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).