Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan visited the State Revenue Committee (SRC) today to participate in the discussion of the performance report 2022 of the department.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan and Tigran Khachatryan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Rustam Badasyan, Deputy Minister of Finance Vahan Sirunyan, the leadership of the SRC, and other officials.
The work done by the State Revenue Committee in 2022, as well as the current and upcoming projects were presented at the consultation. In particular, the results of the 2021-2026 Government Action Plan, goals and expected results of the strategic plan for the development of the SRC and improvement of administration were reported.
First, a report on the activities of the tax authority was presented. Accordingly, tax revenues and state duty for 2022 were reported.
It was noted that tax revenues during the previous year amounted to 1 trillion 926 billion AMD, which is an increase of 21% compared to 2021. In December of last year, a record high number of jobs was registered in Armenia: 704 thousand, the average salary was also record high - 230 thousand AMD. It was reported that during the previous year, 36 billion AMD of income tax was returned to beneficiaries in terms of mortgage loans, the number of beneficiaries was 29 thousand. According to the officials, the number of beneficiaries of income tax refund has increased dramatically in recent years, for example, in 2017, there were just 2,400 beneficiaries. In this context, it was reported about the introduction of the e-platform for the refund of the interest rate of the mortgage loan.
The SRC Chairman also reported about the important activities carried out during 2022. Accordingly, details were presented about the review of risk criteria for complex tax audits, the introduction of the "Thematic Study" type of control and the introduction of a new mechanism for examining taxpayers' complaints. As a result of the conducted analyses, many taxpayers adjusted their obligations by 31 billion AMD.
Next, the directions of changes implemented in the customs system in 2022 were presented. In particular, reference was made to the simplification of customs administration. It was noted that the representation of state bodies at the state border crossing points was reduced. From December 1, control at the border points is carried out only by NSS border guard troops and customs authorities. Thanks to the introduction of the system of preliminary declarations, it was possible to release goods at the border 24/7. As a result, cargo release time has been significantly reduced.
Within the framework of the introduction of the system of tracking the movement of goods at the border checkpoints, transparency of the actions of all the actors at the border crossing point, targeted control over the customs processes was ensured. As part of the improvement of the system of X-ray risk control at state border crossing points, the sample percentage of X-ray control has decreased, which leads to the reduction of queues.
5 subsystems within the scope of issuing permit documents exclusively electronically are in the stage of testing, revising or final agreement with the departments. It was noted that as a result of the publication of information on the official website of the SRC, businessmen save significant time, financial means, and unnecessarily wasted resources. They avoid additional possible obstacles and unnecessary actions. A number of informal documentation-related processes are discontinued, it is no longer necessary to visit the customs office to obtain the necessary information for registration of the declaration, the submission of customs declarations of goods is carried out electronically, without visiting the customs office. As a result, in the case of the customs procedure “Green Way”, there are no contacts with the customs authority.
As part of the changes implemented in 2022, details were also presented regarding the strengthening of supervision over entrepreneurs. Accordingly, new requirements for temporary storage warehouses were presented, conditions of warehouses were improved as a result of inspections.
It was also reported on the reform of the customs service system, the new system of personnel recruitment. New personnel of the Yerevan Customs Service Center was recruited, where about 130 employees began to work (including on a temporary contract basis).
As for upcoming activities, the One Stop, One Window reference model, iTRADE, continuous review of business processes, the launch of the automatic release system, and the acquisition of best equipment for creating reserves were referred to.
The works done in the field of digitization were also presented. In particular, it was reported about the invisible administration, the improvement of the quality of service for taxpayers and Foreign Economic Activity implementers. The E-VAT system (about 1 billion AMD tax revenue), monitoring system (Big Data analysis), mortgage loan interest refund e-platform, customs and other fees collection system were highlighted in the framework of new electronic systems introduced in 2022. In terms of technological progress, One window for permit documents, centralized systems of scales were highlighted.
Reference was also made to measures aimed at gradually improving the tax/GDP ratio. In particular, the improvement of tax discipline (judicial practice, cost documentation, transfer pricing), the expansion of information sources (automatic exchange of financial statements), the introduction of a risk system and measures aimed at international cooperation were emphasized.
Summing up, Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized the work carried out in the direction of the development and expansion of electronic systems in the tax and customs sector. Nikol Pashinyan instructed to carry out consistent work in the customs sector in the direction of capital projects, in particular, improvement of border crossing points, simplification and improvement of the procedures of services provided to businessmen.
