Said transactions are regulated by the Law ''On currency regulation and currency control'' Adopted at November 24, 2004, The Law establishes terms and conditions of currency operations, cases and terms and conditions of ownership, management and use of currency values and regulates other relations pertaining to currency regulation and currency control in the Republic of Armenia.

As a general rule transactions in Armenia have to be made in Armenian drams. There are several cases (mainly, transactions between resident and non-resident legal entities and sole entrepreneurs) where use of foreign currency is permitted.

There are certain legal options for establishing business (commercial activities) in the Republic of Armenia:

General information on company formation in Armenia

1. limited liability companies;
2. sole entrepreneurs;
3. joint-stock companies (open and closed);
4. business partnerships (full partnerships and trust partnerships);
5. supplementary liability companies;
6. cooperatives;
7. branches.
8. Representative offices of foreign companies can be established in Armenia for the purposes of representation and protection of the rights of its founding company but are not entitled to perform commercial activities

Incorporation of organizations and sole entrepreneurs
Legal entities, their separate subdivisions (branches and representative offices) and sole entrepreneurs are subject to state registration in the Republic of Armenia. State registration includes also registration with the tax authorities. The one-stop shop principle is applied in the process of state registration (including registration of the firm name, state registration of the company itself and registration with the tax authorities). The required documents can be submitted either in hard copies
or electronically.
The registration of commercial entities is made immediately (if documents are submitted electronically or approved templates of the required documents are used) or within 2 working days (in other cases).  

Armenia is the 38th among 190 countries according to the ranking of WB “Doing Business 2017”.

Foreign investors can benefit from the following investment incentives:

• 100% ownership permitted /If the sole shareholder is a legal entity incorporation of a CJSC is the preferred formation

• Companies registered by a foreigner in Armenia have the right to buy land. Although foreign citizens are not allowed to own land in Armenia, they are offered long-term lease contracts

• For investment projects, VAT payments for imported goods exceeding 300 million AMD are deferred for 3 years and VAT payments are deferred for 2 years for goods exceeding 70 million AMD

• Free and unlimited exchange of foreign currencies

• Free and unlimited repatriation of property and profits

• Zero rating in Armenia applies to goods and services exported under “Free Turnover” and “Re-exportation” customs regimes.

• Free Economic Zones (NO income tax, NO property tax, NO profit tax, NO custom duties)

• No export duties and restrictions

• No restrictions on remittances

• No restrictions for personal recruitment.

• Unrestricted access to any sector and geographic location within country

• Guarantees against nationalization and fair compensation in case of expropriation which can take place only in extreme cases of natural and state emergency and based on court decision

• Grandfather clause for 5 years (guarantees against changes of legislation on investments)

• Duty free import of personal goods of foreign employees

• Exploitation of natural resources through concession contracts

As other advantages the following can be mentioned:

• Free trade agreements with CIS countries, which gives duty free access to 250 million consumers.

• Bilateral treaties on investment promotion and protection with nearly 40 countries. That means that the investors of the Contracting parties are granted a number of guarantees, in particular fair and equitable treatment, protection from expropriation, free transfer of means and full protection and security, an alternative dispute resolution mechanism is allowed.

• Membership to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

• Armenia currently enjoys “Generalized system of preferences” of the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Japan.

• Armenia is one of the countries enjoying “Generalized system of preferences” (GSP+) provided by EU.

• Since 02.01.2015 Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which creates the following opportunities:

• Access of Armenian production to about 170 million consumers.

• Duty free import of raw materials from EEU member states.

• No customs formalities during mutual trade berween EEU member states, which leads to financial costs reduction and time-consuming for business.

• No non-tarif measures of trade and trade technical bariers between EEU member countries.

• Favorable import tarifs for about 750 products.

• Armenia intends to become a unique bridge between the member states of the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union: considering membership to the Eurasian Economic Union and the consequent opportunities on one hand, and the possibility of GSP+ preferential trade system with the European Union on the other. Armenia enjoys GSP preferential trade regime with Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Norway, and the USA. Another opportunity is the “Trade and Investment Framework Agreement” signed between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the USA which creates favorable conditions for investments, commodity and trade promotion between the both countries.

The following incentives are provided to investors in Armenia:

• VAT payments postponement for up to 3-year period for importing equipment and goods within the scope of investment projects (RA Law “On Value Added Tax”, RA Government decree №1119-N of August 4, 2011).

• Profit tax privileges can be also provided for new jobs creation for the projects selected by the corresponding decree of the Government of RA (RA Law “On Profit tax”).

• Profit tax privileges for large exporters (RA Law “On Profit tax”).

• Support to newly established IT companies (RA Law “On State Support to Information Technology Sphere”).

• Opportunity to operate industrial zones (RA Law “On Industrial Policy”)

• Customs duty exemption for materials and equipment imported from non-EaEU country that cannot be replaced by materials and equipment produced by EaEU country to realize investment project in the priority sector of economy of RA and exceptionally on the territory of RA (RA Government decree №1118-N of September 17, 2015).

• Free economic zones. Residents of FEZ in Armenia are completely exempted from VAT, profit tax, property tax and customs duties (RA Law “On Free Economic Zones”, RA Government decree №1521-N of October 13, 2011). Services on behalf of the state bodies are delivered on “one stop shop” basis (RA Government decree №292-N of March 15, 2012).

• Currently operating “Alliance” free economic zone is oriented to the production and exports of high and innovative technologies in the field of electronics, precision engineering, pharmaceutics and biotechnologies, information technologies, alternative energy, industrial design and telecommunications, as well as non-developed spheres in Armenia.

Republic of Armenia
Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն
Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun

Total area: 29,743 km2
Borders with:    Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey
Population:    3.0 million (2016 estimate)
Capital:    Yerevan (1.1 mln)
Large cities: Gyumri (146 thousand)
Vanadzor (105 thousand)
Government:    Presidential Republic
Monetary unit:   Armenian Dram
Climate: Continental
GDP (PPP)  2016 estimate
• Total $26.560 billion
• Per capita $8,881
GDP (nominal) 2016 estimate
• Total $10.754 billion
• Per capita $3,595
Time zone AMT (UTC+4)
ISO 3166 code  AM
Internet TLD .am .հայ