Armenian tax authorities uncover major undeclared trade and wage case

Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) has uncovered a major case of tax evasion involving undeclared sales and underreported wages in the retail sector, officials said on Thursday.

Investigators found that a chain of food and non-food stores operating in Yerevan and the town of Ashtarak concealed about 619 million drams in revenue between July 2023 and June 2025. The company also failed to properly report roughly 340 million drams in employee wages, according to the SRC.

Authorities said the business routinely accepted cash payments without issuing official receipts from cash registers, instead providing internal slips to customers. This practice allowed the company to avoid paying significant taxes.

The SRC estimated that the company withheld nearly 260 million drams in tax obligations. A criminal case has been opened by Armenia’s Investigative Committee’s Department for Economic Crimes and Smuggling.

Tax officials reminded retailers that issuing receipts through cash registers is mandatory under Armenian law. Repeated violations may constitute criminal offenses, the SRC warned, urging businesses to comply with regulations and provide customers with official receipts rather than internal documents.