BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 5. Azerbaijan has achieved tangible and measurable results in curbing the scale of its shadow economy, said Orkhan Nazarli, Head of the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy, Trend reports.
Speaking at the forum on “Looking to the Future in the Tax System: New Governance Model and Data-Driven Decisions,” Nazarli highlighted last year’s outcomes:
“Amid global political and economic uncertainties, 2025 was a year where stability and flexible adaptation were paramount for the Azerbaijani economy. Maintaining fiscal resilience and ensuring steady state revenues were key priorities. The measures implemented resulted in positive dynamics in fiscal collections.
Last year, the State Tax Service’s fiscal collections approached 24.2 billion manat ($14.2 billion), accounting for nearly 79.1% of total fiscal revenue. Total tax revenues exceeded projections by 105.5%, while non-oil and gas sector contributions reached 102.9%. In total, almost 16.4 billion manat ($9.65 billion) were collected for the state budget, with non-oil and gas sector revenues surpassing 12 billion manat ($7 billion).
According to Nazarli, voluntary compliance reached 92.6% in 2025, more than doubling in absolute terms compared to 2019.
“As a key indicator of economic activity, the number of active taxpayers increased by 6.5%, reaching nearly 860,000, an expansion of 73.2% relative to 2019.
These positive trends were achieved not only through strengthened administrative oversight but also by formalizing economic activity and enhancing mutual trust with taxpayers. Concurrently, measurable progress has been made in curbing the shadow economy. These results underscore that a systematic and consistent approach yields long-term, sustainable impact,” he added.
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