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GOVERNMENT OFFERS CONCESSIONS TO PROTESTING SMALL TRADERS
BUSINESS | 07.10.14 | 10:43
http://armenianow.com/economy/business/57394/armenia_small_traders_government_concessions
The Armenian government appears to have bowed to pressure from
hundreds of small traders demanding changes in a controversial new
tax regulation enforced from October 1.
Representatives of mostly small enterprises again gathered near the
government office on Monday, demanding a meeting with Prime Minister
Hovik Abrahamyan and discussion of ways of settling the dispute.
They complain about the new sales tax law that, while reducing the
size of the tax on turnover for them from 3.5 to 1 percent, requires
that they produce, upon request from tax authorities, documentation
regarding all their purchases. Small traders say it adds an extra
amount of paperwork. They also claim that it is not always that they
can acquire proper documentation from larger companies.
Besides easing the tax burden on small and medium-sized enterprises,
the law, as designed by its authors, also aims at combating tax evasion
by large companies. But small companies feel they are being used as a
tool in this process - something that they find wrong and unacceptable.
In a statement issued late on Monday, the government announced that
the prime minister had instructed Finance Minister Gagik Khachatryan
to draft a number of amendments to the law within the next three days.
It said that the amendments, if approved by the National Assembly,
will extend from October 10 to next February the deadline for stock
inventories which must now be conducted by the traders in a manner
required by tax officials.
The finance minister was also given until the end of this month
to propose ways of simplifying what the traders see as complicated
procedures for complying with the new law.
After meeting with PM Abrahamyan delegates of the protesters also
told the other traders that they had reached a compromise agreement.
From: Baghdasarian
BUSINESS | 07.10.14 | 10:43
http://armenianow.com/economy/business/57394/armenia_small_traders_government_concessions
The Armenian government appears to have bowed to pressure from
hundreds of small traders demanding changes in a controversial new
tax regulation enforced from October 1.
Representatives of mostly small enterprises again gathered near the
government office on Monday, demanding a meeting with Prime Minister
Hovik Abrahamyan and discussion of ways of settling the dispute.
They complain about the new sales tax law that, while reducing the
size of the tax on turnover for them from 3.5 to 1 percent, requires
that they produce, upon request from tax authorities, documentation
regarding all their purchases. Small traders say it adds an extra
amount of paperwork. They also claim that it is not always that they
can acquire proper documentation from larger companies.
Besides easing the tax burden on small and medium-sized enterprises,
the law, as designed by its authors, also aims at combating tax evasion
by large companies. But small companies feel they are being used as a
tool in this process - something that they find wrong and unacceptable.
In a statement issued late on Monday, the government announced that
the prime minister had instructed Finance Minister Gagik Khachatryan
to draft a number of amendments to the law within the next three days.
It said that the amendments, if approved by the National Assembly,
will extend from October 10 to next February the deadline for stock
inventories which must now be conducted by the traders in a manner
required by tax officials.
The finance minister was also given until the end of this month
to propose ways of simplifying what the traders see as complicated
procedures for complying with the new law.
After meeting with PM Abrahamyan delegates of the protesters also
told the other traders that they had reached a compromise agreement.
From: Baghdasarian