Armenian authorities seeking to reduce number of Artsakh Armenians  involved in housing programme 

ArmInfo. The Armenian authorities are delaying the process of issuing funds under the state  program for the purchase of housing by Artsakh residents in order to make it impossible to use the funds returned at an interest rate. 

This was reported on his Facebook page by Tigran Abrahamyan, a deputy  of the opposition faction With Honor, noting that in this way the  authorities intend to limit the number of Artsakh families able to  take advantage of the state program. As the deputy explained, thus, a  family of four wishing to purchase an apartment in Yerevan is  provided with 12 million drams in the form of a certificate. 

"Under these conditions, the family really needs to additionally  obtain a mortgage loan while the provision on the return of income  tax on the percentage amount, which is valid until January 1, 2025,  is in effect in Yerevan. However, as the beneficiaries of the program  assured me, the banks working with the government, in accordance with  the directive received "from above", have adopted a wait-and-see  attitude," Abrahamyan explained.

In connection with numerous appeals, the MP suggested that this  problem may concern many or all beneficiaries, and noted that he is  currently trying to understand the situation. At the same time,  Abrahamyan expressed the opinion that such a situation could have  arisen due to the online platform intended for filing applications  for certificates, which often does not respond to beneficiaries'  appeals within the established deadlines, which was also reported to  him by Artsakh residents who wished to take advantage of this  government program. 

"The government program has already created many problems for those  forcibly displaced from Artsakh, and now new artificial obstacles are  being added. Considering the cuts in the social program envisaged for  Artsakh residents from next year, the situation is becoming even more  catastrophic," the MP concluded.

In January, at the plenary session of the National Assembly of the  Republic of Armenia, amendments to the Tax Code were adopted,  according to which the beneficiaries of the program who attracted  mortgage loans for apartments in buildings, the construction permit  for which was issued after January 1, 2022, will be able to receive  income tax only until 2025. 

At the same time, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of  Armenia Arman Poghosyan, presenting this program in the country's  legislative body, reported that the state in some cases may early  terminate the agreement on the return of income tax with buyers of  apartments in Yerevan. 

According to the bill, the tax refund due to buyers of housing on a  mortgage in the primary market should be canceled from January 1,  2027 in the regions bordering Yerevan (Ararat, Armavir, Kotayk,  Aragatsotn), and from January 1, 2029 - in other regions. For  Yerevan, this benefit has already begun to be gradually cancelled:  from July 1, 2022, it ceased to be valid in the 1st zone of Yerevan,  six months later - in the second, six months later, that is, from  July 1, 2023 - in the third, and from 2025 it will cease to be valid  in the entire capital.