ArmInfo. Heads of 11 retail trade networks of Armenia appealed to the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with a demand to stop demanding from them previously formed tax arrears in the amount of 20% VAT on the sale of agricultural products.
In their open letter, they informed the premier that at one time the State Revenue Committee gave green light to formalize the sale of agricultural products through individual entrepreneurs (IP), thereby limiting themselves to a 5% tax on turnover, which allowed to keep prices at a low level. It is noted that now SRC requires from them all tax arrears in the amount of 20% VAT, which, according to the leaders of the networks, they did not receive. In their address, network managers resorted to an incomprehensible logical conclusion that they were in the risk zone, since they require amounts they have not earned. They pointed out unequivocally that there are about 10,000 people working on the networks, some of which may lose their jobs, and higher prices for products will cause the local commodity producer to be ousted from the market by the importer. It was said that, in the end, all this burden will fall on the shoulders of buyers, who will have to shell out additional money.
Meanwhile, the experts interviewed by ArmInfo expressed their bewilderment by the fact that the internal agreements under the old government turned out to be above the law. For some reason, it is trading networks belonging to oligarchs close to the former power that have received such acceptable, and even informal, privileges. This was the essence of the so-called "parallel economy" of Armenia, a vivid example of the dominance of informal economic relations over formal economic relations-legal. Moreover, experts believe, even if such illegal agreements have taken place, it is unclear on what basis the cash flows came to the cashier of supermarkets, and then into the pockets of their owners, if they were to go to the accounts of individual entrepreneurs, the worse - if the fake ones. As you know, network managers for this purpose forced their employees to register IP licenses and closed these IPs when the turnovers reached the required limits for a certain tax rate, while opening more and more IPs. In the opinion of experts, this whole "tax carousel" smells rather than administrative, but also criminal offenses.
To be fair, we note that the leaders of 11 networks, however, in their address welcomed the steps of the new government to establish legality in the field of large-scale network trade and stated the need for an urgent review of tax legislation.
The inadmissibility of the privileged position of the Armenian oligarchy in the retail market in the country was said for a long time at a different expert level. As a result of this state of affairs, almost all retail trade, primarily in Yerevan, was concentrated in trade networks, thousands of small and medium-sized stores, not being competitive, simply left the market and thousands of families became unemployed.