Wednesday, February 15 2017 12:38

ArmInfo. Armenian National  Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Raffi Hamparian recently held a  working meeting on Capitol Hill with U.S. Senator Robert Menendez  (D-NJ) on a range of shared priorities, including the negotiation of  a new U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty, ANCA reported. 

This bilateral tax agreement, which would facilitate increased  investment by removing the threat of earned profits being taxed  twice, is among the ANCA's economic development priorities, along  with Millennium Challenge funding for STEM education and direct Los  Angeles to Yerevan commercial and cargo flights. 

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Senator  Menendez serves, is constitutionally charged with ratifying all  treaties, including a future tax accord with the Republic of Armenia.

"We are pressing forward with our pro-active engagement with the full  range of American and Armenian stakeholders in support of a new  U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty," remarked Hamparian. The ANCA looks  forward to the day when Senator Menendez and his colleagues on the  Senate Foreign Relations Committee will have the opportunity to  further strengthen America's partnership with Armenia by ratifying  this long overdue bilateral accord."

In an opinion article late last year, Hamparian made the case for why  a U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty is mutually beneficial: "A new tax  treaty would represent a great way to give substance to the rhetoric  - from both Washington and Yerevan - about improving U.S.-Armenia  bilateral relations. This accord would both reflect and reinforce the  progress we saw last year [2015] with the signing of a U.S.-Armenia  Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. It would, as well, create  the conditions for the future growth of the U.S.-Armenia economic  relationship, the continued development of bilateral  government-to-government ties, and, of course, the strengthening of  the enduring bonds of friendship that have long connected the  American and Armenian peoples."

The current treaty governing double taxation issues between the two  countries is the 1973 U.S.-U.S.S.R. Tax Treaty, an outdated forty  year-old accord. The lack of a double tax treaty between the United  States and Armenia creates legal uncertainty that deters potential  U.S. investors, diverts investment flows and disadvantages American  businesses seeking to invest in the Republic of Armenia.