Importing a car VAT free?
I've been a "special resident" of Armenia for the past four plus years. Only recently (a few days ago to be exact) did I learn that according to the Customs Law I, as a special resident, can import any and all of my personal belongings VAT free... including a car! Now this is great news when you look at the selection and prices of cars available in Armenia. Only caveat, I think, is that you can only send one shipment within the first five years of obtaining the special 10 year Armenia residency passport. So exciting!
posted by Arina at 12:34 PM
7 Comments:
Arina.. it's true. A friend of mine did it, but with A LOT of trouble. The law is there, but getting the right people to follow it was the problem. Buttttttttt... it CAN be done... and if more people do it, they will get used to it.
they think their law is trouble... wait until they deal with me :-). Thanks for the tip.
I cannot believe how people can be satisfied with such treatment. How can you accept it when you should have the right to receive FULL citizenship without having to give up on your other one??
How are you going about shipping the vehicle?
Basturma: The right is not tied in to citizenship, but to permanent residency, and indeed the main excuse Customs offers for giving people a hard time is that citizens can try to abuse the law by changing residency between, say, Moscow and Yerevan every couple of years and import stuff that is actually intended for sale.
I have been able to locate two legal citations for this matter. One is in the law regulating residency:
http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1819&lang=eng
Art. 28:
During the first three months from the date of being granted ordinary resident status, the foreign citizen may import to the Republic of Armenia duty-free his personal property, one personal motor car and household goods. For the import of other property that is owned by him, the foreign citizen shall pay customs duties in accordance with laws.
(Note that there is no explicit mention of this right under the more privileged Special Residency Status.)
And the law on customs, art. 105, reads:
6. Natural persons arriving in the Republic of Armenia for permanent residence may import duty free property for their personal use.
The five-year provision probably exists somewhere, but I haven't found it (and my search included docs in Armenian.)
Which company you used for transportation did you use? I am in the same situation, but can not find a decent insured company!
Thanks
If you look at this document (in English), page 44, #6, it does list the "once every 5 year" rule right there:
http://customs.am/pdf_eng/custcod.pdf
Question: does anybody know if you can transport your vehicle that is still under bank financing in the U.S.? Any problems, comments, requirements?
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