ArmInfo.From now on, the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia, will not immediately send a crime report upon receiving information about a suspected tax evasion crime. The information will be processed using internal analytical tools, and the taxpayer will be notified and given the opportunity to provide an explanation.
Eduard Hakobyan, Chair of SRC, shared this information when presenting a package of bills that amend and supplement the Tax Code, Criminal Code, and Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia at a government meeting on March 19.
As the chief tax official noted that recently identified problems include a large influx of crime reports sent to the Investigative Committee, which, with limited resources, is not always able to effectively process them within a year. Furthermore, as the economy grows, thresholds remain low, and the State Revenue Committee's tools are limited. Current legislation doesn't always allow for alternative mechanisms for handling such reports, and in criminal proceedings, businesses sometimes suffer due to the restrictions applied. "The proposed package offers solutions to these issues," he emphasized.
Thus, after receiving relevant information about a suspected tax crime, processing it, and failing to receive a substantiated explanation from the taxpayer, the tax authority will use the "case study" tool to record the violation and draw up a corresponding administrative act. The taxpayer will then have the opportunity to appeal it, and the tax authority will await the completion of the procedure through the State Revenue Committee's appeals commission, where the taxpayer can continue to challenge the decision. According to Hakobyan, as a result of these changes, at least half of the notifications will be transferred to the administrative level, and taxpayers will have the opportunity to present their arguments, participate in discussions, negotiate, and appeal decisions throughout the entire process-until the case either becomes criminal or reaches that stage altogether.
The second change concerns thresholds. Since 2022, the economy has grown quite rapidly. When analyzing notifications, a significant portion of them fall on amounts of up to 30-40 million drams and over 100 million. Therefore the lower threshold has been revised to more effectively use limited resources.
The third change is about the Criminal Procedure Code. Specifically, it is proposed to allow for the release of seized of property by a decision of an investigator or court with the approval of the supervising prosecutor if the owner or holder provides a bank guarantee equivalent to the value of the property. In addition, it was established that the taxpayers can pledge bonds and shares, enabling them to avoid income loss while also ensuring the progression of criminal proceedings.
