Finance Minister of Armenia: Tax administration system in Armenia to be cardinally changed on 1 Jan 2018

The deputy minister pointed out that the package of amendments stems from the strategy of modernization of the tax administration system and at the moment the Ministry of Finance is working with the World Bank to elaborate the relevant projects. The goal of the amendments is to enable the taxpayers to see their tax liabilities online at any moment. They will also see the payments they have made. There is no such an opportunity today due to the lack of technical and legislative base. The settlement of this problem will result in complete automation of the system, which will exclude the human factor and will be similar to the system of Scandinavian countries. 

In particular, the package suggests merging the 50 accounts, to which the taxes are transferred, into a single account. This will rule out any mistakes. At the same time, the funds on the single account will not be considered as tax liabilities until the taxpayers submit their reports. This, in turn, will automatically rule out possible accumulation of overpayments.   

 

All the economic entities will be relieved of the requirement to provide information because the entire information will be open and accessible. The excise tax and VAT settlements will be unified. If an economic entity is in the excise tax field, the VAT reports will automatically be removed, and vice versa. The payments for excise stamps will be canceled because the amount will be included in the tax liabilities. 

 

The use of the new package in the tax administration system will result in 30% optimization due to automation. The cardinal changes in Armenia will reduce the business expenditures, enhance the transparency of the tax system, reduce the contacts between the tax bodies and economic entities, and reduce the corruption risks, the deputy minister said.