DIRECTOR OF ‘ENTERPRISES INCUBATOR FOUNDATION’: TAXATION OF PHILANTHROPY PARTLY IMPEDES COMPUTERIZATION OF SCHOOLS

Arminfo
2008-09-23 17:37:00

ArmInfo. Taxation of philanthropy partly impedes computerization
of schools, Director of the "Enterprises Incubator Foundation"
Bagrat Yengibaryan told ArmInfo commenting on the issue of taxation
of non-repayable transfer of computers. ‘According to the current
legislation of Armenia, philanthropy, strange to say, relates to the
category of transactions with property, i.e.

it is imposed VAT. So, if any company intends to present computers
to a school or kindergarten, it will have to pay 20% of their cost’, B.

Yengibaryan explained. He thinks that the number of philanthropists
will much reduce under such conditions as 20% VAT payment may
reach considerable amounts, especially subject to great batches of
computers. As a result, the computers and component parts remain in
storages without use. ‘It does not mean that the enterprises want to
get rid of the old equipment under pretence of philanthropy. You see,
‘outdated’ is a relative term. The computers on Pentium IV processors
are outdated for IT- companies, however, they come in useful for
schools’, B. Yengibaryan said.

B. Yengibaryan also said that the number of computers ‘under
philanthropy’ becomes more and more with the time as the period of
amortization of computers at the enterprises in Armenia presently
makes up a year, after which its value on the balance account reduces
to zero. ‘A collateral effect occurs: if one has to get rid of the
old computer in a year, it has become necessary to utilize such a
great number of equipment. This issue should also be solved by joint
efforts of our branch, the Ecology Ministry and independent experts’,
B. Yengibaryan said.