On February 1, the RA Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan presented to the Executive’s approval the Draft Decision of the RA Government “On Making Amendments and Addenda to the Decision No 595-N dated June 1, 2017, of the Government of the Republic of Armenia”.
The objective of the Draft is to match the term “offshore zone” noted in the RA Government’s Decision No 595-N dated June 1, 2017, to the new term enshrined in the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia. Within this context, Vardan Aramyan underlined. “It refers not to the word "offshore zone" itself, but rather to the regimes with not reasonable tax rates or, so to say, with lowered rates that are different from the Armenian tax system, which have all countries, including the European Union.
By the adoption of the Draft Decision, it is expected to substitute the term “offshore zone” with a new term which is set by the RA Tax Code and defines the countries having liberal systems or "non-sensitive" tax rates in terms of taxation compared to the RA tax system, as well as to expand the list of countries (geographical areas) defined by the Decision, which are: American (Eastern) Samoa, Tunisia, South Korea, Mongolia, Namibia, Trinidad and Tobago. According to the Minister of Finance, these countries have been recognized by the European Union as countries with non-sensitive tax rates or liberal taxation regimes as well.
The government also approved the following drafts:
1. Draft Decision of the RA Government “On Making Amendments to the Decision No 835-A dated July 30, 2015, of the Government of the Republic of Armenia”, which will allow to use the funds available on the extra-budgetary account to support the activities necessary for the regular work of the RA NSS, in particular, for the preparation and holding of the census to be conducted in 2018-2022;
2. Draft Decision of the RA Government “On Making Amendments to the Decision No 1146-N dated August 19, 2010, of the Government of the Republic of Armenia”, which will ensure the regular activities of gambling sphere;
3. RA Draft Law “On Making Amendments and Addenda to the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia”, which is aimed at the review of taxation approaches to the VAT taxable transactions implemented by state and local government institutions, as well as the maintenance of unchanged tax burden for business entities engaged in passenger transportation.