Minister of Finance: The NSS checks in trade networks should be considered in legal context

ArmInfo. Checks carried out by the National Security Service of Armenia in trade networks should be considered in a legal context. On May 31, the Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan told journalists.

According to him, it is important to determine whether they pay taxes or use loopholes to avoid paying VAT. "From the legal point of view, companies have the opportunity to pay turnover tax, the question is whether the loopholes are used to avoid VAT payments," the minister said.

Earlier ArmInfo reported that the National Security Service of Armenia submitted the results of the checks to Alex Holding. According to preliminary information from the press service of the national security, according to preliminary data, it was found out that Alex Holding, being a VAT payer, since the end of 2016, under the pretext of unwillingness to provoke a rise in prices for local agricultural products, with the former leadership of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia came to an agreement on the purchase of products from villagers in the network of supermarkets "Yerevan City" through individual entrepreneurs (IP) registered in various private individuals with a turnover of 115 million AMD, which allowed paying only 2% of turnover tax instead of 20% VAT and income tax. Then, the company management, for the period until May 2018 inclusive, registered the names of employees and their family members and acquaintances, mainly through a single notary, 461 individual entrepreneurs who operated in the Yerevan City network. At the same time, a part was registered without the citizens' knowledge, with the help of the documents available in "Alex Holding" that certify their identity or a copy of these documents. When the turnover of the IP reached 115 million AMD, the activity was to be suspended, after which a new IP was registered.

According to preliminary calculations, in 461 IP the total turnover amounted to over 40 billion AMD, of which 2% of the turnover tax was paid, that is, in the course of legal activities, Alex Holding LLC was to pay 20% of VAT and income tax. To determine the damage caused to the state, a professional (tax) inspection and forensic accounting examination was appointed. In fact, the Investigation Department of the National Security Service instituted criminal proceedings on the grounds of part 2 of Article 205 (non- payment of taxes, duties on a particularly large amount) and part 3 of Article 189 (pseudo- entrepreneurship). Within the framework of the criminal case, 10 searches were carried out, during which the accounting documents, electronic carriers, other documents with evidentiary value were withdrawn, the responsible employees of the holding, the notary registering the IP, and also the part of the citizens in whose name the IPs were registered were questioned.

In addition, according to reliable data, a similar opportunity was provided to the other large companies engaged in network trading from the former leadership of the SRC, which created obviously unfavorable and unequal competitive conditions for other enterprises engaged in agricultural trade and paying VAT. In the framework of the criminal case, control measures were taken against the 11 enterprises. Therefore, the latter are invited to independently recalculate unpaid taxes on the above schemes and provide relevant information to the preliminary investigation bodies to resolve the issue with compensation for damage within the production. "The preliminary investigation is ongoing, measures are being taken to find out all the details of the case, which are of interest to the investigation, as well as for full recovery of the damage," the National Security Service said.

The National Security Service calls on all economic entities to carry out activities exclusively in the legal, so-called "white field" and refrain from using such schemes and mechanisms of malicious evasion from payment of taxes, fees and other mandatory payments. At the same time, the NSS warns that the units of the Service, within the limits of their powers, acting solely in accordance with the procedure established by law, will conduct a consistent struggle against the shadow economy, and also in the direction of eradicating corruption protectionism.