The citizen that applied to Vayots Dzor AAC on the phone had faced the following problem: he wanted to build a grocery store with an area of 18.5 square meters. According to the requirement of the RA Law on Local Tax the citizen had to pay the tax of up to 3000AMD. However, the local tax authority body required to pay 5000 AMD. According to Article 10 of the RA Law on Local Tax: “… local tax for new buildings and constructions (including the temporary constructions) that are constructed in compliance with architectural-constructional permission for projection issued pursuant to the procedure established by the law, shall be up to 3000 AMD for the objects having the area of up to 20 square meters.” The AAC lawyers informed the client on his rights provided by law after which the citizen went to the local tax authority body for clarification of the situation. In result the citizen paid only the sum established by law – 3000 AMD and obtained the corresponding permission. The citizen believed that the corruption risk in his case was that the local tax authority body abused his official powers and bypassing his authorities demanded to pay more money that was provided by law.
The citizen accomplished his transaction successfully and again called to the AAC to express his gratitude. He said “At last we have a functioning organization, which works apart from the governmental bodies, which is really concerned with the citizens’ affairs.”

The success story is borrowed from www.shpak.am.