Ministry of Finance: Urban transport is exempt from the obligation for POS on buses

2026-06-24 14:14:00, Aktualitet CNA

Ministry of Finance: Urban transport is exempt from the obligation for POS on

Urban public transport within cities will be exempt from the obligation to install POS/POI devices that enable ticket payments by bank card on every bus.

The Ministry of Finance, through a letter sent to the National Association of Urban Transport, has clarified that based on the laws on "On Tax Procedures" and "On the Invoice and Traffic Monitoring System", the sale of urban transport tickets by the driver or authorized person is exempt from the obligation to issue an electronic invoice.

This exemption also extends to the obligation to equip with POS, as the relevant law links the obligation for POS to entities that are obliged to fiscalize transactions.

In this context, according to the Ministry of Finance, urban transport operators that sell tickets directly on the vehicle, according to the decisions of local self-government units, are considered exempt from the obligation for POS terminals on each bus.

"In paragraph 1, of article 59/3, of law no. 9920, dated 19.5.2008, "On tax procedures in the Republic of Albania", as amended, taxpayers who make cash sales are required to be equipped with a "POS/POI" terminal at each point of sale, according to the established calendar.

However, in letter “b”, paragraph 2, of this article, it is determined that: “2. The following are exempt from the obligation to equip with a “POS/POI” terminal: b) taxpayers who are exempt from the obligation to issue an invoice, according to the law on invoices and the circulation monitoring system;”

Meanwhile, in letter "b", paragraph 1, article 5, of Law No. 87/2019, "On the invoice and the circulation monitoring system", as amended, it is provided that:

"1. Except as provided in Article 4 of this law, the taxpayer is not obliged to issue an invoice for the following types of activities and supplies of goods and services:

b) for the sale of tickets or coupons by the driver of a passenger transport vehicle on urban public transport lines, in accordance with the decisions of local self-government units;”.

From the combined reading of these legal provisions, it results that urban public transport operators within the city (buses), being exempt from the obligation to issue and fiscalize invoices for the supplies they perform, if the ticket or pass is given to passengers directly by the driver of the vehicle or by an authorized person, are consequently also exempt from the legal obligation to be equipped with a "POS/POI" terminal at every point of sale, in this case in every individual urban bus operating within the city," the letter from the Ministry of Finance states, among other things.

The debate over the installation of POS/POi devices arose after concerns expressed by the National Association of Public Transport, which had argued that imposing an obligation for electronic payments on every bus was technically difficult to implement and would bring additional costs to citizens of around 30 lek more for each ticket paid.

Bus ticket with bank card, Transport Association confused about implementation and costs

For urban and interurban public transport associations, the issue of cost sharing for the banking commission that would increase the ticket price by 30 lek if paid by bank card also remained unclear.

With two days left before the mandatory installation of POS terminals in the public transport service sector, the associations unanimously declared that they were not yet ready to install the equipment and requested an extension of the deadline. /Monitor