A Battle of Ideas with Sanitek, We Initiated a Criminal Case: Ananyan

In 2017, a question was raised by Sanitek and the city hall, stating that since waste collection is considered a transportation service, this activity should be taxed at a fixed rate rather than within the scope of value-added tax. This request was approved. This was stated by the Chairman of the State Revenue Committee, Davit Ananyan, during a meeting with journalists on October 16.

“The city hall also presented justifications that the company would save financial resources under a fixed rate and that waste collection would be conducted much more efficiently. The issue is that as of January 1, 2018, the law on fixed rates no longer existed. We informed them that starting January 1, they had to fall under the VAT framework. Citing the law on 'foreign investments,' which states that in their case the legislation should not change for 5 years, they engaged in a struggle with us, asserting that they should remain under fixed rates in 2018 as well. This was a battle of ideas which was naturally unacceptable to us. We conducted a preliminary assessment and initiated a criminal case, which is currently underway,” Ananyan announced.

He emphasized that today, Sanitek is no longer operating in Armenia, and the return of the damage amounts stated in the criminal case is also jeopardized. “We will do everything to recover that money. We see that we can investigate and find evidence of directed activities by the founders of that company,” the SRC chairman noted.