Citizens will be able to direct a part of their income tax to the media, NGOs, and parties

The Government of the RA, in its session held on September 17, approved the draft law “On Making Amendments and a Supplement to the Tax Code.” The new legislative initiative gives citizens an opportunity to make gratuitous monetary allocations to structures of the public and political sectors at the expense of the income tax paid by them.

According to the draft, as a result of the expansion of the social expenses system, physical entities will be able to choose, when submitting their annual declaration, to transfer a part of their taxes to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), parties, or legal entities (individual entrepreneurs) carrying out media activities.

Sharp increase in declarations and social expenses: SRC statistics

This change is being introduced against the backdrop of an increase in citizens’ activity in filling out declarations and utilizing social credits. The data from the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of the RA prove the expansion of the system:

• According to the summary data of 2024: 81 thousand citizens applied to receive compensation for social expenses, to whom 6.3 billion AMD of social credit was returned (on average, around 77,700 AMD per person).
• As of September 1, 2026: 119 thousand citizens have already filled out the annual income declaration. Out of them, 92 thousand applied for compensation of social expenses, receiving a total of 7.5 billion AMD (on average, around 81,500 AMD per person).

Thousands of potential beneficiaries in the media and public field

This huge mass of citizens submitting declarations can already become a source of funding for public organizations and the media field based on the results of 2026. According to the data of the State Register Agency of Legal Entities (at the end of 2024), 6,907 non-governmental organizations and 123 parties are registered in Armenia.

According to the “Media Ownership Monitor Armenia” database, 42 of the most influential media outlets in the country belong to 39 companies (the majority are LLCs, 6 are CJSCs, and 3 are foundations).

How will the mechanism work?

In order for a citizen to be able to use this right of redirecting taxes, they are obliged to submit the annual calculation (declaration) of income tax validated with an electronic signature to the tax authority in the prescribed manner.

What the maximum amount of compensation or allocation will be, and what criteria the receiving organizations must meet to ensure transparency, will be defined by the Government of the RA in the near future.

After the law enters into force, it will apply to the amounts of income tax calculated or paid for the year 2026 and subsequent tax years. The executive power has undertaken to approve all the necessary sub-legislative acts within a three-month period after the adoption of the law.