The Armenian Government has published the names of 2386 companies which will be checked by the State Revenue Committee (SRC) in 2012. Such a move and the introduction of computer technologies are aimed at decreasing contacts and tension between the tax authorities and businesses.

The main direction of the tax reforms undertaken by the administration of President Serzh Sargsyan has been to simplify the bureaucracy, a process supported by international financial institutions. Along with measures to simplify the taxing process, such as wider use of simple taxes for small companies, measures are taken to implement the practice of electronic accounting and electronic communication between taxpayers and tax authorities.

These works started in 2008, and on May 18, 2011, Sargsyan signed a new decree to approve the Strategy of Reforming Tax and Customs Administration for the next three years. To that end, a system of electronic signatures was introduced earlier in 2011, and the taxpayers are encouraged to present their documents to the SRC without visiting the offices. An important consequence is that the taxpayer will not need to contact tax officers directly, in turn decreasing the risk of corruption. In addition, halls for taxpayer servicing are being opened throughout the country with ten such halls already operative, in which a taxpayer can get any information and make any payment concerning his/her tax or customs liabilities without visiting the tax authorities.

Terminals for payment have been installed outside the service halls as well, e.g. in any tax or customs office, and all terminals are linked to the nationwide network which allows any taxpayer to make any payment in any region. The software placed in the system can also identify errors in accounting, for example when a controversy is detected in the data presented by two partner companies. As a result, all taxpayers in Armenia will be freed from unexpected inspections which previously caused many complaints. The SRC declared in 2011 it will “conduct fewer controls but will not tolerate if you hide the taxes.” Moreover, the software allows ranking companies according to their risk, i.e. to identify businesses which are more risky from the point of view of their taxing. Such cases become the first basis for controls, making inspections more balanced and warranted.

In parallel, an automatic system of returning the value added tax (VAT) to exporters was introduced early in 2011, whereby exporters’ VAT payments are compensated from the state budget after 90 days. Also, more than 10,000 cash registers are linked to a central server by the GPRS links, which has enabled the authorities to read their data without visiting the site. In parallel, around 50 paper reports were deemed unnecessary and removed during 2011. The Armenian tax authorities claim that the introduction of this system will greatly improve the tax administration in the country and will improve Armenia's position in World Bank's Doing Business Index according to which Armenian businesses spent too much dealing with the tax authorities. According to the latest data from May 2011, Armenia ranked 55 among 183 countries studied by the criterion Ease of Doing Business.

The tax authorities also claim that from now on, refusal to present electronic reports can only be legitimate if the businessmen do not have access to the Internet or have no computer. A process of introducing electronic signatures has started in 2010, and for now, only 12 percent Armenia’s 80,000 businesses present their reports in electronic form but this number is expected to grow rapidly in the near future. Persuading all businesses to use electronic forms for accounting will be one of the important tasks of the SRC in the near future. This is quite possible since over 40 percent of Armenia’s population now has access to the Internet. Starting in 2012, the SRC of Armenia plans to receive all reports about VAT in electronic form only. This means that the majority of large companies including all importers will present electronic reports. The SRC has reported that it will enhance the use of information technologies. It will also have a permanently functioning school in the resort of Dilijan for training of tax and customs employees.

Another measure in the reform of the tax and customs system is the creation of a joint customs system between Armenia and Georgia, a process supported by the European Union. In particular, the three major border checkpoints between the two countries will be modified according to European standards. This process includes the construction of new buildings for border crossings as the old ones had not been built for that purpose (there were no state borders between the two countries during Soviet times). The works have already been started. In parallel, both countries are members of the EU Eastern Partnership program and will start negotiations with the EU about Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements, and if these talks are successful, the countries will have access to freer trade with the EU as well as with each other.