Reduction of personnel and tax collection growth

Reduction of personnel and tax collection growth

State Revenue Committee changes its policy

During the past six months, the policy of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) is undergoing changes. PanARMENAIN.Net presents some of them, including reduction of personnel, tax collection growth and tax amnesty, as well as tax exemption for self-employed citizens.

PanARMENIAN.Net - SRC efficiency in the past

In 2016, PAN compared the number of tax inspectors and economic entities in Armenia and Georgia. As a result, it turned out that although the number of economic entities in Georgia is five times as many as in Armenia, the number of tax inspectors in the country is however less by 30%, which means that 1 Georgian inspector serves 4 more entities than an Armenian one.

Reduction of personnel

The State Revenue Committee plans system reforms which imply cutting 483 employees. Besides, several customs houses will be abolished, while a joint department to control activity of trade organizations will operate instead of territorial departments and inspectors.

Tax exemption for self-employed individuals

Since January 2017, over 1500 self-employed individuals engaged in sewing alteration and repair of clothes, wood carving, language teaching and some other fields (in all 23) have become tax exempt.

Tax amnesty

4300 sole traders will be relieved of the penalty charges for the income tax and social payments till December 31, 2020, saving about AMD 800 million. Physical persons, who exceeded the social payments terms, notary officers, self-employed individuals (about 1500 people in all) will also be relieved of penalty charges.

Tax collection growth

In the first quarter of 2017, the amount of taxes collected by the SRC increased by AMD 24,3 billion against the same period in 2016. During the period between October 2016 and April 2017, the SRC collected taxes totaling AMD 653,8 billion.

$29 million more from major taxpayers

In the first quarter of 2017, the country’s major tax payers increased payments by AMD 13,9 billion (about $29 million), with the number of invoices increasing by 18% to total 1,420 samples. According to the SRC chairman, it’s conditioned by the reduction of shadow economy from 48,8% to 33,2%.

Conditions improve for bona fide businessmen

In January 2017, responsible and detail-oriented businessmen engaged in foreign trade were granted a status of customs service partner, which considerably eases execution of documents and offers other advantages.

Azerbaijani apple scandal

In April 2017, apples of Azerbaijani origin were confiscated from a number of shops in Yerevan. The investigation revealed that some of SRC employees were bribed to allow import of over 50kg of fruit and vegetables without customs control.

Arrests and criminal cases

271 criminal cases were initiated during the period from October 2016 to April 2017, of them 103 cases referring to customs law violations and 168 to tax misdeeds.

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