Ordinary citizens cannot afford legal services now - lawyer 

ArmInfo. Legal services in Armenia have become more expensive.  This is a consequence of the fact that legal activity was transferred from the turnover tax system to the general tax field. At the same time, the workload of the Public Defender's Office has increased, since many can no longer afford a private lawyer. This was stated by the Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia Simon Babayan at a  press conference on February 10.

According to Babayan, providing legal assistance is currently  problematic and burdensome. , as a result of which the state duty for filing a lawsuit was increased. Today, the issue of increasing the cost of notary services is also being discussed>, - he noted.

In this regard, the legal community convened a meeting today, the agenda includes the adoption of a condemnatory announcement.

According to the head of the Chamber of Advocates, Ara Zohrabyan, the issue is that previously, lawyers paid 5% of turnover and there was no need to waste time filling out various accounting documents and justifying their expenses. Now, lawyers must pay VAT at 20% and income tax at 18%. Added to this is the burden of maintaining complex accounting.

Another big problem, apart from the lawyer's personal financial  issues, is the blocking of the opportunity to provide free legal  assistance. , - said Zohrabyan. And the amount of this tax will be calculated based on the average price of similar services.

This will lead to the fact that lawyers will be forced to refuse to  provide free legal assistanceIn this regard, he noted, today lawyers are holding a protest, refusing to provide legal assistance in courts and investigative bodies.

Since January 2025, turnover tax rates have been doubled in Armenia, with the possibility of deducting from documented expenses. In addition, representatives of notary, advocacy and lottery organizations from the turnover tax system have been transferred to the general tax field. As experts previously stated, this will lead to an increase in the cost of legal services by at least 30-40%, since for this group of citizens, expenses are investments in knowledge and acquired experience. Then what kind of deduction can we talk about?