How do people in Tajikistan pay online?
Cards on the national scheme come first. The National Bank of Tajikistan counted 12.4 million bank payment cards on 30 June 2026, 35.4% more than a year earlier. Korti Milli, the national payment system, is the largest scheme. On 30 June 2025, according to National Bank data reported by Trend, Korti Milli cards made up 51.6% of cards in circulation, and cards co-badged with Korti Milli and Express Pay or UnionPay another 20.7%. Visa had 15.3% and Mastercard 5.2%. The National Bank’s register lists the state savings bank Amonatbonk as running the Korti Milli system.
Wallets sit next to cards. The National Bank reported 19.8 million electronic wallets at 28 credit institutions on 30 June 2026, more wallets than people, since one person can hold wallets at several banks. Wallet payments grew fast: 14.6 million transactions worth TJS 3.6 billion in the first half of 2026, with value up 110%. Alif launched Alif Mobi in 2018 and calls it the country’s first mobile wallet, and its Alif Pay service, launched in 2017, was the first platform for paying local online services with a Korti Milli card. Dushanbe City Bank reports 2.8 million downloads of its mobile app and more than 15,000 QR codes, and Eskhata Bank runs its own mobile payments and transfers.
QR payments are spreading through a national standard. The National Bank counts 33,620 QR codes at shops and service points, up 32.4% on a year earlier, and a common QR code lets customers pay from any participating banking app.
Cash is losing ground but still matters. In the first half of 2026, cards and wallets carried 41% of payments for goods and services, up 13 percentage points in a year. Remittances shape the market too: the World Bank puts personal remittances at 57.7% of GDP in 2025, and banks market Korti Milli cards as a way to receive money from abroad.
What rules shape online payments in Tajikistan?
Foreign sellers of electronic services pay VAT. Amendments that took effect in early 2021 require foreign companies that provide electronic services to individuals in Tajikistan, such as e-books, software rights, advertising and hosting, to register with the Tax Committee and pay VAT. According to the US International Trade Administration, the 2022 Tax Code set a 15% rate for online services supplied by foreign companies to individuals, and from 2024 non-cash transactions are taxed at 14% through 2026, with further changes planned for 2027. Andersen in Tajikistan explains that registration is done online and creates a Taxpayer Office, through which the Tax Committee requests documents and accepts returns, and that the tax is paid quarterly.
Consumer law gives shoppers 14 days to exchange goods. Under Article 25 of the Law on Consumer Protection, a buyer can exchange unused non-food goods within 14 calendar days of delivery, unless the seller announces a longer period, and can return them for a refund if no similar item is in stock that day. The government approves a list of goods that cannot be exchanged. Tajikistan passed its first e-commerce law in December 2022, according to the International Trade Administration.
Cross-border links are limited. Korti Milli is a domestic scheme, and Alif says its Korti Milli card cannot be used abroad or on foreign websites. The International Trade Administration notes limited integration with international payment systems such as PayPal, and reports that about 80% of banks’ correspondent accounts were in Russian banks before February 2022, after which banks looked for accounts in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia. It counts 4.9 million internet users in a population of 10.6 million.
How would Omno route payments in Tajikistan?
Omno is built for markets like this: a merchant connects once and sets routing rules per method, currency and customer group.
- Korti Milli card pay-ins would be routed to a provider with local acquiring, since Korti Milli cards are domestic and cannot be used on foreign websites.
- Visa and Mastercard pay-ins can be routed by BIN, so domestic and foreign cards each go to the acquirer your rules set, with cascading to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Wallet and QR payments would stay pending until the provider confirms them, with webhooks as the source of truth before an order is released.
- Pay-outs would follow PSP eligibility rules, so marketplace seller payouts only use providers that support card pay-outs in TJS.
Customer groups and customer verification levels can hold first-time customers on conservative routes until checks are done, and eligibility rules keep each line of business on providers that accept it. The routing-decision log records which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for Korti Milli first. Most cards in the country run on it, and a checkout that only takes Visa and Mastercard misses a large part of the market.
Plan for local acquiring. Korti Milli works inside Tajikistan, so a merchant contracting abroad needs a provider with a Tajik acquiring connection.
Plan for VAT if you sell digital services from abroad. Foreign providers of electronic services to Tajik individuals register online with the Tax Committee and pay VAT quarterly.
Plan for reconciliation in TJS. Settlement timing and fees differ between card acquirers and wallet providers, and the routing-decision log shows which provider handled each payment so finance teams can reconcile by route.