ArmInfo. The Ministry of Economy of Armenia proposed to expand the list of products, the import of which at the border will not pay VAT.
Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan, on October 20 at a government meeting, presenting a draft decision on approving the list of products imported by companies and individual entrepreneurs that are not subject to excise duties, the import of which is exempt from value added tax, recalled that a number of goods are subject to value added tax (VAT) already at the border. But there are goods that are not subject to VAT, these are raw materials and materials. The proposed draft, as the minister pointed out, allows manufacturing enterprises not to pay VAT at the border, but to pay this tax upon implementation, in the general regime. In particular, it is proposed to include the abolition of VAT paid at the border on certain types of production raw materials and materials, as well as on raw materials and materials imported under investment programs. According to the minister, only 11 million US dollars worth of products were imported from the commodity groups considered under the project in 2021. However, according to Kerobyan, many companies avoid importing raw materials, since the presence of VAT makes their work uncompetitive. For example, as the head of the Ministry of Economy pointed out, the Maralik cotton-spinning factory imports cotton from Uzbekistan and pays VAT at the border, while thread importers do not pay VAT. As a result, the local producer is at a disadvantage. "Of course, we are not raising the value-added tax on yarn, but we are removing it from cotton so that these companies can equalize their positions with other importers," Kerobyan said.
It should be noted that the State Revenue Committee of Armenia previously returned VAT funds to businesses within 90 days after filing an application for reimbursement (on transactions subject to a zero tax rate). But already in 2021, the tax authorities proposed to reduce the time for returning VAT debits - at the end of the reporting month.
