ArmInfo.Until mid-March 2020, demand for next-generation cash registers in Armenia will be completely satisfied. On February 4, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia David Ananyan stated this during a hearing in the commission on financial-credit and budgetary issues of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.
According to him, in 2018, the country's government decided to liberalize the cash register market, which means creating business opportunities to import CRM. Then, 13 entities contacted the state-owned non- profit organization Office for the Implementation of Cash Registers, declaring their intention to begin deliveries of new-generation apparatuses. However, subsequently the number of subjects was reduced to two. Nevertheless, they managed to import a new batch of CRM, for which the testing phase is currently being completed, and their sale will begin in the near future. In total, 11 thousand applications for the latest generation devices were received. "Suppliers assured us that by the end of February all demand will be satisfied, however we approached pragmatically, believing that the problem will be resolved by mid- March," the head of the State Committee of State noted.
He also said that currently there are 67 thousand cash registers in circulation, of which 50 thousand are of the new generation, and 17 thousand of the old.
Note that after the start of the liberalization of the cash register machines market, which de facto started in October 2018, a number of organizations took certain steps towards importing new vehicles. At the same time, there is a technical task that needs to be addressed if there is a desire to provide importers with access to the cash register machines market. Today, the legislator requires that the new generation of CRMs have the function of a POS terminal. To implement this function, in turn, there is a need to coordinate work with banking institutions, which will take a long time. As a result, SRC suggests, while providing all the other requirements for the device, to give the green light to its implementation with the condition that the function of the POS terminal is activated over the next 6 months.
ArmInfo reported a problem, according to which there was a shortage of CRMs on the market, since the use of new-generation CRMs was mandatory from January 1, 2019. Earlier, the Armenian government has repeatedly extended the terms for their implementation - initially until January 1, 2016, and then - until the beginning of 2017 and 2018. In February 2019, the government announced that it would subsidize the difference between the cost of new cash registers (cash register machines) equal to 158 thousand drams and its selling price of 60 thousand drams, spending about $ 5 million for these purposes. This, as announced, concerned 25 thousand tax agents, for whom the availability of new generation cash registers became mandatory as of January 1, 2019 and which, due to lack of funds, cannot afford it. Already on May 10, 2019, the head of the SRC reported that due to the lack of a new generation of CRMs, they will be given in order of priority to those taxpayers who are only registered and do not have CRMs at all. In this regard, the SRC of Armenia decided not to fine small and medium enterprises that applied for new cash registers (CRM), but were unable to purchase due to their absence.
