Historic post, August 12, 2020. This post was part of the news about the launch of fiscalization in Albania. The system is now fully operational, and the current rules are summarized at our current page on fiscalization.
The current fiscal device system at the General Directorate of Taxes allows financial data to be obtained through the transmission of daily “Z” tax reports. Currently, the fiscal devices transmit data to the central system via GPRS at the end of the workday and not in real time. The system installed in 2009 relied on the technology of that time but does not meet the standards currently applied by most European Union countries, especially in terms of cost-effectiveness for both taxpayers and the government.
This new system will create a real-time monitoring mechanism for both cash-based and cashless fiscal devices. It enables citizens to verify in real time whether the invoice they have received has been reported to the tax system, and allows the tax administration to conduct effective checks and accurate, in-depth analysis of tax data.
The new system allows every citizen to verify immediately after an invoice is issued whether it has been reported to the central tax system. This process is carried out by scanning the invoice's unique barcode with a phone and sending it instantly to the relevant tax department. The moment the Tax Administration receives the code, it will respond by confirming whether the corresponding code exists in the database along with the details of the respective invoice. This verification allows citizens to know if the invoice they have paid for has been reported to the tax system. This entire process increases transparency in doing business and helps the government combat tax evasion, as tax fraud or failure to declare invoices can be easily verified.
For the Tax Administration, the new system provides the ability for centralized and effective analysis to model the risk module's approach. This means that suspicious behaviors will be easily identified and will guide the actual identification of abusers, avoiding generalized inspections and controls that penalize regular businesses.
A change in technology is necessary, since current devices rely on 2G/3G technology and are being replaced across Europe. To ensure that dependence on a specific technology model is avoided, the new system does not rely on any particular model (e.g., hardware or software devices), but on open standards that provide internet access. This technological approach means that the fiscalization is software-based and can be easily implemented on all existing devices (without the need for a secondary hardware device solely to operate within the fiscalization system). In the long term, this significantly reduces technology costs for taxpayers.
Why was this taxation model chosen?
The new Albanian e-invoicing model was selected based on an analysis of various models currently in use around the world. Experts from the Ministry of Finance, the General Directorate of Taxes, the Albanian State Computer Systems (AKSHi), and other institutions evaluated different technical and financial options.
The model based on this fiscalization system was chosen because it guarantees the application of the latest technology, based on European Union standards, and offers better adaptability to the structure of the Albanian economy. The same model has been applied in many EU countries in recent years, such as Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, etc.
This chosen model is considered by experts to be the most advanced and the easiest to implement.
Source: General Directorate of Taxes.
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