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Albania softens tax penalties against businesses

Xinhua, September 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Albanian Ministry of Finance has prepared new changes to the tax procedures law, stipulating softer penalties against businesses in cases of law infringement, sources from the ministry said Monday.

These new changes have been made following the decision of the Albanian Constitutional Court to nullify the previous law on tax procedures, considering the penalties stipulated as too high.

Sources from the Finance Ministry said the recent changes to the law on tax procedures were made after numerous discussions with businesses.

The draft law on tax procedures stipulates that failure to issue tax receipts will be penalized with a fine of 50,000 leks (about 400 U.S. dollars) instead of 500,000 (about 4,000 U.S. dollars) as was proposed in the previous version of the law.

In the case of repeat offences, business activity will be blocked for 30 days and in case of ongoing repetition, the business owner will face charges of tax evasion, ministry sources said.

In cases of non-declaration of employees, small businesses will get a fine of 50,000 leks while large businesses will pay 200,000 leks instead of 500,000 leks the previous law foresaw.

If a business has not stated the exact salary of the employees, it shall be punished with a fine of 100 percent of the liability and calculated contribution, the new law says.

When goods are not accompanied with a tax bill, according to the new law, they will not be seized but small businesses would turn into a VAT taxpayer while larger businesses would undergo reevaluation. The fine in both cases will be equal to 100 percent of the tax declared, excepting taxes and default interests. Endit