Armenian government presents rationale for income declaration to introduce social credits
YEREVAN, January 30. /ARKA/. During a government meeting, Armenia’s Deputy Finance Minister Arman Poghosyan noted that no new taxes are expected following the implementation of the income declaration system, and that "the program is needed to better understand citizens."
In turn, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan remarked that this program is the first step towards a social rating system. According to him, in the future, this system will allow to allocate to certain categories of citizens , for example, 100,000 drams from their income tax to cover educational and medical expenses.
About the Declaration System
The universal income declaration system for citizens and residents has been implemented in Armenia since January 1, 2023, over a three-year period. The draft was finally approved by parliament in December 2022. As former Finance Minister Tigran Khachatryan stated in November 2022, the declaration must be pre-filled by the tax authorities. It was assumed that the data available to tax authorities would be automatically entered into the declaration, which would then be sent to the email address for review.
Under the new procedure, all adult resident citizens must submit a declaration.
At the first stage, declarations were submitted by citizens holding community or public positions and their family members, as well as individuals engaged in entrepreneurial activities.
At the second stage, starting in 2024, declarations were filled out by salaried workers in the private sector and employees who received income under civil law contracts.
Starting in 2025, declarations will have to be submitted by all citizen-residents of the country who are not included in the first two groups.
Citizens are required to submit their declarations before May 1 of each year following the reporting year. In case of evasion or delay, fines are imposed—50,000 drams for entrepreneurs and 5,000 drams for other citizens. ($1 = 398.27 drams)
