On March 31, the European Business Association Armenia, Union of Information Technology Enterprises and Armenian Lawyers’ Association (Consortium) conducted the “Tax Reform Awareness and main impediments of the New Tax Code” discussion within the framework of the “Evidence-based Advocacy for Reform” project Funded by EU.
Given the importance of the Public-Private Dialogue Platforms the discussion is aimed to raise awareness on the New Tax Code and its impediments for businesses, as well as to provide opportunities for the representatives of European business community to get necessary clarifications and updates on tax reforms relared to businesses from corresponding officials and experts, who has attended the Round Table.
The CEO of the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) Mr. Karen Vardanyan, the Head of Administration Methodology, Procedures and Service Department of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia Mr. Arman Poghosyan and the Team Leader of the Private Sector Development South Caucasus from the Support to SME Development in Armenia (EU-SMEDA) Ms. Eva Näher welcomed attendees of the event.
The Head of Administration Methodology, Procedures and Service Department of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia Mr. Arman Poghosyan presented the legislative reforms in the tax sphere of Armenia. Representative of the European Business Association in Armenia (EBA Armenia) Vardan Marutyan made a presentation on the dividend tax, technical mistakes, transition from the specific to the general taxation system, applying of VAT in the tourism sector. Arkadi Sahakyan from the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) spoke about the issue of the levying of VAT on the border, as well as presented the RA Law “On the state support to the IT sphere”. Representative of the Union of Lawyers Association of Armenia (ALA) Mariam Zadoyan had a speech on income tax, turnover tax and Tax credit overpayments and presented related risks and issues. Senior Tax Manager of the KPMG Armenia had a presentation about the new RA Tax Code and the regulation of labor relations.
During the discussion various issues of the New Tax Code related to business were presented and explained to the representatives of the business community. Both local and foreign companies, as well as the representatives of BSO’s, expressed their standpoints on the updates of tax legislation and received necessary clarifications on the tax legislation topics regarding sustainable development of business, investment climate improvement in Armenia.
The “Evidence-based Advocacy for Reform” project is implemented in cooperation with a consortium formed by the European Business Association, Union of Information Technology Enterprises, Armenian Lawyers’ Association (Consortium), in the framework of the “Support to SME Development in Armenia” (SMEDA) project, which is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme.
SMEDA is part of the EU4Business and EU4Innovation initiatives of the European Union.