Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Raffi Hamparian recently held a working meeting on Capitol Hill with U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) on a range of shared priorities, including the negotiation of a new U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty.
This bilateral tax agreement, which would facilitate increased investment by removing the threat of earned profits being taxed twice, is among the ANCA’s economic development priorities, along with Millennium Challenge funding for STEM education and direct Los Angeles to Yerevan commercial and cargo flights.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Senator Menendez serves, is constitutionally charged with ratifying all treaties, including a future tax accord with the Republic of Armenia.
“We are pressing forward with our pro-active engagement with the full range of American and Armenian stakeholders in support of a new U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty,” remarked Hamparian. The ANCA looks forward to the day when Senator Menendez and his colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will have the opportunity to further strengthen America’s partnership with Armenia by ratifying this long overdue bilateral accord.”
In an opinion article late last year, Hamparian made the case for why a U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty is mutually beneficial: “A new tax treaty would represent a great way to give substance to the rhetoric – from both Washington and Yerevan – about improving U.S.-Armenia bilateral relations. This accord would both reflect and reinforce the progress we saw last year [2015] with the signing of a U.S.-Armenia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. It would, as well, create the conditions for the future growth of the U.S.-Armenia economic relationship, the continued development of bilateral government-to-government ties, and, of course, the strengthening of the enduring bonds of friendship that have long connected the American and Armenian peoples.”
The current treaty governing double taxation issues between the two countries is the 1973 U.S.-U.S.S.R. Tax Treaty, an outdated forty year-old accord. The lack of a double tax treaty between the United States and Armenia creates legal uncertainty that deters potential U.S. investors, diverts investment flows and disadvantages American businesses seeking to invest in the Republic of Armenia.