ArmInfo. As a result of measures taken by the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia, cases of understating the actual value of apartment and parking space purchase and sale transactions were uncovered at three companies engaged in residential construction in Yerevan. The SRC press service reported this.
As a result of the measures undertaken, it was established that in a number of cases the actual value of transactions involving the transfer of rights to purchase and sell apartments and parking spaces significantly exceeded the amounts indicated in the contracts. It was planned to receive part of the amounts from buyers in cash, while the contracts reflected understated amounts. As a result, the actual proceeds from sales and the resulting tax liabilities were not fully reflected in tax calculations. To verify the circumstances against the actual data, test purchases were conducted with respect to three developers.
In particular, in one case, when acquiring the right to purchase an apartment with an area of 187.1 sq. m and a parking space, the parties agreed on a total price of approximately 1,172,600 U.S. dollars, of which 467,750 U.S. dollars was to be paid in cash. As part of the test purchase, 250 thousand U.S. dollars was actually transferred from the amount payable in cash to the director at the developer’s office. Following the test purchases, three people were detained on the basis of a reasonable suspicion of evading taxes in especially large amounts by concealing taxable objects. The existence of a significant discrepancy between the actual sale of rights to purchase apartments and the value indicated in the contracts was confirmed. In particular, in one case, the price of 1 square meter of an apartment in contracts signed by the developer was indicated as 1.3–2.1 million drams, while the measures taken showed that the actual sale value of the right to purchase the apartment amounted to 6,000–7,500 drams. The sale of the right to purchase one parking space in the same building amounted to 50 thousand drams.
At the same time, cases of receiving large cash payments במסגרת such transactions, identified as a result of mandatory state registration, were recorded. Meanwhile, according to the RA Law "On Non-Cash Transactions," in the case of such transactions, payments exceeding 500 thousand drams and their receipt must be carried out in a non-cash manner. The total amount of undeclared turnover identified in the three cases amounted to approximately 2.43 billion drams, while the additional tax liabilities arising in connection with this amounted to approximately 653.5 million drams. In two of the identified cases, reports of crimes were sent to the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia on the basis of facts of non-payment of taxes in especially large amounts, and criminal proceedings were initiated.
In the third case, following measures taken by the Investigative-Operational Intelligence Department, the business entity corrected the submitted tax calculations and additionally declared the corresponding tax liabilities.
As a result of the operational-investigative and procedural actions carried out, the business entities have already paid a total of 439.2 million drams to the state budget.
