ArmInfo. The RA NA ruling Civil Contract faction of has proposed several amendments that significantly simplify the process of filing income declarations for individuals. During an extraordinary session of the National Assembly on October 24, amendments and additions to the Tax Code and a package of related laws will be discussed.
According to Babken Tunyan, Acting Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Economic Affairs, according to current regulations adopted in 2023, citizens are required to complete their declarations by November 1 of this year, logging into the appropriate platform of the State Revenue Committee, and submitting them to the SRC with an electronic signature. Starting next year, several hundred thousand pensioners and all other citizens will be connected to the system. If the State Revenue Committee has information on income sources, such as wages, it is automatically registered. If a citizen sees the need to clarify or supplement certain data, they complete it and approve the declaration. If everything matches the income amount, the citizen approves the declaration. Tunyan noted that penalties are provided for failure to submit declarations.
Some changes are currently being proposed. If a citizen believes that all of their data, including wages and other sources of income, is visible, they can simply choose not to log into the State Revenue Committee system. In this case, citizens' income declarations, even if they haven't logged into the system but are visible to the State Revenue Committee, will be considered complete. Citizens will not be held liable for failing to submit income. However, those citizens who realize that their income is not invisible to the State Revenue Committee will, after a certain period of time, bear some liability. Additionally, the State Revenue Committee will be provided with an additional tool for obtaining larger volumes of information to ensure complete tax returns.
If a citizen agrees to the State Revenue Committee receiving data on deposit dividends, the system will automatically record this. If a citizen refuses, citizens will be required to obtain this data through their banks and complete their tax returns themselves. Thus, as Tunyan noted, the authorities are shifting from a focus on fines to a focus on incentives. In practice, there will be no penalties for failure to submit tax returns, as such cases will not occur, but citizens will continue to receive social loans for education and healthcare. The proposed system should simplify citizens' relationships with the state by making them more transparent. According to the current regulations, 140,000 people have already submitted tax returns, most of which have not been subject to any changes.
Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Armenia Arman Poghosyan noted that the Government of the Republic of Armenia has no objections to the legislative initiative, but, in turn, proposes clarifying some provisions. According to the Deputy Minister, the Civil Contract faction has initiated a package of amendments that stipulates that personal income declarations must be pre-filed by the State Revenue Committee. This will provide declarants with sufficient time to log into the State Revenue Committee's system, verify the completeness and accuracy of their declaration, and, if necessary, make any necessary changes and/or additions. According to Poghosyan, if no such changes or additions are required, the declaration will be considered filed.
However, all declarants eligible for reimbursement of social expenses related to healthcare or education and wishing to exercise this right must log in to the e-governance system and certify the declaration prepared for them with an electronic signature. The Deputy Minister reported that the government is proposing two important amendments to the package of bills: "The first is that deductible, or non-taxable, income between family members will not be subject to declaration. This will significantly simplify the declaration process, as people experience significant difficulties with these ongoing transfers between family members to finance household expenses, and this issue will essentially be completely resolved. The second proposal is that if we are talking about information received from third parties, such as banking information or information provided by another financial institution, it should be transferred to the tax authority only with the consent of the declarant." Poghosyan also noted the issue of individuals who have not yet received an ID card. In this case, the declarant will have the right to complete the declaration until the 25th of the month following the date of receipt of the ID card.
