Chaos in turnover self-declarations in Tirana, no digital system, procedures by email or physically

2025-06-03 07:54:00, Aktualitet CNA

Chaos in turnover self-declarations in Tirana, no digital system, procedures by

The uncertainties that begin with the definitions in the legislation, the lack of automatic data exchange between the central and local tax systems, to the failure to establish a link or online form for self-declarations of turnover changes, continue to cause confusion for businesses in Tirana.

Last month, around 2,000 businesses were also fined by the Directorate of Tariffs and Local Taxes of the Municipality of Tirana, due to failure to declare changes in annual turnover on time.

Penalties for failure to timely declare the change in turnover were not the only consequences for entities.

After the reassessment of declared turnover, some of the businesses that were classified in higher tax categories were also charged with additional obligations for the educational infrastructure tax and the cleaning tax.

Businesses are being saddled with Tirana Municipality taxes, they don't know what they are paying; Unfair penalties

According to the allocations approved by the 2019 Municipal Council, in Tirana, for example, a retail business with an annual turnover of up to 2 million lek pays 2,500 lek per year in tax for temporary educational infrastructure.

While for a business with a turnover of 2 to 8 million lek, the obligation is 1,500 lek more. For this category, the obligation is 4,000 lek per year. For businesses with a turnover over 8 million lek, the tax to be paid reaches 15,000 per year.

Regarding the penalties incurred, the Directorate of Local Tariffs and Taxes previously clarified that the obligation to self-declare within 15 days of the change, in accordance with Article 43 of the Law "On Tax Procedures", is an obligation for businesses to carry out with the local government tax administration.

The clarification caused debates among businesses, which raised concerns that there is no official online link or form available from local tax authorities to fulfill this obligation. While the official email address [email protected] did not receive any response.

Further, after Monitor's insistence, the Directorate of Local Tariffs and Taxes explained that "in guiding subjects to fulfill their legal obligations through self-assessment and self-declaration of the obligation, the procedure is by writing to us at our official email [email protected], or by physically appearing at our counters to fill out the relevant form, as the basic and universal principle on which every tax system is based."

There were also debates among experts about this situation, as according to them, the law "On Tax Procedures" does not clearly define the obligation to self-declare changes in turnover at the local level.

"Based on instruction no. 24, dated 02.09.2008 on the implementation of the law "On tax procedures", the obligation to notify changes arises only when the tax liability changes after the initial registration," stated legal auditor Julian Saraçi earlier.

Asked about this issue, why the system fails to automatically transmit data on changes in tax liability and whose responsibility it is to self-declare, since the law does not specifically define the institution for self-declaring changes in turnover, the General Directorate of Taxes (GDT) said that despite the issues, it remains the responsibility of the business to self-declare changes in turnover to the tax authorities and local government.

The DPT explained that for several years, turnover data has been recorded online in the central system with the implementation of fiscalization, through which each month the division of businesses into small or large is made, a process that previously ended at the end of the year. But the data does not manage to be automatically transferred to the municipalities.

The Tax Administration says that this happens because there is no unified system of tax and technical legislation, so different municipalities, including Tirana, calculate the tax liability based on different divisions of the turnover band, approved by decisions of the Municipal Councils.

Due to the lack of a unified system, municipalities, including Tirana, rely on special agreements to periodically receive information from the tax administration. So, based on signed agreements for business turnover data, the local tax administration receives information from the central tax authorities 1 to 2 times a year, based on the signed agreement.

So if a small business in Tirana with a turnover of up to 2 million lek per year, its annual income increases by 2 or 3 million lek, consequently for the calculation of local taxes it will be classified in the next turnover band from 2 to 8 million, the self-declaration of the change in turnover to the Directorate of Tariffs and Local Taxes of the Municipality of Tirana will be its responsibility, in order to avoid fines.

Businesses will be required to self-declare changes in turnover according to the clarifications previously provided by the Directorate of Tariffs and Local Taxes by physically completing the form at the counters of this directorate, or by communicating the changes to this institution at the official address [email protected].