YEREVAN, April 7. /ARKA/. Armenian tax authorities collected a total of 255 billion drams in taxes and customs duties in the first quarter of 2017, by 24.3 billion drams (10.5%) more than in the same time span of 2016, the State Revenue Committee (SRC) said.

According to the SRC, the tax collection rate grew by 11.6% or 20.3 billion drams, to 196 billion drams, while the customs duties collection rate increased by 7.3% or 4 billion drams to 59 billion drams.

The SRC attributed the growth to the introduction of a system for private analysis of taxpayers, designed to track down tax dodgers. It also said the overall number of inspections in the first quarter of 2017 fell by 44% when compared to the same period in 2016.

At the same time, the average amount of a tax liability as a result of one inspection in the first quarter of this year amounted to 4.4 billion drams, up from 868,900 drams in the first quarter of 2016 (an increase of 410%). Taxes paid by large taxpayers increased by 13.9 billion, or 13.8%, to 114.5 billion drams. -0-