Pensioners Using Cashless Payments to Receive 12% Refund Instead of 10%

The government has made changes to its decision N 2339-L from December 28, 2023, regarding the "Provision of Refunds to Pensioners from Cashless Payments and the Established Procedure." The amended decision specifies that refunds will not be calculated or paid on payments made for utility services (gas, electricity, drinking water, fixed and mobile phone services).

At the same time, the decision allows beneficiaries to receive a larger refund percentage for cashless payments made for other goods and/or services. To this end, it is proposed to increase the applicable percentage from 10% to 12% for the calculation of the refunds, while the maximum refund amount will rise from 5000 drams to 6000 drams.

Moreover, the decision stipulates that in cases where the bank provides information for the service more than once, the latest data submitted within the specified timeframe will be considered valid. This deadline is set until the 15th of the month following the given month, after which no data will be provided.

It is also suggested that if the bank does not return the refund to the state budget, the pensioner's request will allow the refund to be paid by the bank in its established manner in cases where the bank account is closed or due to technical reasons the amount is not transferred to the account. If the refund is not paid within 12 months after the month of transfer to the bank, the bank must return the amount to the state budget, while also providing the relevant data according to the prescribed form N 2.

After the outlined 12-month period, the refund will no longer be payable. The decision includes a list of payment items, and it is specified that the refund amounts in the payment list will be rounded to the nearest unit.

In relation to this topic, Mher Grigoryan noted that, according to recent data, the volume of cashless trade in Armenia has exceeded that of cash trade for the first time last month. He added that despite this positive trend, it is necessary to continuously analyze the situation, improve it, and ensure that pensioners' earnings are regularly increased, targets are refined, and cashless spending by pensioners is encouraged.