On April 22, 2021, a meeting-discussion took place on the draft of the RA Law “On making amendments and addenda to the RA Tax Code” developed by the State Revenue Committee. The meeting was attended by representatives of the private sector that are members of the SME Development Council under the RA Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, as well as representatives of the Business Support Office and other stakeholder institutions.

The Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan presented to the meeting participants some provisions of the Ministry’s economic policy concept aimed at tax reforms, in particular, proposals aimed at solving underlying problems that arise during operations with VAT-obliged producers and business entities obliged with turnover tax. Taking into account the economic and social factors of Armenia, it is proposed to apply differentiated VAT tax rates in the general tax system, along with abolition of turnover tax in all spheres and transition to general taxation scheme. On the instruction of the Minister, the document was provided to the meeting participants to study in detail.

A number of provisions proposed by the State Revenue Committee in the authored draft law on making amendments and addenda to the Tax Code were discussed at the meeting. In particular, the issue proposed by the draft on adding an additional “Thematic study” to the toolkit of the tax authority was discussed, within the framework of which, based on the results of analysis, the tax authority will conduct a study among taxpayers who have not submitted tax calculations on specific risks or have not provided clarifications thereof.

Reference was made to the issue of enabling submission of documents through the electronic reporting system of the tax authority and proposed changes related to violation of rules defined for use of cash registers.

On the instruction of the Minister, the Business Support Office will collect the issues and proposals discussed during the meeting, which will be submitted to the SME Development Council to be included in the agenda of the Council’s next meeting in May.

Minister Vahan Kerobyan expressed readiness to assist within his competence in solving the problems presented by the business community.