Turnover tax law to lead to increase of shadow economy and corruption in Armenia - entrepreneur
03.02.2015,
17:19
The turnover tax law, even with the amendments upheld by the government, will lead to increase of shady dealings and corruption in Armenia, Stepan Aslanyan, chairman of the Armenian Union of Small Entrepreneurs, told journalists on Tuesday.
YEREVAN, February 3. /ARKA/. The turnover tax law, even with the amendments upheld by the government, will lead to increase of shady dealings and corruption in Armenia, Stepan Aslanyan, chairman of the Armenian Union of Small Entrepreneurs, told journalists on Tuesday.
On October 1, 23014, amendments to the turnover tax law took force. In accordance with the amended law, economic entities now have their tax rates downed to 1% from 3.5%.
The amended law also stipulates the necessity of particular paperwork along with facilitated procedure for monitoring compliance with this requirement.
Small and medium entrepreneurs were initially unhappy about this paperwork requirement and they staged protests outside the government and parliament buildings demanding to withdraw the paperwork requirement.
The prime minister met with the protesters and told them that the government will do nothing harmful to the society and stressed that the government approved the amendments in a bid to support small and medium entrepreneurs.
Negotiations with the premier resulted in postponement of enforcement of the amended law.
«We propose four changes to the law, which will allow small and medium businesses to function properly,» Aslanyan said.
In particular, he said, entrepreneurs propose to let them choose between paying taxes at a higher rate, as before, but without preferences or paying lower taxes and enjoying these preferences but with mandatory paperwork.
They propose to suspend the provision stipulating unscheduled inspections, since such raids carry corruption risks.
The entrepreneurs also said they would hail a requirement to increase taxable turnover amount benchmark from the current AMD 58.6 million to AMD 100 million, since it would spur their activities.
Besides, they proposed to single out jewelry industry from other industries, taking into account its specifics. Aslanyan invited all political forces to take part in improvement of the document. ---0-----
