NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DISCUSSES PACKAGE OF TAX AMENDMENTS IN SECOND READING
Noyan Tapan
Oct 28, 2009
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Assembly on October
28 discussed in the second reading the package of tax amendments
submitted by the government.
To recap, this package had caused long, heated debates and attracted
criticism, mainly due to the much criticized addition to the Law on
Taxes envisaging the introduction of the institution of the tax body’s
representative in big business. As a result, the government had amended
the package, reducing the powers of the tax body’s representatives
and the scope of tax control by them.
The main speaker, Deputy Minister of Finance Suren Karayan said that
after the first reading, 25 proposals were received from NA deputies,
and most of the proposals have been reflected in the final version of
the package. In case of adoption of the package, additional revenues
of the state budget will amount to 30 billion drams a year. It was
also mentioned that several amendments included in the package are
aimed at easing the tax burden of small and medium business and
simplifying the procedure of presenting tax reports.
According to Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on
Economic Affairs Vardan Aivazian, the final version of the package
– unlike the preliminary version – envisages that the tax body
representative will supervise not the whole production process,
but only examine the actual volumes and prices of delivered goods
and provided services. Besides, the grounds for appointing the tax
body’s representative have been specified: a representative can be
appointed if the incomes of the tax payer exceeded 4 billion drams
in the previous year, or if the customs value of the goods imported
in the "free import turnover" customs regime exceeds 500 million
drams in a quarter, or if a deviation of 100 million drams (about
0 thousand) at a VAT payer is revealed. These grounds will apply to
106 big organizations.