The Annual Individual Income Tax Return (DIVA) is the annual return through which individuals declare all income earned during the year and determine their final personal income tax liability. Through this return, the annual tax is recalculated by taking into account all income sources and the tax deductions allowed by law, and by comparing the tax already paid during the year with the recalculated tax, in order to determine whether an additional payment is due or a refund is applicable. With the entry into force of the new Income Tax Law (Law No. 29/2023), new tax relief measures have been introduced that directly affect families with dependent children. These measures specifically include tax deductions and refunds related to the costs of raising and educating children. The sections below explain how this scheme operates, who is eligible to benefit, what has changed, and how to complete the annual tax return in order to claim the applicable benefits.
What is DIVA and why do you need to file it?
DIVA is the annual personal income statement. If you have exceeded a certain income threshold, had more than one employer, and have income that was not taxed, the law requires you to file this return by the deadline (by March 31 of the following year). The purpose is for the tax administration to calculate the tax – i.e., to compare how much tax you paid during the year (e.g., withheld from your paycheck each month) with how much you should have paid in total, by adding up all your income.
If during the year you paid less tax than you should have, an additional payment obligation will arise. If you have paid more than you should have (e.g., because you benefited from an additional tax deduction), then a credit surplus is created – meaning the tax authorities owe you money to be returned as a refund. In this way, DIVA ensures that at the end of the year each individual pays exactly the legally due tax, no more and no less.
Who is required to file? Under the new law, you must complete the DIVA if you meet at least one of the following conditions:
High Income
You have annual gross income exceeding 1.2 million lek (from any source: salary, rent, dividends, bank interest, capital gains, gambling winnings, etc.). This threshold was 2 million lek, but it has been reduced to 1.2 million, effective with 2024 income.
Multiple Employment
You have been employed by more than one employer simultaneously, regardless of the total amount of income. Even if your combined salary is under 1.2 million lek, the fact that you had two (or more) parallel salaries requires you to declare it, because the tax must be recalculated on the total.
Untaxed Income During the Year
You have received income exceeding 50,000 lek that was not taxed at the time of payment. This applies, for example, to rental income (when the tenant is an individual and no tax was withheld), income from abroad, or any other income on which no withholding tax was applied. These cases must now be declared and taxed through DIVA.
Non-resident individuals who have earned taxable income in Albania must also file this declaration.
If you fail to file the declaration at all within the legal deadline, you will be fined 3,000 lek. Likewise, if the declaration shows that you owed taxes and did not pay them on time, you will be charged interest and penalties for the delay. Therefore, it's important to file DIVA on time if you're required to—not only to avoid fines, but also because you'll receive the tax refunds or deductions to which you're entitled.
How refunds work for dependent children and children’s education expenses
The newest tax relief measures (established by the new law) relate to tax credits for families with dependents. This scheme will apply to 2025 income and beyond, which means that we will see it in practice for the first time on the return filed in March 2026.
How does it work?
When you complete the DIVA, you will have the opportunity to claim a specified amount as a deductible expense for each child under 18 and for their educational expenses. These declared expenses are deducted from the annual taxable base, the payroll tax is recalculated, and it is compared with the tax you paid during the year. If the recalculated tax turns out to be lower than what you paid during the year, the difference is refunded to you by the tax administration.
So, it's not that the state gives you a fixed sum of money directly for each child, but rather reduces the tax you pay by counting 48,000 lekë less taxable income per child and up to 100,000 lekë in educational expenses as deductible. This reduction in the tax base results in the newly calculated tax being lower than the tax that would have been withheld without these deductions.
Example
If during 2025 your salary was taxed normally each month, when you file your return in 2026 and deduct the expenses for your children, it may turn out that you paid, say, 30,000 lekë more in tax than you should have. You have the right to reclaim that 30,000-lek difference from the tax authorities.
The Tax Administration has announced that once you file your return with these deductions in March, if a credit surplus (overpaid tax) results, you can apply and receive your refund within three months. So, in practice, the money you've overpaid in taxes will be transferred to your bank account (or may be applied against other tax liabilities, according to the rules).
Note: Reimbursement is not granted automatically – you must accurately declare your children and their expenses and request reimbursement after your declaration is confirmed. Also, the reimbursement is not unconditional: you must have documentation proving the educational expenses (invoices, school payment receipts, etc.) and the child must actually be in your care. In the sections below, we will clarify the specific criteria for who is eligible and who is not.
Who benefits and who is excluded from these deductions?
The main beneficiaries of this scheme are parents residing in Albania with dependent children under the age of 18. The law provides that each child under the age of 18 entitles parents to a deduction of 48,000 lek per year from taxable income. Additionally, parents can deduct up to 100,000 lek per year for their children's educational expenses, such as tuition, books, courses, uniforms, etc. However, not all parents enjoy these benefits equally – there are some important limitations:
Annual income over 1.2 million ALL
If you have high income (over 1.2 million lekë per year), you only benefit from the child deduction (48,000 lekë per child), but you do not benefit from the education expense deduction. The logic is that those with higher incomes have already personally benefited from a level of deduction (for example, high earners pay lower tax thanks to the new progressive rates), and the additional deduction for schooling has been limited.
Annual income over 1.2 million ALL
Parents with lower or average incomes (≤ 1.2 million lekë per year) receive both benefits. That is, 48,000 lekë per child and up to 100,000 lekë in total for annual educational expenses. Even if you have more than one child, the maximum education amount remains 100,000 lekë per year (it's fixed, regardless of the number of children).
Only one parent claims the deduction
If the children are claimed by both parents, the child and education deductions may be claimed by only one parent, not both. Specifically, the law and the guidance require that the deductions be taken by the parent with the highest annual income. This is to prevent the “doubling” of the benefit. The other parent cannot claim these deductions on their own DIVA.
Children must be legally “dependent”
This means the child must be listed on the taxpayer's family certificate (i.e., you must be his legal guardian) and normally under 18 years of age during the relevant fiscal year. If the child turns 18 during the year, he is no longer considered “dependent” for that year (exceptions may include cases such as children who continue secondary school and are just over 18 – but this is not covered by the law, which speaks clearly about Under 18 years old). So, as soon as the child turns 18, they are no longer eligible for this compensation.
Documentation of education expenses
To claim the 100,000 lek education deduction, you must have documents proving that you incurred expenses for your child's education in the relevant year. The tax administration advises: keep receipts for school fees, courses, books, school transportation, etc., throughout the year. Then, when you complete the DIVA, declare the total amount of these expenses (up to the 100,000 lekë limit). If you don't have invoices, the deduction may not be recognized in the event of a tax audit.
Example
A family where the parents each earn 1.5 million lekë per year from work and have one child will not benefit from the 100,000-lekë school deduction, but will benefit from a 48,000-lekë child deduction. In another family where the primary parent's income is 800,000 lekë per year and they have two children, that parent can claim both deductions: 2×48,000 = 96,000 lekë for the children + up to 100,000 lekë in educational expenses. This will significantly reduce the tax owed for that year, possibly to the point of receiving a refund.
How to file the DIVA return
How is DIVA submitted? The process is done online., përmes portalit të tatimeve (e-filing). You must identify yourself with your NID-intend (Taxpayer Identification Number). – for resident individuals this is the personal ID card number. The declaration is completed electronically by entering the income in the relevant fields (primary salary, other salaries, rent, dividends, interest, etc.), the tax withheld during the year for each, and the allowable deductions. The standard DIVA form also includes sections where you declare the number of children in your care and educational expenses (if you are entitled to claim them).
After you've entered the information, the tax system (or your own calculations on the form) will automatically calculate the final tax. At the end, a summary is displayed where you can see:
(1) The total tax calculated on the basis of the declared income.
(2) Tax that has already been paid during the year (through withholding at source from wages, rent, etc.).
(3) Final result: which may be an obligation to pay or an overpayment for reimbursement.
If an amount to pay (liability) arises, you must pay it within the legal deadline (March 31 of the following year). If an amount to be refunded arises, you have the right to request that refund by applying to the Tax Directorate within three months. The refund amount is usually transferred to the bank account you have declared.
Personal Status Declaration
As part of the new accommodations, the administration has also introduced the concept of the Personal Status Declaration. This is a form that provides your employer with information about your status (e.g., whether you have dependents, whether you have another job at the same time, etc.), so that your monthly payroll tax is calculated accurately throughout the year. By completing this declaration with your employer, you can have a portion of the deductions (the basic personal ones) applied month to month, so that there isn't a large difference at the end of the year. However, for child and education deductions, the application is mainly made on the annual declaration – i.e., on DIVA.
Read also The Payroll Agent and the Statement of Personal Status: What you need to know?
Submission and confirmation of the return
After you have completed the DIVA online, you submit it electronically and the system generates a submission confirmation. Save that confirmation (you can print it or save it as a PDF) because it's proof that you filed on time. The tax authorities may then conduct checks on your return, and if everything is in order, the return is considered closed. If they find errors or inaccuracies, they may notify you for clarification or may correct them themselves (in specific cases). But in general, if you fill in the information carefully, the return is confirmed without any issues.
New rules applicable from 2024
New law No. 29/2023 It has introduced a series of changes to personal income tax, which take effect gradually. Here are the key points you should keep in mind:
Lower declaration threshold
As mentioned, anyone earning over 1.2 million lekë per year must now file a declaration (the old threshold of 2 million was lowered to 1.2 million). This means that more individuals will file the DIVA for the first time for the year 2024. If your monthly salary exceeds 100,000 lek (gross) or you have other sources that push your total above 1.2 million, prepare to file.
New filing deadline
The deadline is March 31 (no longer April 30 as before). For the 2024 year (reported in 2025), this date falls on Monday, March 31, 2025. Don't miss this deadline, as a fine will be imposed after it.
Declaration of previously untaxed income
From now on, even small amounts (over 50,000 lekë) for which tax was not withheld and paid at source during the year (e.g., rent paid without tax, money received from abroad, or earnings from online platforms) must be reported on DIVA in order to pay the tax. This increases transparency and formalization – which means that even if you've had a small rental income or earnings from online freelancing, you must declare it.
New salary tax rates (from 2025)
Until December 2024, salaries were taxed under a monthly progressive scheme. For example, part of the salary was exempt and the rest was taxed at 13% or 23% depending on the bracket. From January 2025, the new payroll tax scheme takes effect: 13% for income up to 2,040,000 lek per year and 23% for the amount above this threshold. This simplifies the calculation: in practice, 13% on the portion up to about 170,000 lek per month, and 23% on the portion above that. The effect of this is that most employees will have their withholding calculated slightly differently during 2025, so that at the end of the year there won't be any extreme amounts to pay.
Read also 2024 Annual Personal Income Tax Return: Obligation, Deadlines, and New Rules
Monthly personal deductions based on salary level
The new scheme set out in the law provides different personal deductions based on annual salary: up to 600,000 lekë per year – a deduction of 600,000; 600–720 thousand – a 420 thousand deduction; over 720 thousand – a 360 thousand deduction. When divided monthly, these become deductions of 50 thousand, 35 thousand, or 30 thousand lek per month, respectively. This is why, for example, from 2025 a low salary may not be taxed at all (because it's covered by the 50,000 monthly deduction), while a high salary will have only 30,000 lekë exempt per month before tax calculation. These monthly deductions are applied by the Payroll Agent (i.e., the employer) once you declare your personal status.
New deductions for children and education
These will be applied on the annual tax return (as explained above) and are a major innovation. From 2025 onward, the new law allows individuals to benefit from these tax deductions for dependent children and educational expenses. This will result in a lighter tax burden for families with children. This is good news for many parents!
If you are an individual who meets the criteria, make sure to take advantage of these new rules. Not only will you pay the correct tax, but you can also save a significant amount of money through deductions. All you have to do is file accurately and submit the relevant documents on time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
DIVA must be filed by those whose total annual income exceeds 1.2 million lek, those with more than one employer, and those whose non-wage income during the year exceeds 50,000 lek. So, if you only had one job and your annual gross salary is ≤ 1.2 million lek, you are not legally required to file – but: If you have children and want to claim the tax refund for them, you have the right to file voluntarily to obtain that relief. The law doesn't prevent you from filing the DIVA even if your income is below the threshold, if you have a reason to do so (e.g., you're claiming the child and school deductions). In fact, the tax administration encourages anyone earning over 100,000 lek a month, or who has more than one source of income, to file in order to be in compliance and to benefit from deductions.
Simply by declaring on DIVA. The employer cannot know your family benefits during the year (unless you have submitted the personal status declaration to him). In the annual declaration, you will indicate the number of children in your charge and the amount of educational expenses. If you meet the legal requirements (child If you are under 18, the higher-earning parent, etc.), the tax system will automatically calculate the deduction for each child (48,000 lek) and expenses (up to 100,000 lek). This will reduce the taxable base on which your annual tax is calculated. As a result, it turns out that you have paid somewhat more tax during the year. The difference between the tax paid and the final tax is refunded to you. So, no special action is needed during the year—just don't forget to declare these deductions at the end.
For the children themselves (48,000 lekë each), you don't need any financial documents – a family certificate proving they are your dependents is sufficient (the administration easily verifies this in the civil registry). For educational expenses (100,000 lekë), you must keep the invoices or payment receipts you've incurred: e.g., the private school invoice, payment receipts for extracurricular courses, invoices for books and teaching materials, etc. When you file the declaration, you won't upload those invoices, but you must keep them safe. The tax authorities have the right to request them for audit up to several years later. So, if you claim the deduction, make sure the expense is documented and lawful.
No. For each child in care, the 48,000-lek deduction (and education expenses) is granted only once a year and only by one parent. Usually, the parent who has paid the most tax during the year (i.e., with higher income) declares and benefits, so that the effect of the deduction is maximized. The other parent simply files their DIVA without these deductions (or may not have any obligation to file at all, depending on their income). This is important: coordinate within the family so you don't declare the same child twice, as the system will reject it for duplication.
Unfortunately, no. The law simply formulates the criterion as “child under 18 years old,” implying that for the fiscal year being declared, the child must have been a minor throughout the entire year (until December 31). The guidance also does not provide partial monthly deductions; it is designed as a fixed annual amount. So as soon as the child turns 18 during that year, that year does not count toward the allowance. (If you have a student child over 18, there are currently no specific deductions for them under this law.)
Yes, without a doubt! Even though the law doesn't require it, if you've paid income tax on your salary during the year, you can get back part of that tax by filing your declaration and claiming deductions. In your case: with an annual salary of 800,000 lek (for 2025 and beyond), your pay had about 360,000 lek in personal exemption and the remaining 440,000 lek was taxed at 13.1%, meaning you paid around 57,200 lek in tax. If you declare one child and 100,000 lek in educational expenses, the taxable base falls significantly (i.e., 800k – 360k – 48k – 100k = 292k) and the proper tax comes out to almost zero. You will be refunded the vast majority of those ~57,000 lek in taxes paid. Otherwise, if you don't file, you lose that money. So, even when it's not mandatory, filing voluntarily is in your financial interest in this case.
After submitting the declaration by March 31 (for example, by March 31, 2026, for 2025 income), if it turns out that you have overpaid taxes, you must file an official refund request with the Tax Directorate. It's a standard procedure (it can be done online through the e-Tatime portal). The tax authorities have up to 90 days to review the request. Usually, if everything is in order, they approve it and transfer the amount to the bank account you provided. The waiting time can be several weeks; the important thing is to follow the instructions (for example, they may ask for confirmation of your bank account's IBAN). If you have unpaid tax obligations from previous years, it may be that, instead of receiving the money at the bank, the net refund amount will be used to settle those obligations – but you would see this in communications from the tax authorities.
If it's still within the deadline (until March 31), you can reopen the return and correct it before the final submission. After the deadline, you still have one option: you can file a corrected (or supplemental) return after the deadline. This will fix the figures, but keep in mind it won't save you from the late‐filing penalty if you're past March 31. However, it's better to correct mistakes than to leave them, because an inaccurate declaration can cause trouble later (e.g., during an audit). To make corrections, you can use the online portal again – DIVA allows a “revised declaration” version. In complex cases, you can contact the tax office for clarification.
No, that's not necessarily the case. Many individuals will simply pay less tax during the year (or at the time of filing) thanks to deductions, but they won't necessarily have money coming back. A refund occurs when the tax paid during the year exceeds the final tax calculated. Some may end up at zero (neither owing nor getting anything). Some who had little tax withheld during the year and also have other obligations may still end up owing money despite the deductions (just a much smaller amount). The scheme is primarily aimed at helping families pay less tax overall, and in some cases these excess funds are actually returned to the families. According to projections, middle-income families will be the main beneficiaries of refunds, while very high-income families will simply pay slightly less tax but will not receive refunds, since throughout the year their tax is withheld under the new, already reduced formula.
What happens if I do not submit the return at all?
As mentioned, failure to submit the return results in an administrative fine of ALL 3,000. In addition, the tax authorities may perform a tax assessment based on the information available to them and determine the tax liability that you should have paid. If this liability is not settled, it will increase with interest for each day of delay until it is paid. Furthermore, failure to submit the return may be considered a red flag in the system—in the future, when applying for a loan or for employment abroad, proof of tax compliance is often required, and an unfiled return may create complications. For this reason, it is in your interest to submit the return even if the deadline has passed—better late than never. Tax compliance awareness is increasing, and these new rules are specifically aimed at formalization, so it is advisable to avoid unpleasant situations by adhering to the deadlines.
In conclusion, the Annual Income Declaration (DIVA) is an obligation, but also an opportunity for individual taxpayers. With the new rules in effect, especially for families with children, it's worth filing accurately because you can benefit from tangible financial relief from the government.
If you're unsure about any aspect, seek professional advice – but don't neglect filing your taxes. By staying informed and taking an active role, you ensure you pay only what you owe in taxes and, in the best-case scenario, even get reimbursed for living expenses such as those related to raising and educating your children.