YEREVAN, January 17. /ARKA/. Armenian tax authorities collected in 2020 a total of one trillion and 385.2 billion drams in taxes and duties, by about 60 billion drams more than projected by the government’s budget, the chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) Edward Hovhannisyan said in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia.
He said that amount of taxes and duties was collected due to targeted administration and stricter discipline of taxpayers.
According to him, of the total amount some one trillion and 88.6 billion drams were collected as taxes and 296.6 billion drams as customs duties.
“In terms of tax revenues, I am pleased to announce that in comparison with 2019 there is almost no negative balance – it is very small, about 0.2%, and in terms of customs duties, the bulk of the negative balance resulted from less number of vehicles that went through customs clearance,” he said.
The head of the State Revenue Committee noted that 139 billion drams were refunded to taxpayers, In his words, the coronavirus pandemic did not affect tax collection rates.
“It is also necessary to take into account some factors that directly influenced the collection of taxes. In particular, 90 billion drams less were collected as customs duties on imported vehicles and the government ceded another 50 billion drams from the income tax to economic entities,’ he said.
He said also that due to the Covid-19 restrictions on economic activity imposed since March 2020, 16.5 billion drams less in state duties were collected. ‘Even in these conditions, purely tax revenues amounted to the same amount as in 2019,” Hovhannisyan said.
He noted that 15,000 economic entities operating in the general field of taxation paid by 7 billion drams more in taxes than in 2019. ($1 – 525.45 drams).