It consists of a blue-white-red horizontal tricolour with a green vertical band on the hoist containing a traditional yellow sun device.

During Soviet rule, Khakassia existed as the Khakas Autonomous Oblast and did not have its own flag.

The earliest version of the flag of Khakassia was similar to the current one, but the sun on the hoist was black and the colours of the tricolour were white-blue-red, similar to the flag of Russia.

On 23 December 1993, the colour of the sun was changed from black to yellow.

Despite being exempt from the rule, on 25 September 2003 the order of the stripes on the flag of Khakassia was changed from white-blue-red to blue-white-red, so that the order of the stripes no longer mimicked the Russian flag.