New protest wave sparks in Armenia

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

A new protest wave sparked in Armenia uniting hundreds of businessmen under the same motto against the government.

Some 500 people representing small businesses gathered in front of the government building in Yerevan on January 26 to chant against the new law on turnover tax. The angry protesters even called on the prime minister to emerge before the crowd and lively respond to their complaints.

The merchants complained about Prime Minister Hovik Abraamyan's refusal to reply to their regular letters, protesting the contradictory law expected to come into force on February 1, according to News.am, local media outlet.

The new law urges the country’s marketplace workers to unconditionally submit relevant documents on their commodity circulation to the tax agencies.

Stepan Aslanyan, Head of the Armenian Union of Small Businesses NGO, said the merchants were dissatisfied with the severity of the document circulation in regard to business deals.

"We have already submitted our appeal in a written form to the government and are waiting for someone from the cabinet to receive us," he added.

Tigran Hovannisyan, Head of League for Protecting Auto Importers NGO, said despite the long-lasting rally, no one from the state body has replied to the demonstrators yet.

Pursuant to the amendments to the Law on Turnover Tax, which is in force in Armenia since October 1, 2014, the tax rate for businesses in the country has dropped from 3.5 percent to one percent. But, now, the law calls on the businesses to submit the necessary documents on their commodity circulation.

Otherwise, it provides a fine against the business enterprise, who fails to submit a proper document. For the first case violation of the law a warning will be made to a business entity. The second law breach will end up in a $42 fine, while a 5 percent turnover tax will be imposed for the third case of violation. The business enterprises will find themselves in the field of value-added tax (VAT) for the fourth consecutive law breach.

Small and medium business owners in Armenia have unanimously opposed the new law when they were firstly applied earlier in October. The merchants claim that it is unrealistic to require necessary documents from large businesses, which belong to oligarchs in state power, since they often refuse to produce any document of the bargained products to the small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Armenian government explains the new law with an effort to fight against tax evasion by large businesses in the country.