Tax revenues on schedule in Armenia 

ArmInfo. Tax revenues (income and duties) to the state treasury of Armenia for the first half of 2024  amounted to 1 trillion 163.2 billion drams, which is 133.4 billion drams or 13% more than the same period last year, reports the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of the Republic of Armenia. 

In particular, the customs authority collected revenues worth 186.6  billion drams, which is less than the same period last year by  approximately 62.9 billion drams or 25.2%. The decrease in customs  revenues is associated with a decrease in the volume of imports of  various products.

About 162.2 billion drams were returned from state budget revenues to  taxpayers and individuals (the figure does not include mortgage  returns in the amount of 32.1 billion drams, which was not deducted  from income tax), which is approximately 13.6 less than the same  period in 2023 billion drams or 7.7% (in 2023, the return figure  includes a return under the mortgage in the amount of 24 billion  drams).

"In the first half of the year, tax and customs authorities collected  a total of 1 trillion 349.8 billion drams, of which 162.2 billion  drams were returned to taxpayers and individuals. As a result, the  actual implementation of tax revenues and state duties amounted to 1  trillion 187.6 billion drams, which is 84.1 billion drams or 7.6%  more than the same period last year.

If we consider the indicators of the first half of 2023 according to  the logic of calculation for 2024, that is, without deducting the  income tax refund from the mortgage loan, then the secured income of  the first half of 2024 will be greater than the same indicator of the  previous year by 60.1 billion drams or 5.3 %>, says the State Revenue  Committee.

At the end of May in parliament, the head of the State Revenue  Committee, Rustam Badasyan, following the head of the Ministry of  Finance, Vahe Hovhannisyan, admitted the existence of problems  associated with ensuring the tax collection indicators recorded in  the state budget. The head of the State Revenue Committee did not  specify the amount of the "shortfall", but indicated that the  problems were caused by changes in the structure of the economy,  which contributed to the sharp growth of areas "without tax  potential". The chief financier of the republic, in turn, said that  there is a risk of not collecting 60 billion drams from the amount  fixed in the approved state budget for this year. At the same time,  according to him, the deviation from the plan will not exceed 3-4%,  which will be within normal limits.   concluded the chief financier of Armenia.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Finance, in the first 4  months of this year. VAT and excise tax collections decreased by  3.54% and 9.04%, respectively, providing 30.5% of budget revenues.  For the same period in 2023, they provided 35% of revenue. For the  reporting period of this year. About 828.8 billion drams of  taxes/duties were credited to the RA state budget, or 63.5% of the  program indicator for the first half of the year (1 trillion 304.9  billion according to the revised plan).