40th Session of the SME Development Sub-Council Led by RA Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan

On April 29, the 40th meeting of the SME Development Sub-Council was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, Gevorg Papoyan.

At the beginning of the meeting, Hovsep Patvakanyan, Head of the Investment Council of Armenia, presented a report on the implementation of previously discussed issues. The presentation was followed by the discussion of the agenda item.

The agenda included one issue: the draft Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Making Additions and Amendments to the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia” developed by the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia (revision of certain transfer pricing regulations).

The issue had previously been discussed within the framework of a Sub-Council meeting, after which the SRC representatives proposed a number of solutions in the Transfer Pricing draft aimed at addressing the issues raised during the meeting.

During the session, the issue was presented by Rafayel Gevorgyan, Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee. He introduced the amendments and provisions included in the Transfer Pricing draft. Hovhannes Melkonyan, representative of the “2B” Business Support Foundation, David Aghajanyan, Senior Economist at the Investment Council of Armenia, and Karen Zakaryan, Executive Director of FINARM, also shared their positions on the matter.

Members of the SME Development Council noted that they support the proposed amendments; however, several issues in the draft still require further elaboration and clarification. The main concerns raised related to defining the scope of countries with preferential tax systems or business entities benefiting from such systems.

Deputy Chairman of the SRC Rafayel Gevorgyan proposed continuing the discussions in a working format in order to jointly develop solutions to the issues raised.

More about previously resolved issues: https://icarmenia.am/en/reforms/transfer-pricing-initiative/