Uzbekistan to reduce list of activities for self-employed individuals starting 2026

On March 19, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree aimed at enhancing the role of small and medium-sized businesses in the economy. The decree approves an updated list of activities, jobs, and services that self-employed individuals may undertake. While the current list includes 104 items, it will be reduced to 72 starting January 1, 2026.

The following activities will be excluded from the list:

1. Tutoring at home or in unused rooms of state educational institutions—conducting individual or group lessons for children and adults in academic subjects.
2. Cleaning rooms, landscaping, and greening private individuals’ properties.
3. Repairing and assembling furniture for individuals at home.
4. Performing simple general construction and repair work for individuals (e.g., concrete pouring, painting, plastering, bricklaying, tiling, perforation, carpentry, locksmithing, and other basic construction tasks).
5. Minor repairs of individuals’ personal vehicles, installing accessories and car alarms, and sewing covers and floor mats.
6. Collecting wastepaper, plastic containers, scrap metal, and additional raw materials.
7. Wooden architecture (e.g., crafting wooden structures, sculptures for playgrounds, and park zones).
8. Metal repair work (e.g., repairing household metal items at home, such as duplicating keys, fixing umbrellas, and simple repairs of other metal goods).
9. Preparing and selling popcorn and ice cream using a freezer at home.
10. Retail trade of agricultural products at farmers’ markets.
11. Retail trade of newspapers, magazines, and books.
12. Hairdressing, manicure, and pedicure services.
13. Cosmetology and similar services.
14. Laundry and ironing services at home.
15. Repairing and sewing clothing, fur, leather, knitwear, headwear, and textile haberdashery items based on individual orders from the public.
16. Applying patterns to fabrics (e.g., hand-painting fabrics and clothing, stenciling, and drawing designs by hand).
17. Sewing and repairing window and door curtains, embroidery.
18. Producing and repairing haberdashery items.
19. Crafting and repairing costume jewelry and accessories.
20. Making wreaths (including mourning wreaths), artificial flowers, ikebana, and floral necklaces.
21. Crafting and repairing fences, sculptures, and metal wreaths.
22. Breeding and selling aquarium fish, decorative birds, and other animals.
23. Video and photography services.
24. Preparing and selling national sweets and confectionery at home without packaging equipment.
25. Preparing and selling salads, pickles, and certain ready-to-eat foods sold by portion at home, without seating areas or in designated spots approved by local authorities.
26. Preparing and selling cold drinks, ayran, guja, and kurt at home for takeaway.
27. Organizing and running hobby clubs.
28. Growing and selling flowers and decorative trees (including bonsai art).
29. Distributing advertising leaflets and taking orders at home via operators.
30. Bookbinding work.
31. Guide, interpreter-guide, tour leader, and pathfinder services.
32. Text creation and processing (e.g., copywriter, rewriter, SEO copywriter, SEO rewriter, proofreader, content manager, editor, email marketing specialist, speechwriter, transcriber, etc.).
33. Real estate services (e.g., assisting with renting or purchasing housing).
34. Collecting agricultural products in neighborhoods and selling them exclusively to local exporting enterprises.

Representatives of these professions will need to register as individual entrepreneurs or legal entities.

The updated list includes new activities such as retail trade of goods and services on electronic platforms (marketplaces), preserving and utilizing intangible cultural heritage objects, and poultry farming.

Updated list of activities for self-employed individuals:

1. Childcare and babysitting services for individuals.
2. Establishing and operating family-style children’s homes.
3. Care and nursing services for sick individuals and elderly people requiring constant assistance.
4. Household management and chores, including cleaning residences and cooking for households.
5. Minor repairs and installation of plumbing equipment for individuals.
6. Electrical installation services inside apartments or homes for individuals (with electrical safety permits).
7. Land preparation and reclamation on farms and citizens’ household plots.
8. Agricultural work ordered by farmers, silkworm breeders, or seed organizations (e.g., tending crops, silkworms, livestock, harvesting, planting mulberry trees, etc.).
9. Landscaping citizens’ fields and household plots.
10. Assisting farmers and plot owners with planting, tending crops, and harvesting.
11. Grazing and tending livestock, including insemination, lambing, shearing, and gathering coarse fodder.
12. Computer repair, setup, and licensed software installation for individuals.
13. Installing and repairing household appliances at the client’s home.
14. Washing and polishing car bodies for individuals.
15. Manual loading and unloading at home without mechanized tools.
16. Traditional medicine (with a license).
17. Butler and concierge services for private individuals.
18. Delivering goods on order (excluding freight transport).
19. Transporting small loads in carts at markets and shopping complexes.
20. Buying and selling used goods.
21. Bicycle repair.
22. Painting.
23. Sewing, repairing, dyeing, and cleaning footwear based on individual orders.
24. Key-making.
25. Crafting and renting measuring tools.
26. Sharpening cutting tools and instruments.
27. Repairing and tuning musical instruments.
28. Preparing and selling national bread and flatbreads.
29. Taxidermy inflation services.
30. Modeling clothes at exhibitions, posing for magazines, ads, or video clips.
31. Creating and processing multimedia, design, and art materials (e.g., web designer, graphic designer, game designer, interior designer, etc.).
32. Developing and supporting software, IT systems, mobile apps, and websites (e.g., programmer, software tester, web developer, etc.).
33. Retail trade of goods, works, or services on electronic platforms.
34. Social media activities (e.g., PR manager, internet marketer, SMM specialist, etc.).
35. HR and recruitment activities (e.g., HR manager, recruiter, personal assistant).
36. Online consulting (e.g., online consultant, trainer, financial advisor).
37. Preserving and utilizing intangible cultural heritage objects (e.g., rope-walking, satire, storytelling, excluding those under cultural centers).
38. Raising and breeding domestic poultry at home.
39. Nursing services.
40. Brokerage services at livestock markets.
41. Brokerage services at car markets.
42. Processing and selling milk and dairy products at home.
43. Crafting items from plaster and stucco (e.g., home decor, fairy-tale figurines).
44. Making souvenirs and decorative items from stone.
45. Weaving baskets and bread containers from wood.
46. Raising silkworms, growing mulberry trees, and weaving silk fabrics or carpets at home.
47. Pottery.
48. Cybersports activities.
49. Activities of athletes awarded the “Uzbekistan Ministry of Sports Scholarship.”
50. Collecting and preparing leather raw materials.
51. Collecting and preparing wool.
52. Sewing clothing and products from recycled wool.
53. Making clay tandoors at home.
54. Weaving atlas and adras fabrics.
55. Beadwork.
56. Crafting traditional skullcaps at home.
57. Blacksmithing products at home.
58. Beekeeping and making beehives and frames.
59. Sewing dresses, quilts, and blankets using patchwork techniques.
60. Gathering, growing, and selling mushrooms at home.
61. Crafting, sharpening, and selling knives.
62. Making paper boxes and labels.
63. Growing greenhouse products at home.
64. Attaching labels to finished products.
65. Producing children’s toys at home.
66. Growing and crafting brooms at home.
67. Making flat-footed children’s shoes.
68. Crafting national jewelry.
69. Carving and crafting copper items at home.
70. Weaving carpets, quilts, and pillows from coarse wool.
71. Collecting and delivering Artemia cysts.
72. Transporting passengers in light vehicles within and between cities (with a license).

Starting May 1, self-employed individuals registering as individual entrepreneurs or legal entities in Uzbekistan will be exempt from state duties. This measure is part of a program to encourage business growth. Those expanding their businesses may access collateral-free loans or expedited VAT refunds.