80-year-old Misha Petrosyan is a Russian citizen and came to Armenia for permanent residence a five years ago. He built a house in Aragatsotn marz of the RA and currently is living there. A year ago in April, he moved his property from Russia to Armenia. He struggles against the Ministry of Finance of the RA (the current State Revenue Committee) for almost a year. The Customs authorities asked the old man to pay 500 thousand AMD as a customs duty for transfer of 320 kilograms of property.
Misha Petrosyan appealed to the administrative court to oblige the Ministry of Finance to allow the use of personal property imported without customs fees. In his petition, he referred to Article 249 Part 11 of the RA Law on Customs Regulation, which provides that individuals arriving to Armenia for permanent residence may import their property without paying customs fees.
However, the Finance Ministry has disputed the fact that Misha Petrosyan was a person with a permanent residence. Anush Gabrielyan, representative of the Ministry of Finance claimed that Misha Petrosyan, in particular in 2013 had lived in Armenia for only 220 days.
Misha Petrosyan wants to take at least some items of his property that he needs for maintenance of his health, such as his armchair and special training device. But the customs authorities refused.
The court of the First Instance has met the old man’s claim and ruled a favorable decision, but the Ministry of finance appealed it.
The Administrative Court of Appeal examined the appeal of the Ministry of Finance. The parties presented their positions to the court (presiding judge Artur Arakelyan, judges, Hovsep Bedevyan, Ashot Sargsyan), the verdict will be announced on May 12.
