YEREVAN. – Armenia rejects the term “offshore zone”, and the relevant amendment will be introduced in the government’s decision of June 1, 2017.
The corresponding draft decision was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet on February 1. The draft was presented by the Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan.
He noted that the list of countries with offshore zones will be renamed as “a list of countries (geographical areas) with a liberal taxation system” or “a list of countries with unreasonable preferential tax treatment.” The new term has already been introduced into the Tax Code of Armenia, which came into force on January 1, 2018.
“The problem is that a list of countries conditionally called ‘offshore zones’ was created. However, this term caused confusion among the public and colleagues from Luxembourg. In particular, they ask why they were on the list of offshore zones,” the minister explained.
Meanwhile, he continued, it is not about offshore zones in the literal sense, but about unreasonable tax benefits.
Vardan Aramyan also said that the list is supplemented by new countries and geographical areas: American Samoa, Tunisia, South Korea, Mongolia, Namibia, Trinidad and Tobago, which are already recognized by the EU as countries with a liberal or unreasonable preferential tax regime.
