The municipality of Tirana hits businesses/blocks their bank accounts for property tax

2024-11-27 08:57:00, Aktualitet CNA

The municipality of Tirana hits businesses/blocks their bank accounts for

The Municipality of Tirana has hit businesses by blocking their bank accounts after they have been charged with fines and late interest for non-payment of the additional obligation of the building tax for 2023.

According to Monitor, the Municipality of Tirana did not notify the businesses about the blocking of their accounts, but they received the notification from the bank.

This has brought the anger of the businessmen who have raised the concern that they have not received a notification from the tax department of the Municipality of Tirana about the deadlines for the liquidation of the difference of the building's tax liability for the year 2023. The representatives of the subjects were surprised by measures, including penalties with fines, interest and up to the closing of accounts for non-repayment of obligations.

Monitor writes that the representatives of the irritated entities were not able to understand why their accounts had been blocked and why they should receive the notification from the bank and not from the Municipality. They claim that they had closed the municipality's obligations for 2023 and were not informed by the municipality about the additional obligation, neither in April nor in June 2024, when they had paid this year's obligations.

"The lady of the municipality told us that we did not initiate the additional obligation at the beginning of 2024 so that it would not come as a surprise and hit you hard. This is very ironic, because it would have been better if they had introduced the additional obligation of 2023 with the taxes of 2024, because I would have been notified and I would have paid it, than to receive the notification from the bank today that they have blocked my account. I know very well that I had no obligations, because in July 2024 I received a certificate that there are no obligations from the municipality because I needed it for the purpose of a loan.

The problem is not with the obligation that it is 17 thousand ALL, but with the way it was done and the fact that I was notified directly by the bank. Now I have to take the confirmation to the bank and the unlocking takes three days, that is, my account will be unlocked next month, as Thursday and Friday are official holidays, while I have to pay the salaries of the employees", says JS, administrator and owner of an entity merchant./ CNA