YEREVAN, November 9. /ARKA/. Armenia’s tax revenue for 10 months of 2020 amounted to AMD 1 trillion 134 billion, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Edward Hovhannisyan said in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia.
He said that 1 trillion 19 billion drams of the mentioned amount came to the government budget only as taxes and duties. This is 13.1 billion drams more than in 2019.
“We managed to achieve such indicators thanks to targeted administration, reducing shadow turnover and increasing the level of responsibility of taxpayers – we were able to register progress in all these areas,” Hovhannisyan said.
He noted that the current year was distinguished by various economic trials – since March there were certain restrictions that had a negative impact on economic activity, as a result, a regression was seen, and the GDP registered a decline of 5.7% at the end of the six months, excluding the impact of price changes.
According to him, thanks to the economic and social measures implemented by the government, negative economic trends were slowed down and a certain level of economic stability was maintained, which made it possible to avoid significant shocks.
The head of the State Revenue Committee emphasized that assistance for entrepreneurs was among the focuses of the programs aimed at cushioning the negative consequences caused by the coronavirus. As a result of legislative changes in the area of income tax, the economy was forgiven taxes in the amount of 64 billion drams in 2020.
“In fact, there were less receipts, and even in such conditions we registered positive indicators of replenishment,” Hovhannisyan said.
As for customs payments, he said, there is a negative indicator, mainly for imports, which is connected with the coronavirus.
“Expectations were negative as the development of the coronavirus and hostilities could leave a more adverse impact on the economy, but businesses were able to adapt. In September, there was an increase in tax collection, in October there was a slight decline, but there was a preservation of the level of economic stability, which manifested itself primarily in the sphere of essential goods and in the sphere of trade, exports practically did not decrease, and in some areas there are even positive indicators, especially in mining,” Hovhannisyan said.
In his words, particular segments of the economy, such as tourism and hotel businesses, were affected by the COVID-19 situation.
He noted that the indicator for all revenues is worse by 61.1 billion drams than in 2019, which, however, does not cause concern, since the bulk of the negative indicator, 58.5 billion drams, is customs payments on imported cars.
“Amid the martial law, taxpayers have become more responsible, especially those who operate in the general tax field (for VAT, that is, the largest business) have shown conscientious behavior compared to those working for turnover tax,” Hovhannisyan said.
In his words, in October, more than 74 billion drams of tax liabilities were paid by taxpayers who work in the general tax field, which was no less than in 2019, while in the field of sales tax, there is a negative indicator.
“Despite this, we expect to close the year with more positive outlooks. The budget projects tax collections in the amount of 1 trillion 320 billion drams, and we expect to exceed this figure by 40 billion drams,” Hovhannisyan said. ($ 1 – AMD 493.87). –0—
