The General Directorate of Taxation, in continuation of the information on the 2019 Fiscal Package, informs all taxpayers of the main changes to Law No. 9920, dated 19.05.2008 “On Tax Procedures in the Republic of Albania,” as amended, which have now come into force.
More specifically:
- A natural person with the same personal identification number is registered only once by the National Business Center. They are entitled to register and obtain a new NIPT/NUIS from the NBC only after the existing NIPT/NUIS has been deregistered.
- Taxpayers who apply to the National Business Center to transition to passive status must first have paid all their tax liabilities.
- The Tax Administration has the right to use alternative methods to assess a taxpayer's tax liability and to issue an assessment when the taxpayer, with “trading natural person” status, who, for the purposes of tax avoidance and minimizing tax liability, registers/holds more than one unique entity identification number, and submits separate returns for each NIPT/NUIS.
- The natural person trader holding an NIPT/NUIS license, for each new activity they wish to register, is issued a certificate bearing the same unique identification number as the registration but with a different serial number, in order to identify the location of the new activity.
- Notice and requests for payment may also be made electronically.
- Late payment interest is no longer mandatory in cases of appeal/complaint.
- An inaccurate declaration is also considered to occur when, as a result of a tax audit, a downward reassessment of the taxpayer's credit surplus is made. In this case, the taxpayer is penalized with a fine of 20 % of the difference between the declared credit surplus and the credit surplus that should have been declared.
- If a legal entity fails to notify the tax administration of changes in ownership, it is liable and is penalized as follows:
– 15% percent of the market value of assets treated as involving a change of ownership;
-5% of the market value of shares or similar interests in which ownership has changed.
- In cases of infractions related to the issuance of tax invoices, tax receipts, and the documentation of transactions, if the taxpayer accepts the tax assessment and pays the liability, the penalty is reduced by 30%.
- In any event, the amount of the fine imposed on banks when they fail to freeze a taxpayer's accounts at the request of the tax administration may not exceed the amount requested to be frozen.
- Penalties are foreseen for both the seller and the buyer if they conduct transactions with entities in “Passive” status.”
The General Directorate of Taxation will continuously inform taxpayers in every revenue bracket about the changes to the tax legislation that have already come into effect. (DPT Notice 10.01.2019 https://www.tatime.gov.al/d/8/45/45/854/mbi-ndryshimet-kryesore-ne-ligjin-per-procedurat-tatimore)
