Government proposes stricter penalties for late financial reports

PanARMENIAN.Net - The government is proposing to tighten penalties for failing to submit financial statements as required by law. Deputy Finance Minister Arman Poghosyan presented these changes during a session of the National Assembly's standing committee, discussing amendments to the Administrative Offenses Code.

According to Poghosyan, the proposed changes aim to align fine amounts with the average cost of auditing financial statements. Currently, the fines are significantly lower: for a first-time offense, businesses pay 50,000 drams, and if the violation is not corrected within 30 days, the fine increases to 500,000 drams, totaling no more than 550,000 drams.

To address this issue, the government suggests a substantial increase in fines. For a first-time violation, a fine of 150,000 drams is proposed; if not corrected within 30 days, the fine would rise to 1.5 million drams, and if the violation persists for another 30 days, the penalty would reach 3 million drams.

The Deputy Minister noted that the average cost of auditing financial statements in Armenia is about 6 million drams, while the current fines do not effectively prevent violations. "Statistics show that over the past three years, only 50% of the 550 organizations subject to audit have submitted their reports on time," Poghosyan emphasized.