YEREVAN, December 8. / ARKA /. Armenia’s parliament has approved today in the second and final reading a package of amendments to the laws on taxes, income an VAT, all designed to simplify and facilitate the procedure of reporting to taxation bodies.

A deputy chairman of the State Revenue Committee, Armen Alaverdian, said the amendments will facilitate and simplify tax administration by setting a unified reporting procedure for all economic entities.

According to the latest World Bank `Doing Business' index released last month Armenian businesses have to pay various taxes as many as 50 times a year and spend an average of 581 hours on that, much more than companies in developed Western countries.

According to Armen Alaverdian, the main logic behind the changes is to improve drastically the country’s business environment and help shape favorable conditions for small and medium companies. He said the changes set one singe date for submitting tax reports –the 20-th day of the following month. For example, reporting on excise taxes will have to be submitted only once a quarter, while now businesses have to report every month. Income statements will be submitted once a year. Now they are submitted every six months.  -0-