IMF Mission Chief urges State Revenue Committee of Armenia to exert genuine efforts to collect taxes and ensure equivalent approach to all businesses

ArmInfo. State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia will exert genuine efforts to ensure tax revenues of the state budget showing equivalent approach to all the business representatives. SRC Chairman Hovhanness Hovsepyan said at a working meeting with IMF Mission Chief to Armenia Hossein Samiei on September 19, according to the SRC Public Relations Office.  Samiei expressed hope that the Committee will cope with the task set to it.

According to Hovsepyan, the budget fulfillment is connected with many problems, but the Committee regulates the situation.  In his words, each of the 118 big taxpayers of Armenia paid by 30 million drams more taxes to the budget for 8 months of 2015 than a year ago, but in the same period of 2016, the total amount of taxes paid by them proved by 34 billion drams less. These are banks, metallurgical and mining enterprises, power grid and the communication sector. "Nevertheless, in the current political and economic situation, the Committee managed to fill that gap and even ensure a growth of tax revenues comparing to the 8 months of 2015 due to the taxes paid by other taxpayers," Hovsepyan explained.

The sides discussed the macroeconomic situation as well as the issues connected with the tax and customs regulations and legislation. The geopolitical and economic factors influencing the budget revenues were discussed. Hovhanness Hovsepyan said tax revenues keep growing and the trend for the recent two years has not changed. He drew the attention of the IMF Mission chief to the influence of economic indicators on tax collection saying the fields of culture and entertainment, agriculture, and mining had no direct influence on the growth of the revenues unlike the previous years.

"Irrespective of the unfavorable economic conditions, the Committee with its consistent administrative measures has ensured the indicators, without targeting SME. The Committee focused on a strict administrative approach to the big businesses without impeding their activity," the SRC head said.  As for the factors influencing the receipts from customs duties, Hovsepyan said that after the VAT was exempted from import of cars from the EAEU countries, the import of cars from third countries has suffered decline and the customs duties fell by 4.5 billion drams. Despite this, the Committee managed to fill the gap by improving the customs administering.  By data of the Committee, in the first half of 2016, 1,000 big taxpayers of Armenia paid more than 346.7 billion drams, including 87.5 billion drams customs duties, 135.5 billion drams direct taxes (including profit and incomes taxes), 172.7 billion drams indirect taxes (including VAT and excise tax).  The 118 big taxpayers alone paid 229.6 billion drams to the state budget for the first half of 2016.  For comparison, for the same period of 2015, 1,000 big taxpayers paid 325.02 billion drams, including 93.4 billion drams customs duties, 116.8 billion drams direct taxes and 170.6 billion drams indirect ones.  The 118 big taxpayers alone paid 214.1 billion drams.