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“According to the latest data of the RA Ministry of Finance, the nominal GDP is predicted to be 9.3 trillion in 2023, the real growth of the GDP is 7%, against the expected 11% for 2022,” the RA Chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) Rustam Badasyan noted while presenting the details of the main budget document of the next year at the joint sitting of the NA Standing Committees on Economic Affairs and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs. He referred to the economic, legislative and administrative factors having impact on additional tax revenues.

Referring to the statistical data, Rustam Badasyan noted that the VAT returns in January-September 2021 amounted to 108.9 billion AMD, and for the same period in 2022 – 139.8 billion AMD. The income tax return was 18.1 billion AMD in the first 9 months of 2021, and 30.8 billion AMD in 2022, out of which 25.8 billion AMD refers to the beneficiaries of the mortgage program. Although, the range of beneficiaries has been limited, there is still a growing trend.

In response to the question of the Deputy Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Babken Tunyan, the Chairman of the SRC presented his position according to which the income tax return should be added to the collected revenues and the tax-GDP ratio should be adjusted.

Rustam Badasyan detailed the scope of the implemented reforms, spoke about the continuation of the reconstruction of the Meghri Border Crossing Point.

Next is the reconstruction of the Bagratashen Customs Point: separation of processes for flows of individuals, traffic and trucks is planned.

From this year, the preliminary declaration system is being introduced, by which the taxpayer has the right to submit a preliminary customs declaration before reaching the border crossing point, the risk system works before reaching the border crossing point, and the release takes place at the border crossing point.

The NA Vice President Hakob Arshakyan, highlighting the significant reforms implemented in the sector, referred to the activities of small businessmen during the Q&A, noting that the latter often refuse the legal products provided by suppliers. The reason is that they avoid issuing cash registers and tax contributions.

Speaking about the problems of the SME tax administration, the SRC Chairman presented the fiscal result of the cash register. 389 million checks were issued in 2021, amounting to 1.5 trillion, 419 million checks were issued in 2022. According to Rustam Badasyan, tax discipline and tax administration improved year by year. He agreed with Hakob Arshakyan that operating in special taxation systems contributes to the existence of the abovementioned problem. The SRC Chairman informed that the Ministry of Finance presented a legislative initiative, which will ensure equality between employees in terms of income tax, and those operating within the framework of the micro-enterprise taxation system will also fulfill their income tax obligations in general manner.

Babken Tunyan was also interested in the system of non-cash payments with cash register devices and the impact on tax revenues and shadows after the law of non-cash payments came into force.

Rustam Badasyan informed that 22.000 out of 60.000 cash registers have been activated, but more than 30.000 entities have already applied. There are a lot of application flows, they do not manage to serve. The Central Bank made some improvements: 1000 cash registers should be activated the day.

"We estimated for the next year with the assumption that, in general, all cash registers will have a POS terminal function. Not only cashless, but also in combination with a number of other administrative measures, we have estimated that more than 20 billion can have an impact. But it will definitely have a positive impact. Let's wait for everyone to activate and make observations,” the SRC Chairman said.