I Urge Everyone to Refrain from Doubtful or Non-Legal Behavior: Head of the State Revenue Committee

The Head of the State Revenue Committee, Davit Ananyan, has issued a statement, which we present below.

“Dear compatriots,

The State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia has repeatedly made statements, appeals, and provided informational materials aimed at assisting taxpayers and the public in fulfilling their constitutional obligation to pay taxes and mandatory payments in an atmosphere of mutual trust.

In this regard, I am confident that especially over the last two years, we have managed to establish partner relationships between taxpayers (business operators) and the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia. However, we still have much to do in this area, and it is clear that our intention and readiness to deepen the established mutual trust is strong.

With the spread of the pandemic and the state of emergency in the country, we are all subjected to numerous trials, resulting in behavioral expressions that have not been seen or expressed in relatively peaceful and predictable times.

It is understandable that at this time, many problems have arisen for business operators in almost all sectors of our economy, which sometimes seem unsolvable from the operators' perspective due to the unavailability of proper information or simply because of the unpredictability of that information for analyzing the future.

We regularly conduct monitoring across various sectors and levels of the economy of the Republic of Armenia, as well as systematically assess the activities and behaviors of business operators, since we are concerned about the effectiveness of their operations, fully aware that the success of the tasks set before our state is dependent on the results achieved.

However, as a result of the ongoing monitoring and the application of existing analytical and control tools, we witness the behavior of certain taxpayers going into overt deception to become beneficiaries of this or that measure aimed at neutralizing the economic consequences of the coronavirus by the government of the Republic of Armenia, or intentionally declaring their tax obligations incorrectly in the tax returns submitted to the tax authority.

Thus, I assure you again that the oversight tools of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia are more than sufficient to detect such behavior and impose accountability measures.

I remind you that despite the complex situation, the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia continues its daily work normally, conducting tax and customs control.

Dear compatriots, considering the above, I once again urge you to demonstrate the behavior of a law-abiding taxpayer and refrain from expressing questionable or non-legal behavior. At the same time, taking into account the difficult situation caused by the spread of the pandemic and its unavoidable consequences, the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia, while striving to firmly maintain the close cooperation and mutual trust established, is ready to assist taxpayers who declare their tax obligations accurately and independently, by entering into payment timelines, not applying collection processes and seizures, as well as using other measures provided by law.”