ArmInfo. Representatives of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) with the head of the US Ministry of Finance discussed prospects of concluding a new Agreement on avoidance of double taxation with Armenia
ANCA reports that recently, during a meeting of the International Affairs Council in Los Angeles, between the US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparyan, a constructive exchange of views on the conclusion of a new Agreement on avoidance of double taxation, on the mutual benefit of Armenia and the United States . Noting that the purpose of such agreements to exclude double taxation on trade and investment, the head of the US Treasury, said: "We must be sure of the fairness of taxation of other countries with respect to our companies doing business in these countries, and vice versa." Member of the ANCA National Council Aida Dimejan expressed satisfaction with the fact that the Committee's representatives had an opportunity to share with the head of the US Ministry of Finance the advantages of concluding a new treaty between the US and RA on avoiding double taxation. According to her, it is obvious that Secretary Mnuchin understands the benefits of a fair tax treatment with American companies doing business in Armenia and vice versa. ANCA hopes for concrete progress already following the results of the "long-awaited meeting", which will be held on March 19 in Washington, DC, as part of the meeting of the Council on the framework agreement on trade and investment between Armenia and the United States. A month earlier, as reported by the ANCA, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, "reacting to the growing interest of congressmen regarding the revision of the existing document," said that the Treasury Department will allocate the appropriate human resources for studying the Treaty on Avoiding Double Taxation with Armenia.
Earlier, congressmen Brad Sherman and David Valadou initiated the collection of signatures in the US Congress under the appeal to the head of the Treasury to resume negotiations on the revision of the existing double taxation regime between the United States and Armenia, concluded even during the Cold War. "About 30 congressmen joined the initiative of Valadao and Sherman .
On February 11, RA Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan told reporters that the Armenian government plans to address the issue of excluding double taxation between Armenia and the US in March 2018 - during the regular meeting of the intergovernmental commission. Vardan Aramyan reminded that the issue is permanently on the agenda of bilateral relations. Recently, the processes in this direction have intensified, most recently during the meeting between the head of the Armenian Ministry of Finance and the US Ambassador to Armenia. Nevertheless, the solution of the question is still marking time. "We cite our arguments, they are our own, perhaps, on the other hand, we need to approach the solution of this problem," the minister said.
In any case, as the Armenian Ministry of Finance confidently states, the absence of an agreement on the exclusion of double taxation hinders the adoption of positive decisions by economic entities. Such an example has already been fixed, Aramyan said. In particular, Contour Global Hydro Cascade and CG Solutions Global Holding Company (USA), which owns CJSC Vorotan Cascade of HPPs, entered the Armenian market through a Luxembourg company. "This is quite logical: Armenia and Luxembourg have an agreement on exclusion of double taxation.This, in turn, inspires confidence about what the principles of international taxation should be.If I am in the place of the head of this company, I myself would make such a decision, "said Vardan Aramyan. , the presence of a new contract of the edge it does not matter if there is a desire to expand bilateral economic relations - trade or investment.
It should be noted that the issue of exclusion of double taxation between Armenia and the US has been discussed for over 20 years - since 1994, the Armenian government has raised this issue. In 2000, during the Armenian-American intergovernmental meeting, the issue of the need to conclude a treaty was raised. Since then, although preparatory work is under way to conclude a treaty, in fact, the talks themselves have not started. Earlier, Armenian Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan, responding to the question of ArmInfo, recalled that in June 2017, Armenia joined the 15th Action "Organization for the Development of Economic Cooperation in the framework of the program to prevent the destruction of the tax base and the transfer of profit" (BEPS), along with 68 countries around the world, which makes it possible to interpret treaties against double taxation in a uniform way.
Becoming a party to the agreement, the country establishes clear rules of the game in the tax field, and raises the reliability of the country from the point of view of the investor. Armenia has similar agreements with 47 countries, the last agreement was recently signed with Israel. The purpose of these agreements is to eliminate double taxation in foreign trade between the two states, to avoid tax discrimination with respect to economic entities of the parties, to exclude double taxation on property and income, and to create a predictable and stable tax environment for business.