16%, and the new reporting order took effect.
• January through June 2026: Valve's payment reached 11.21 billion tenge.
• July 5, 2026: Under the order's monthly schedule, information for June was due.

Digital taxes are growing beyond gaming

Kazakhstan had 133 registered foreign VAT payers in the broader digital tax regime, covering marketplaces, streaming platforms, social networks and other electronic services. Receipts from these businesses reached 51.5 billion tenge in the first seven months of 2026.

The State Revenue Committee's cited total for 2025 was 41.8 billion tenge. On those tenge figures, the first seven months of 2026 brought in 9.7 billion more than the whole of 2025, an increase of about 23.2%. The higher VAT rate forms part of that comparison.

The leadership has also shifted. In the published ranking for the whole of 2025, Elementary Innovation led with payments stated at $28.9 million, followed by Apple at $24.3 million and Valve at $22.4 million. Valve moved ahead in the first half of 2026, while the final ranking for the year will depend on payments during the remaining six months.

The wider budget picture is more mixed. Kazakhstan recorded a 685.8 billion tenge VAT shortfall against its target during January through September 2026, even as foreign internet companies contributed 70.1 billion tenge. The digital segment was growing within a national VAT system whose total receipts were below plan.

Platform access is another issue for Kazakhstan's customers. National Bank deputy chairman Binur Zhalenov said the regulator was working on Kazakhstan's absence from the regional settings of PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store and Nintendo services. That work concerns whether residents can use their own country settings when buying digital entertainment.

Key Points

• Valve paid 11.21 billion tenge in Kazakhstan VAT during the first half of 2026, leading the published ranking of foreign digital companies.
• Temu's operator paid 10.06 billion tenge, Apple 8.54 billion and Google 5.35 billion.
• Valve's payment corresponds to an estimated 81.3 billion tenge in purchases including VAT at the standard 16% rate.
• The payment increased by about 111.5% from the first half of 2025; the tax rate also rose from 12% to 16%.
• Russian users buying through Kazakhstan Steam accounts contributed to regional activity, with their share still unknown.
• Order No. 509 requires monthly platform reporting and lists computer games and video games separately.
• Valve's position for the whole of 2026 will depend on payments during the second half of the year.