PRIME MINISTER STRESSES NECESSITY TO CREATE FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR SME

NOYAN TAPAN
APRIL 16, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, NOYAN TAPAN. During the April 15 session of the
government, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that studies are
being done on efficiency of checks by tax bodies in 2008-2009 because
numerous complaints were received that the number of checks at small
and medium enterprises has not declined.

In the words of T. Sargsyan, the indices are worrying as the number
of checks conducted by tax bodies in 2009 grew by 82%, whereas the
additional sums collected by these checks fell by 25%. "Our strategy
was based on the principle that we should reduce the contacts with
taxpayers to the minimum, use risk-based control and bother only those
taxpayers who do not perform their obligations. There are deviations
between indices," the prime minister said.

According to him, the studies showed that the checks by tax bodies grew
by about 30% regarding big taxpayers, by 70% – economic entities with
the annual turnover of up to 58 million drams, and by 250% regarding
other taxpayers. At the same time, the additional collection as a
result of checks of these three groups of taxpayers declined 2-3
times compared with the previous year. The prime minister noted that
the additionally collected sums/paid taxes ratio for big taxpayers
is about 4 times less that the ratio for all other taxpayers, and
this difference was 3.8 times in 2008 and 4.6 times in 2009. "So it
turns out that our attitude to big taxpayers is more tolerant than
to small ones," the prime minister said.

He stressed the necessity to create favorable conditions for small and
medium enterprises. In his words, administration is important in the
sense that inefficient administration causes people’s distrust of and
discontent with the state. Big enterprises are capable of protecting
themselves, whereas SME are not. "Henceforth this problem will be at
the center of our attention. Any complaint related to SME will become
a subject of serious examination," the prime minister underlined.