State Budget Tax Revenues Exceeded by Nearly 60 Billion Drams in 2020

In Armenia, the tax revenues of the state budget for the year 2020 amounted to 1 trillion 385.2 billion drams, which is approximately 60 billion drams more than the figures specified in the budgetary law (from the revised figures during the year). This was reported to Armenpress by the Chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) Edward Hovhannisyan.

The SRC Chairman presented the collected tax revenue figures: "The tax revenues of the state budget for 2020 amounted to 1 trillion 385.2 billion drams, which is about 60 billion drams more than the figures specified in the 2020 budgetary law. As per the amendment made to the budgetary law in October 2020, the annual revenue figure was projected at 1 trillion 326 billion drams."

Last year, net tax revenues amounted to 1 trillion 88.6 billion drams, while customs revenues reached 296.6 billion drams. Compared to 2019, there is almost no negative difference in net tax revenues, being very small at just 0.2%. A significant portion of the negative difference in customs payments relates to revenues from the customs clearance of motor vehicles. Hovhannisyan reminded that this process was much more active in 2019.

During 2020, 139 billion drams were returned to taxpayers. The SRC Chairman highlighted the substantial volume of income tax refunds directed towards compensating the interest on mortgage loans. In 2019, this figure was only 7.9 billion drams. In contrast, in 2020, the state refunded 13.350 billion drams to eligible beneficiaries.

Addressing the question of how tax revenues were collected despite the economy being non-operational during the pandemic and the onset of war, Hovhannisyan stated that referring to tax fulfillment is relative in this context. "Yes, in comparison to the planned indicators, we fulfilled and even exceeded them. However, certain factors had a direct impact on tax collection. Specifically, during 2020, obligations of 90 billion drams on customs payments for motor vehicles were not collected, and the government waived 50 billion drams in profit tax as prepayments to the economy. Since restrictions on economic activity began in March, many sectors were not operational. In this respect, we have an obligation for state duties that were under-collected amounting to 16.5 billion drams, which would normally have been paid into the state budget. Even under these circumstances, net tax revenues, particularly profit tax and state duties, were collected in amounts comparable to 2019, with the difference being minimal at just 0.2%," he said.

The SRC Chairman noted that achieving such a volume of tax revenues was possible due to extensive work, targeted administration, and increased taxpayer willingness and tax discipline. He mentioned, however, that in 2020, due to the pandemic, war, and the absence of these factors, there would have been potential to collect a significantly larger volume of tax obligations, which was not possible due to the economic downturn. The impact of the restricted sectors during the pandemic was considerable, according to Hovhannisyan.

Regarding employment, the SRC Chairman recalled that September saw the highest number of jobs in the history of Armenia, reaching approximately 635,000. During November-December 2020, this number slightly decreased, amounting to 615,000 in November, while December figures have yet to be reported.