Armenia insists on signing double taxation agreement with USA
YEREVAN, September 25. /ARKA/. Until 2022 Armenia will conclude agreements on the exclusion of double taxation with 8 more countries and will pursue an agreement also with the United States to abolish double taxation, Armenian finance minister Vardan Aramyan said at a press conference on Monday. So far Armenia has concluded such agreements with 47 countries. The latest was signed with Israel.
The minister added that two agreements with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will be signed later this year. He noted that Armenia insists on the necessity of concluding an agreement also with the United States. According to him, the parties have disagreements on the need for such a document. US ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills said earlier this year that the US was prepared to look at the treaty if it proves necessary to foster trade and investment.
‘For now, the existing double taxation treaty which has been in effect since the 1970s in our view remains valid and is sufficient to cover trade and business between our two countries but we wait to hear and see what evidence the Armenian government will present to justify a new treaty,” ambassador Mills said.
According to Aramyan, the agreement mentioned by the ambassador can not apply to Armenia, since it is not the legal successor to the former Soviet Union. Besides, the agreement signed in the 70s of the last century has become outdated and does not meet the current requirements, according to Aramyan.
He stressed that the Armenian side intends to propose the US to modernize the agreement, amend it in accordance with modern realities, as well as the current international legislation and sign it with an independent Armenia.
The minister noted that the absence of such an agreement hinders the attraction of bilateral investments. As an example, he mentioned the acquisition of Armenian Vorotan HPP by US-based Contour Global, which had to register through its subsidiary in Luxembourg, with which Armenia has an agreement on the exclusion of double taxation.
