Tuesday, January 22 2013 18:19
Economic authorities of Armenia stealthily increase tax burden of estate agents more than threefold
ArmInfo. The amendments to the Law "On Licensing" came into force on Jan 1 2013. According to the amendments, the tax burden of the estate agents has increased more than threefold, the heads of three real estate agencies said at a press conference in Yerevan on Tuesday. They stressed that the amendments to the 5-year-old law were adopted by the Government stealthily, without any preliminary discussion with the market participants. The estate agents qualify this "surprise" of the Government as a blow below the belt.
Artyom Pribylsky, Head of the Yerevan Real Estate Exchange, said that according to the amendments to the Law "On Licensing", the real estate agencies of Yerevan are to pay 60 thsd AMD monthly for every employee, and the agencies in the region - 10-50 thsd AMD. In the meantime, the new law does not specify what specialties the amendments concern: "Do we have to pay 60 thsd AMD for the operating personnel as well?"
The estate agents are sure that the Government's amendments will make the real estate agencies operate at a loss. In addition, the shadow business will grow. Head of AR-GO real estate agency Araik Gojabashyan said that the property agencies will inevitably have to optimize the personnel because of the high taxes. He added that the country has about 200 agencies in the sphere of real estate services.
The estate agents said that their initiative group addressed an open letter to the President of Armenia, asking him to cancel the destructive amendments for the sphere. Instead, they suggest imposing a sales tax on the estate agencies, which will increase the taxable base in the sphere of real estate services due to legalization of this segment.
Before the amendments introduced by the Government, the real estate agencies fell within taxation similar to other economic entities.
To note, the Government has also decided to toughen the taxation of dental clinics. From now on, in addition to the income tax, the dentists in Armenia will also pay 80,000-100,000 AMD for each dental chair. The specialists are sure that the new law, which was not discussed with the professional community of dentists either, will lead to serious growth in prices of dental services in Armenia.
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