Law Passed to Halve Penalties for Non-Compliance with Tax Obligations

The Armenian National Assembly has passed a law during today’s extraordinary session with 107 votes in favor and none against. The bill, presented by MP Mikayel Melkumyan of the Prosperous Armenia faction, proposes amendments to the tax code.

The proposed changes aim to mitigate the economic consequences of the coronavirus spread, stipulating that the calculation of penalties for overdue tax obligations will be reduced from 0.075% to 0.04% for each day of delay starting from April 20, 2020.

Another amendment concerns the current regulations, which state that if a taxpayer accumulates a tax obligation of more than 5,000 drams, the tax authority has the right to issue a seizure order on the taxpayer's property. The bill proposes to raise the threshold for tax obligations subject to seizure from 500,000 drams to 1,500,000 drams for actions taken after April 20, 2020.

Melkumyan noted that about 9,800 subjects have been under such a seizure in the last two years, accounting for approximately 10% of business operators.