Mr. Sahak Hagoyan, the founder of “Hagoyan” Co-operative received a letter from tax authorities, from which he learnt the news that he was fined for 750 thousand AMD, for keeping illegal workers.
He told that before the imposition of the fine, the employees of the tax authority visited him to clarify information about registration of the employees, “The problem was related to the alleged non-registration of employees, but I have maintained the requirements of the law,” the founder of the co-operative said.
He applied to Yerevan Anti-Corruption Center which is operated by the Armenian Young Lawyers Association NGO. Mr. Arnold Vardanyan, the Legal Adviser of the Center introduced the situation, “There were employees that were hired and then released from work on various reasons. During this period, the employees of the tax authority visited and without verifying the contracts simply were interested who were the workers and after that juridical person was for 750 AMD with reasoning that he has 5 non registered employees.”
Our interlocutor said that the employees of the Ministry of Finance did not carry out proper administration and fined the juridical person without studying the employment contracts.
He said that the RA Law on Income Tax allows the organizations to register the employees by the 20th day of the next month. The manufacturing cooperative “Hagoyan” had maintained that norm.
“We wrote a complaint to the Ministry of Finance, stating the reasons and requesting that an administrative act is declared null and void.”
Mr. Arnold Vardanyan, the Legal Adviser of Yerevan Anti-Corruption Center which is operated by the Armenian Young Lawyers Association NGO said that today, on the 24th of August the RA Ministry of Finance has met their claim in extrajudicial order and annulled the decision.
Although in this case the juridical person acted in compliance to the law, but despite everything, the tax authorities should act in compliance to the law as well. “Fining should be fair. The tax authority is obliged to implement its obligations in good faith. If they come for inspection, they should specify the names of the employees, check the existence of the labor contracts and the signing period,” Arnold Vardanyan concluded.
