TURNOVER TAX LAW TO LEAD TO INCREASE OF SHADOW ECONOMY AND CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA – ENTREPRENEUR

YEREVAN, February 3. /ARKA/. The turnover tax law, even with the
amendments upheld by the government, will lead to increase of shady
dealings and corruption in Armenia, Stepan Aslanyan, chairman of the
Armenian Union of Small Entrepreneurs, told journalists on Tuesday.

On October 1, 23014, amendments to the turnover tax law took force. In
accordance with the amended law, economic entities now have their
tax rates downed to 1% from 3.5%.

The amended law also stipulates the necessity of particular paperwork
along with facilitated procedure for monitoring compliance with
this requirement.

Small and medium entrepreneurs were initially unhappy about this
paperwork requirement and they staged protests outside the government
and parliament buildings demanding to withdraw the paperwork
requirement.

The prime minister met with the protesters and told them that the
government will do nothing harmful to the society and stressed that
the government approved the amendments in a bid to support small and
medium entrepreneurs.

Negotiations with the premier resulted in postponement of enforcement
of the amended law.

“We propose four changes to the law, which will allow small and medium
businesses to function properly,” Aslanyan said.

In particular, he said, entrepreneurs propose to let them choose
between paying taxes at a higher rate, as before, but without
preferences or paying lower taxes and enjoying these preferences but
with mandatory paperwork.

They propose to suspend the provision stipulating unscheduled
inspections, since such raids carry corruption risks.

The entrepreneurs also said they would hail a requirement to increase
taxable turnover amount benchmark from the current AMD 58.6 million
to AMD 100 million, since it would spur their activities.

Besides, they proposed to single out jewelry industry from other
industries, taking into account its specifics. Aslanyan invited all
political forces to take part in improvement of the document.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress