Government to support Armenia`s IT sector 

ArmInfo.High-tech sector in Armenia will receive state support. The RA government approved amendments to the law "On state support to high-tech sector" and the RA Tax Code at the meeting on October 24.

As the RA Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar Hayrapetyan noted in his speech, over the years the government of the republic has repeatedly put forward initiatives to provide a number of benefits to IT companies. 

One of these programs is valid until the end of this year. According  to this program, small companies with up to 30 employees are provided  with a tax benefit in the form of a reduction in the income tax from  20% to 10%. In addition, the project to return 50% of income tax to  these companies will continue until the end of the year. Considering  that the implementation period of these programs is expiring,  discussions were held to study the possibilities for the  institutional development of the information and high technologies.   Following these discussions, a decision was made to develop a package  of laws aimed at the long-term development of the sector, which will  ensure its sustainable development.

The new package of initiatives is aimed at continuing the assistance  program for a period of 7 years - until 2032. One of the areas of  assistance is attracting new employees to the sector. For start-up  companies with up to 30 employees, the income tax refund amount will  be 100%. This will enable companies to create new jobs in cooperation  with universities. For companies with 30 employees or more, the  income tax refund amount will be 50%.

Another area concerns labor migrants. Those companies that will  involve them in production in the IT sector will also receive a 50%  income tax refund. This measure is aimed at attracting qualified  personnel from international markets.

The next benefit will be applied to companies that undertake the  training of specialists under specially developed educational  programs. In this case, for small start-up companies, the amount of  quarterly income tax refund will be 50%, and for large companies -  25%. For companies that are involved in research and development  activities, the income tax refund amount will be 10% instead of 20%.