Young Armenian flock to the DigiTec Expo in September
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—The Armenian government reported on Tuesday a sharp rise in the number of new information technology firms that have qualified for tax breaks introduced three years ago to boost Armenia’s rapidly growing IT sector.
Under a government bill passed by the Armenian parliament in late 2014, such firms employing up to 30 people can be fully exempt from profit tax. They are also eligible for a preferential income tax rate for their employees, equivalent to 10 percent of their gross wages.
Nearly 430 IT startups have been granted the tax breaks, valid for five years, by a special government commission since then. According to the Armenian Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, 281 of them received such exemptions last year, up from around 100 in 2016.
The ministry touted the privileged tax regime on Tuesday in a statement and a video report attached to it. The footage featured interviews with the founders of three Armenian tech firms set up in the last few years.
One of them, Himnark, specializes in accounting software development. “We provided services to one foreign company and our resulting profit wasn’t taxed,â€
