Armenia’s State Revenue Committee has proposed revising mechanisms applied in cases of tax violations, including raising the threshold for initiating criminal proceedings from 10 million to 30 million drams. The draft was presented in the National Assembly on April 14 in the first reading by SRC Chairman Eduard Hakobyan.

The proposed amendments cover the Tax Code, the Criminal Code, and the Criminal Procedure Code, according to 1lurer.am .

“We are taking a major step by proposing to triple the threshold for large-scale violations to 30 million drams, and for two consecutive years to 45 million. For particularly large-scale violations, we propose doubling the threshold to 25–50 million, and for obligations over two consecutive years to 75 million drams. What will happen as a result? About 600 criminal cases will be decriminalized, of course with taxpayers’ consent, and if proceedings have not been initiated, they will not be initiated. In the case of particularly large-scale violations, the sanction will be classified as medium severity,” Hakobyan said.

Addressing amendments to the Tax Code, he clarified that when receiving information about alleged tax evasion, authorities will not immediately initiate criminal proceedings. Instead, they will first apply internal analytical tools, notify the taxpayer, and seek substantiated explanations.

“In the absence of justified explanations, the tax authority will be able to document the violation through a thematic inspection and issue an administrative act, which can be appealed through established procedures. After that, the SRC will decide whether to submit a report initiating criminal proceedings.

Exceptions will apply in cases requiring urgent action to prevent the loss of evidence. For this, it is necessary to remove certain limitations from the Code regarding the grounds for inspections and the restriction of conducting inspections only once per tax year. As a result, at least half of around 600 preliminary assessments annually will move into administrative processes, fully ensuring taxpayers’ rights,” he said.

A third set of changes concerns the Criminal Procedure Code. Based on issues raised during discussions, reforms have been proposed regarding the use of asset seizures in criminal proceedings, aiming to reduce financial losses for businesses.

“We propose allowing the release of seized property during proceedings, with the approval of the supervising prosecutor, by decision of the investigator or the court, if the owner or holder provides a bank guarantee equivalent to the seized asset,” he said.

Co-rapporteur, Civil Contract MP Babken Tunyan, noted that the amendments ease existing rules and raise the threshold for criminal liability.

“In other words, while the current threshold for initiating a criminal case is 10 million drams, it is being significantly revised. Another key issue addressed is the introduction of an institutional mechanism ensuring that cases undergo thorough filtering from the SRC before reaching the Investigative Committee,” he said.