ArmInfo. "They made decisions in their offices and did not even consult with us," auto importers complain, who gathered for a protest outside the government building. They are protesting against the new rules of taxation, which came into force on June 1, 2018, obliging to pay 20% tax on income in the event of the sale of the 2nd car and demand to reduce it to 1.5% of the car price.
As Assistant to the Prime Minister Nairi Sargsyan told reporters, in the result of the joint discussion with Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan with representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the State Revenue Committee, it became clear that paying 20% of the income tax on selling the 2nd car is an unbearable burden for car dealers.
According to him, autoimporters cite as an example the experience of neighboring Georgia, where car dealers pay a tax equivalent of 30 thousand Armenian drams when selling cars. In this regard, the Armenian government has developed a project in which local importers of cars will pay a tax of 30-40 thousand drams."The Prime Minister has been offered two options to resolve the issue and the project will be presented to the parliament in the near future. In fact, the demand of car dealers will be satisfied and henceforth people will not register the vehicle in the names of relatives and neighbors, but will do business and pay taxes" - said the assistant prime minister. According to him, it is about paying 1.5% of the price of the car.As Nairi Sargsyan noted, before making this decision, notifications were sent to people that they should pay a tax of 20%. "That is why this decision will have retroactive effect and will extend to obligations arising from the import of cars after July 1, 2018," the Assistant Prime Minister of Armenia assured.At the same time, Tigran Hovhannisyan, the chairman of the League for the Protection of Drivers, suggested setting a fixed tax, and not at a rate of 1.5% of the price of a car, so that each dealer would know exactly how much he would have to pay to the treasury. "We are told that the tax will amount to 1.5% of the value of the sale and purchase transaction, but sellers very often indicate different numbers when making a transaction, perhaps up to 10 times less than its market value. Will they be valid for tax purposes?" - he asked, proposing to establish a fixed tax for certain price categories of cars. For example, for a car worth up to 5 thousand dollars one, for a more expensive category - a higher one.