YEREVAN. – The merchants, who are protesting Armenia’s new Law on Turnover Tax, are dissatisfied with the government’s recent decision to postpone until July 1 the execution of the controversial new requirement of this law.

Dozens of merchants on Monday have assembled outside the National Assembly (NA), where the three non-government parliamentary forces (Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia, and Heritage Parties) will motion for a special NA session on the same day, and to discuss the aforesaid law.

“This is a deception; postponing does nothing. We demand that the [new] law be suspended, [and] we work with the old law. We demand a final solution,” a protesting merchant told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Heritage Party Chairman and former FM Raffi Hovannisian approached the merchants a while ago saying that he supports them, and he urged them no to stop their fight.

“The deferment of the law is a result of the struggle by the people; the people shall not withdraw. This law includes a huge reality of corruption,” Hovannisian specifically stated.

As reported earlier, pursuant to the new amendments and additions to the Law on Turnover Tax, which have come into force in Armenia on October 1, 2014, the tax rate for businesses in the country has dropped from 3.5 percent to one percent. But, now, the businesses will have to submit documents on their commodity circulation. And if a business enterprise does not submit a respective document, it will be warned at first, and, subsequently, it will be fined.

But these amendments and additions have caused a considerable protest among the country’s small and medium-sized merchants. In their view, asking for these documents from the large businesses is unrealistic because the large businesses often do not provide documents to the small and medium-sized enterprises concerning the products.

The government, on the other hand, justifies these amendments and additions with the need to prevent tax evasion by Armenia’s large businesses.

As a result of protests as well as talks with Armenia’s public sector, however, the government had decided to extend the aforementioned deadline for four months, until February 1. And during the special Cabinet meeting on January 31, it was decided to postpone for five more months, until July 1, the aforesaid law’s controversial requirement of documentation of products.