On October 6, at the special sitting of the National Assembly, the RA Deputy Minister of Finance Arman Poghosyan submitted for discussion the Draft Law on Making Amendments to the RA Tax Code.
The Deputy Minister said that the purpose of the draft is to create a favourable tax environment for banks and credit organizations, which will allow to forgive the penalties and fines for loans to individuals who have been declared unreliable as of August 31, 2020.
"The urgency of the draft is due to the situation when many borrowers, losing their stable source of income, have problems with servicing the loans they have attracted", - he said.
The target of this change may be about 230 thousand loan agreements, which have already been recognized as unreliable.
Babken Tunyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Assembly, in his turn noted that according to the legislative proposal, the bank will support the borrowers who have overdue debts, penalties and fines, and if, due to some circumstances, the bank forgives those fines, nevertheless, for the bank it is considered income for which it pays profit tax. "The proposed drraft allows the banks not to pay that tax in order to help our citizens in a difficult situation. If the banks take such a step, the state, in its turn, exempts them from taxes. The final decision will be left to the banks whose fines and loans to forgive, but the state gives that opportunity to the banks to be more free in their decisions", - the MP said.
The draft was adopted by 98 votes in favour at the NA special sitting.