Exchange of information on financial reports to apply only to  nonresidents 

ArmInfo.  Automatic exchange of information on financial accounts for tax purposes within the framework of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) of the Organization  for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will affect only  non-residents - legal entities and individuals.

This was stated by Anna Torosyan, Head of the Department for the  Exchange of Financial Reporting and Control over Compliance with  Legislation of the International Taxation Department of the State  Revenue Committee (SRC), at a press conference on September 12.

As Torosyan indicated, as part of the process, the SRC will collect  information on non-residents from commercial banks and investment  companies. Then the information will be verified with the SRC  databases, an analysis will be carried out, and the already processed  data will be transferred to foreign partner tax authorities.

At the same time, the representative of the SRC emphasized that  within the framework of the standard, the fact of tax residency is  important, not citizenship. That is, in the presence of dual  citizenship, the tax residency of the citizen will be taken into  account when exchanging information.

"For tax purposes, individuals who have been in Armenia for 183 days  or more during the tax year, or whose center of vital interests is in  Armenia, are considered residents of the Republic of Armenia. The  center of vital interests is the place where the family or economic  interests of the person are concentrated.  In particular, if his home  (family residence), main personal or family property or place of main  economic (professional) activity are located in Armenia. For a legal  entity, the country of tax residence is the country in whose  competent authority it is registered or where its place of actual  management is located," she explained.

Within the framework of the standard, Armenia will automatically  exchange financial accounts of non- residents with about 120  countries and geographic regions once a year on the principle of  reciprocity. This year, the exchange of financial account information  will be implemented on September 30, 2025 with about 47 countries.

The persons for whom the information is supposed to be exchanged will  be duly notified by the relevant financial institution. If the said  persons do not wish to exchange information about their accounts, the  financial institution shall terminate business relations with them or  shall not establish such relations, and the tax authority shall not  exchange information about the accounts.

Anna Torosyan assured that the protection of collected and  transmitted information is ensured at several levels. First, the  information is transmitted from banks and investment companies in  encrypted form, then the State Revenue Committee, through a special  secure system implemented with the help of the OECD, will transmit it  to partners according to the standard. "

Chief Tax Inspector of the Financial Reporting Exchange and  Compliance Control Department of the International Taxation  Department of the State Revenue Committee, Lia Ghukasyan, in turn,  noted that at the moment, accountable financial organizations are  commercial banks and investment companies operating in Armenia. In  the future, this list may be expanded.

A non-resident's accountable financial accounts are newly opened and  current savings and deposit accounts, depository data, and other  accounts that fall under this standard. In particular, new accounts  are considered to be those opened after January 1, 2024, and current  accounts are those opened before December 31, 2023.  Legal entities'  data are subject to exchange if at the end of the year the total  balance on all accounts exceeds $250 thousand or the equivalent in  another currency. The data is provided for the calendar year  preceding the reporting year. Accountable financial organizations  transfer data on accountable financial accounts to the tax authority  on December 31 of the calendar year.

Note that that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and  Development (OECD), in the context of combating tax evasion and  "gray" schemes, has developed and implemented a single standard for  the exchange of fiscal data - the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).  The Republic of Armenia, as a member of the OECD, joined the Common  Reporting Standard (CRS) in 2024 for the automatic exchange of  financial account information (AEOI). Tax authorities of countries  that have implemented the standard will automatically exchange  information on non-residents' financial accounts in financial  institutions based on the principle of reciprocity. Within the  framework of the standard, Armenia will automatically exchange  non-residents' financial accounts with approximately 120 countries  and geographic regions once a year based on the principle of  reciprocity.