Belarus HTP vs Kyrgyzstan’s High Technology Park: Which Regime Fits Which Team?

Belarus and Kyrgyzstan both have an IT tax regime called a High Technology Park. In both countries, resident companies are exempt from most taxes and are expected to work mainly for foreign clients, and both parks took in a lot of relocated companies after 2022.

Beyond that, they’re quite different. The Belarusian park has been around for twenty years and employs about 60,000 people. The Kyrgyz one is much smaller, has lower tax rates, and is growing quickly. Below we compare costs, entry requirements, talent, legal tools, and sanctions exposure, and then look at which kinds of teams tend to do better in each country.

Belarus vs Kyrgyzstan at a glance

Factor	Belarus HTP	Kyrgyzstan HTP
Resident companies	More than 1,000	463 (end of 2025)
People employed	About 60,000	About 3,000 jobs created
2025 revenue	About $3 billion	$195 million
Corporate income tax and VAT	Exempt for most activities	0%
Employee income tax	13%	5%
Employer social contributions	34% of the national average wage	12% of the national average wage
Payment to the park	1% of revenue	1% of turnover
Main entry test	Business plan approved by the Supervisory Board	90% of revenue from IT activities, 80% from exports
Regime term	Until January 1, 2049	Set by law with no end date
HTP rates through an EOR	Yes, via an HTP-resident EOR	Check with the provider
Sanctions	Country-level EU restrictions; some US measures eased	Several banks sanctioned; EU curbs on some goods

Figures as of September 2026. Rules in both countries change often, so confirm current terms before you commit.

How big each park is

The Belarusian Hi-Tech Park opened in 2005. It has more than 1,000 resident companies today, 136 of which joined in 2025. Residents earned about $3 billion last year, and exports were up 12%.

Kyrgyzstan’s park had 463 resident companies at the end of 2025. Their revenue rose 50% to $195.4 million, with exports making up 95.3% of it and clients in 70 countries. According to the park’s director, resident companies employ about 3,000 people, and 90% of them are Kyrgyz citizens.

By revenue, the Belarusian park is roughly 15 times larger. For hiring, the difference mostly shows up in seniority. Belarus has had twenty years of outsourcing work to build an experienced bench, while Kyrgyzstan is at a much earlier stage.

Taxes and payroll costs

On tax rates alone, Kyrgyzstan comes out ahead. According to the park, residents don’t pay VAT, corporate income tax, or sales tax, and their employees pay 5% income tax. Social contributions are 12% of the national average salary, whatever the employee actually earns. Residents also pay 1% of turnover to the park’s directorate.

The Belarusian regime is built the same way, with higher numbers. HTP residents don’t pay VAT or corporate income tax on qualifying activities and pay 1% of revenue to the park. Employees pay 13% income tax for 2023 to 2027. Employers pay 34% in social contributions, calculated on the national average wage rather than on the actual salary.

Because contributions in both countries are tied to the average wage, they stay flat as salaries go up. This is what makes the HTP regime in Belarus cost-effective for senior engineers. Kyrgyzstan’s version works the same way, only with a lower rate applied to a lower average wage.

Example: an engineer on $4,000 a month

Monthly cost	Kyrgyzstan HTP	Belarus HTP
Gross salary	$4,000	$4,000
Employer social contributions	About $71 (12% of the national average wage)	About $331 (34% of the national average wage)
Accident insurance	None	About $24
Total employer cost	About $4,071	About $4,355
Employee income tax	$200 (5%)	$520 (13%)

With these numbers, a Kyrgyz resident spends about $280 a month less per engineer. There’s also a difference on the employee side: on the same gross salary, an engineer in Kyrgyzstan takes home $320 more a month after income tax. If you’re hiring someone who is comparing offers from both countries, keep that in mind.

Assumptions: Kyrgyzstan’s average wage of 51,888 som for January to May 2026 at about 87.4 som per dollar; Belarus’s average wage of BYN 3,172 for July 2026 at about 3.26 rubles per dollar; a 0.6% accident insurance rate in Belarus. The average wage each social fund applies may differ from these figures. Excludes the 1% park payments, employee social contributions, and provider fees.

Entry requirements and enforcement

In Belarus, the main hurdle is the business plan. The HTP Supervisory Board has to approve it, residents report against it afterwards, and selection has become stricter in recent years. There’s no fixed export share. Our guide to the HTP joining rules covers the process step by step.

Kyrgyzstan uses numerical thresholds instead. At least 90% of a resident’s revenue has to come from permitted IT activities and at least 80% from exports, and new residents get some time to reach the export level.

Checks there are also becoming more thorough. In late May 2026 the Cabinet tightened oversight of park residents by adding a compliance auditor to the park’s structure. The auditor checks whether companies meet the 90% and 80% thresholds and looks for signs of underreported taxes or unjustified use of the regime. The park’s directorate and supervisory board can now ask residents for extra financial documents, and the park can exchange information with the tax service and the financial intelligence service.

Individuals can become residents as well. A sole proprietor on the single tax pays 1% of revenue instead of 2%, which is one reason freelancers and very small teams like the regime. Foreign businesses usually join through a Kyrgyz company or a branch.

Talent

This is where Belarus is strongest. About 60,000 people work for HTP residents, and many of them have spent years on projects for clients in the US and Europe. Backend, mobile, QA, fintech, and gaming all have deep benches, and finding senior people is more realistic than in a smaller market.

The Kyrgyz market is smaller and generally less senior. A good share of its recent growth came from teams that relocated there, and the park has been popular with digital nomads and with specialists from Russia in particular. Foreign IT professionals can live and work in Kyrgyzstan under the Digital Nomad status without a visa or work permit. That status is about residence and isn’t connected to the HTP tax regime.

If you’re planning to hire locally rather than relocate people, the size of the market will limit how fast you can grow. Our IT recruitment team can tell you what a particular role looks like in Belarus before you decide.

Belarus is also fairly easy for foreign hires. Foreign employees of HTP residents don’t need a work permit, and temporary residence is issued through a simplified procedure.

Legal tools for equity and retention

HTP residents in Belarus can use several instruments borrowed from English law. The HTP decree allows option agreements, convertible loans, shareholder agreements, non-poaching agreements, and non-compete agreements with employees. This matters most to venture-backed companies and to teams that pay partly in equity.

The Kyrgyz park is essentially a tax regime, and its director has said as much, describing preferential taxation as the main reason to become a resident. If a Kyrgyz team needs options or a post-employment non-compete, you’ll probably have to set them up through a foreign parent company.

Sanctions and banking

Both countries have sanctions issues, but they’re of a different kind.

Belarus is sanctioned directly. The EU bans transactions with the Central Bank of Belarus and several commercial banks and restricts money flowing from Belarus into the EU. The US has eased some of its measures since 2025. If your company is in the EU, work out the payment route before the first payroll.

Kyrgyzstan itself isn’t under sanctions, but a number of its banks are. The US designated Keremet Bank in January 2025. The EU’s 20th package banned transactions with Keremet Bank and Capital Bank from May 14, 2026, and the 21st package added EcoIslamicBank in July.

In 2026 the EU also used its anti-circumvention tool against Kyrgyzstan for the first time and banned exports of certain machine tools and telecom equipment to the country. Soon after, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Justice suspended 50 companies it considered sanctions risks. None of this is aimed at IT services, but it has made local banks more cautious about their clients.

For a Kyrgyz team, the bank you pick makes a big difference. In Belarus, you need to think through the whole payment chain. If you want the legal detail on how the 2026 measures fit together, Norton Rose Fulbright’s analysis is a good place to start.

Which regime fits which team

These are the situations we see most often, and where we think each one lands.

Solo engineers and small remote teams

Kyrgyzstan is usually the better fit. For a freelancer or a handful of relocated specialists working for foreign clients, sole-proprietor residency keeps both taxes and paperwork low, as long as the activity and export thresholds are met.

Engineering centers that need senior people

Here we’d choose Belarus. If the plan is 20 to 200 engineers with a solid senior core, the size of the talent pool matters more than the tax rate, and lower rates in Kyrgyzstan won’t help if the roles stay open.

Companies that don’t want their own entity

Belarus again. You can hire through an HTP-resident employer of record and get HTP payroll treatment without registering anything yourself. In Kyrgyzstan the benefits belong to the resident company, which has to pass the 90% activity test, so if a provider offers HTP rates, ask how it qualifies. There’s a more detailed comparison of HTP residency and the EOR route on our blog.

EU companies with strict banking requirements

Kyrgyzstan is often simpler here. If your bank or investors aren’t comfortable with Belarus, a Kyrgyz setup tends to raise fewer questions, provided the bank is chosen carefully and the compliance paperwork is kept up to date.

Crypto and web3 teams

Talk to a lawyer before anything else. Belarus has a crypto regime inside the HTP, but EU persons can no longer deal with Belarusian crypto-asset service providers. On the Kyrgyz side, several crypto platforms registered in the country have been sanctioned by the UK and the EU.

Some companies end up using both countries, with the main engineering team in Belarus and a small group in Kyrgyzstan for particular roles or clients.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kyrgyzstan’s HTP cheaper than Belarus’s?

Yes, on paper. Employees pay 5% income tax rather than 13%, and employers pay 12% of a lower national average wage instead of 34%. For an engineer on $4,000 a month, that’s about $280 less in employer costs. Whether it works out cheaper overall depends on how easily you can hire and how your payments are routed.

Can a foreign company join Kyrgyzstan’s HTP?

Usually through a Kyrgyz company or branch. At least 90% of revenue has to come from permitted IT activities and at least 80% from exports, and new residents get time to reach the export level.

Does Belarus’s HTP have an export requirement?

There’s no fixed export share. Applicants need a business plan approved by the HTP Supervisory Board and report against it once they become residents.

Can I get HTP benefits through an EOR?

In Belarus, yes, if the EOR is an HTP resident, which EOR.by is. In Kyrgyzstan the benefits belong to the resident company, so ask any provider how it qualifies before you count on HTP rates.

Is Kyrgyzstan under sanctions?

Not as a country. Several Kyrgyz banks are sanctioned by the US, UK, or EU, and the EU restricts exports of some goods to Kyrgyzstan. For an IT company, the main thing is to bank with an institution that has reliable international connections.

How long does each regime last?

Belarus’s HTP regime runs until January 1, 2049. Kyrgyzstan’s is set by law and, according to the park, has no end date.

Hiring in Belarus through EOR.by

EOR.by is an employer of record based in Minsk and an HTP resident. Engineers we employ for you are covered by the Belarusian HTP payroll rules, including social contributions based on the national average wage, and you don’t need to register a company or apply for residency.

We take care of employment contracts, payroll, taxes, and local compliance, and you run the work itself.

If you tell us how many people you need and in which roles, we’ll put together a Belarus cost estimate you can compare with the Kyrgyz figures above.

You can contact our team here.