Cars brought to Armenia on “Temporary import” regime to get customs clearance on privileged lending condition
24.02.2011,
21:12
The Armenian government decided Thursday to extend privileged loans to those citizens who have imported cars on “temporary import” regime for customs clearance.
YEREVAN, February 24. /ARKA/. The Armenian government decided Thursday to extend privileged loans to those citizens who have imported cars on “temporary import” regime for customs clearance.
Finance Minister Vache Gabrielyan said that the law that took force on February 5 created certain difficulties in registration of cars with foreign, mostly Georgian license plates, brought to Armenia by low-income people.
This decision applies to owners of cars whose customs cost is lower than AMD 5 million and which were manufactured before 2005 and brought to Armenia by individuals before February 5, 2011 on “temporary import” regime.
To get a loan contract, a car owner has to apply to local residence administration or the finance ministry in Yerevan.
The minister said that interest-free loans would be extended for six months.
The size of the loan will be equal to the amount of credit pays implied by the customs regime for imported vehicles, including probable fines for delay.
The size of the collateral will be equal to customs cost of a car and customs pays without fines.
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that the number of the importers facing temporary financial problems is estimated to be 2,000.
Such citizens can rely on financial support from the government.
The premier said that 438 cars of this category had already cleared by the customs.
This decision will take force on February 28, 2011.
The Armenian government abolished the “temporary import” arrangement in August 2010.
On December 22, 2010, Armenian National Assembly passed the government proposed amendments to the customs code.
After the amended law took force, many cars with Georgian license plates blocked a section of the Gyumri-Yerevan highway. Before that, a car owner had to pay customs and value-added taxes worth 32 percent of the market value of their imported vehicle in order to obtain license plates. Cars registered abroad had qualified as “temporary imports” and had been exempted from these duties. Many Armenians have for years made use of this loophole by registering their cars with road police in Georgia, where import tax rates are considerably lower than in Armenia. The practice was especially widespread in the country’s northern regions bordering Georgia.
According to the latest information, 44,000 cars have been brought to Armenia for seven months of 2010 on the mentioned regime against 32,000 imported over the same period a year earlier. ($1 = AMD 364.58). -0-
Finance Minister Vache Gabrielyan said that the law that took force on February 5 created certain difficulties in registration of cars with foreign, mostly Georgian license plates, brought to Armenia by low-income people.
This decision applies to owners of cars whose customs cost is lower than AMD 5 million and which were manufactured before 2005 and brought to Armenia by individuals before February 5, 2011 on “temporary import” regime.
To get a loan contract, a car owner has to apply to local residence administration or the finance ministry in Yerevan.
The minister said that interest-free loans would be extended for six months.
The size of the loan will be equal to the amount of credit pays implied by the customs regime for imported vehicles, including probable fines for delay.
The size of the collateral will be equal to customs cost of a car and customs pays without fines.
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that the number of the importers facing temporary financial problems is estimated to be 2,000.
Such citizens can rely on financial support from the government.
The premier said that 438 cars of this category had already cleared by the customs.
This decision will take force on February 28, 2011.
The Armenian government abolished the “temporary import” arrangement in August 2010.
On December 22, 2010, Armenian National Assembly passed the government proposed amendments to the customs code.
After the amended law took force, many cars with Georgian license plates blocked a section of the Gyumri-Yerevan highway. Before that, a car owner had to pay customs and value-added taxes worth 32 percent of the market value of their imported vehicle in order to obtain license plates. Cars registered abroad had qualified as “temporary imports” and had been exempted from these duties. Many Armenians have for years made use of this loophole by registering their cars with road police in Georgia, where import tax rates are considerably lower than in Armenia. The practice was especially widespread in the country’s northern regions bordering Georgia.
According to the latest information, 44,000 cars have been brought to Armenia for seven months of 2010 on the mentioned regime against 32,000 imported over the same period a year earlier. ($1 = AMD 364.58). -0-
