ArmInfo.On May 17, the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs debated the draft law on Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Tax Code with the attached legislative package in the first reading. It was presented by the RA Deputy Minister of Finance Arman Poghosyan, the press service of the RA NA reports.
As a result of the adoption of the drafts, it is expected to reduce the difference between the existing tax burden in the general taxation system and the tax burden of the turnover tax system, establish a unified approach to tax reduction based on the documented costs, increase the level of documentation of transactions in different taxation systems. in preferential taxation systems. Arman Poghosyan noted that today around 55.000 business entities pay turnover tax. According to him, this package also offers solutions that will encourage the transfer from the turnover tax system to the general system of taxation. During the exchange of ideas, the MPs presented proposals and remarks, urged to further debate the package of drafts by inviting representatives of the concerned sectors, to which the rapporteur responded positively.
The Committee endorsed the package.
Notably, currently turnover tax is paid by business entities whose y-o-y turnover does not exceed 115 million drams. This group includes SMEs, individual entrepreneurs and notaries. We are talking, in particular, about payments of 5% from the turnover of commercial activities and 3.5% from industrial activities. According to the Ministry of Finance, early research by the department indicated that two businesses engaged in the same activity find themselves in an unequal position - small and medium-sized businesses pay turnover tax, large businesses pay income tax and VAT. As a result, the effective tax paid by SMEs is 3-4%, and large businesses pay 2-2.5-fold more - 10%. As a result, taxpayers try to be and remain in this system at any cost, including hiding the real sales volumes, or dividing the business into parts, so as not to cross the value-added tax exempt threshold and to avoid the general taxation system.
