Mobile Centre is Armenia's Largest Taxpayer
“Mobile Centre Art” LLC (Mobile Centre), which imports, sells, and since last year also exports electronics, has become Armenia’s largest taxpayer based on the results of the first quarter of 2024, overtaking “Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine” and “Gazprom Armenia”, which until now occupied the first and second positions among large taxpayers.
Returning to the top positions of the list, in second place is “Gazprom Armenia” CJSC, whose taxes amounted to 18.2 billion drams, decreasing by 13%.
In third place is the mining company “Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine” CJSC (ZCMC) with 15.6 billion drams in taxes and about a 1% growth [1].
Table 1.
| Taxes paid by Armenia’s top 10 largest taxpayers | ||||||
| Broken down by the first quarter of 2024 | ||||||
| Company | 2024 first quarter | 2023 first quarter | 2022 first quarter | |||
| position | bln drams | position | bln drams | position | bln drams | |
| Mobile Centre Art | 1 | 19.9 | 7 | 5.3 | 38 | 1.3 |
| Gazprom Armenia | 2 | 18.2 | 1 | 20.9 | 2 | 20.1 |
| Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine | 3 | 15.6 | 2 | 15.5 | 1 | 35.4 |
| Grand Tobacco | 4 | 13.2 | 3 | 11.7 | 4 | 7.9 |
| Pretty Way | 5 | 8.8 | 4 | 8.7 | 118 | 0.5 |
| CPS Energy Group | 6 | 4.8 | 8 | 5.1 | 21 | 2.0 |
| International Masis Tabak | 7 | 4.7 | 5 | 7.3 | 5 | 5.9 |
| Viva Armenia | 8 | 4.6 | 14 | 3.0 | 11 | 2.9 |
| City | 9 | 4.3 | 11 | 3.6 | 14 | 2.5 |
| Wildberries | 10 | 4.2 | 20 | 2.1 | 402 | 0.1 |
95.5 percent of the Mobile Centre organization’s taxes are value added tax. Moreover, in 2023 total tax payments grew 2.6 times compared to 2022 (from 17.6 billion drams to 46.1 billion drams) and 10.4 times compared to 2021. Before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict the quarterly taxes paid by the Mobile Centre organization did not exceed 1.3 billion drams.
In 2023 Armenia exported the equivalent of 466 million dollars in smartphones, which were mainly imported from Vietnam and re-exported to Russia. The export of smartphones alone accounted for 6 percent of total exports. We also note that until May 2022 smartphones were not exported from Armenia.
Chart 1.
If until 2021 alcoholic beverages, led by Armenian cognac, occupied the first place in exports to Russia, now phones and consumer electronics are in the first place.
Let us note that an online platform has been created by us that assesses and forecasts Armenia’s exports by various regions and commodities. The platform provides more than 2000 forecasts.
Chart 2.
“Pretty Way” LLC (VESTA), which trades in electronics, also occupies an “honorable” position on the list of large taxpayers in the last two years. In the first quarter of this year the company’s taxes amounted to 8.8 billion drams, growing by about 1% compared to the same period last year. VESTA is 5th on the list of large taxpayers this time.
Unlike Mobile Center, the Pretty Way (Vesta) company received just 62.1 percent of its tax revenues from value added tax. It is notable that unlike the aforementioned companies, Pretty Way pays significant customs duties. In 2023 total tax revenues amounted to 33.3 billion drams, customs duties amounted to 29.5 billion drams or 88.6 percent of total taxes paid. Customs duties are usually calculated based on customs value, including the value of imported goods along with all applicable taxes (including value added tax). Therefore a part of customs revenues includes the VAT of imported goods.
This is also evidenced by the fact that from the budget prepared in 2023, 17.7 billion drams (53 percent) from indirect taxes were returned to Pretty Way. Such returns are made mainly from the return of indirect taxes connected with the transfer of goods from one state to another.
Pretty Way company’s tax revenues in 2023 grew by 3.9 times compared to 2022 (from 8.5 billion drams to 33.3 billion drams) and by 16.5 times compared to 2021.
It is necessary to note that household appliances (computers, monitors, televisions, printers) make up a significant percentage of RA exports. Specifically, in 2023 electrical equipment (foreign economic activity two-digit code 85) accounted for 13 percent of exports.
Chart 4.
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