Nikol Pashinyan: In a number of cases after paying fines and  penalties the borrowers will be allowed to take new loan 

ArmInfo. The changes have been initiated in the Tax Code of Armenia so that the banks write off fines and penalites for overdue loans, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated yesterday answering to quesitns of Facebook  users. 

According to him, earlier, in the conditions of the previous - the  unchanged Tax Code, if the credit institution had written off an  overdue debt to some borrower, it would be considered as an income,  and the bank would have to assume tax obligations. "Now we have  changed the law so that there are no tax liabilities for banks, so  that they are interested in writing off fines and penalties, and  begin negotiations with the borrower to solve the problem," the Prime  Minister explained, adding that "the government and parliament took  their step and now it is the banks' turn . "

According to Pashinyan, in a number of cases, if the residual  obligations of borrowers are small, their credit histories will be  cleared, and they will have an opportunity to take a new loan. "I  understand that this is not a full-fledged decision, but it's a step  towards real facilitation of the situation." I share your concerns,  but we can not ignore the stability of the banking system - we must  solve the problem in a balanced manner, "the Armenian Prime Minister  said.

The Armenian parliament at an extraordinary meeting on June 21 in the  second and final reading approved amendments to the tax legislation  aimed at improving the business environment, increasing tax  administration and combating shadow economy. According to RA Deputy  Minister of Finance Arman Poghosyan, it is envisaged, in particular,  to provide commercial banks and credit organizations with the  opportunity to write off penalties and fines for arrears in unpaid  loans. Amendments relate exclusively to individuals whose loans were  considered bad until May 31, 2018. At the same time, commercial banks  will be allowed not to pay tax on profits from those fines and  penalties, from which they will refuse. At present, they do not have  such a right, paying a tax on profits, regardless of whether the fine  is collected or not. For individuals, another amnesty is provided  related to non-payment of VAT in transactions involving the sale of  cars, apartments, houses, industrial, public and other premises. This  category of citizens will be exempted from payment of fines and  penalties if within 90 days from the moment the law comes into force,  the citizen will pay the main amount of tax.