Chaos in excise goods businesses, no fiscal stamps from January 1st

2025-02-28 07:49:00, Ekonomi CNA

After the end of the concession contract, from January 2025 it was expected that fiscal stamps on excise goods would be produced by the securities printing house, which is a Joint Stock Company with the Ministry of Finance as a shareholder.

But since the beginning of the year, this institution has not started producing fiscal stamps.

Concerns about the lack of production of fiscal stamps are raised by business associations and entrepreneurs who are jeopardizing production and supplies from imports.

Luan Bregasi, president of BiznesAlbania, said that the lack of fiscal stamps is penalizing both domestic businesses producing excise goods and imports. According to him, this situation risks encouraging smuggling and informality.

"After the end of one of the most abusive and arbitrary concessions to businesses that paid 22 euros without VAT for 1,000 fiscal stamps, while Kosovo and European countries paid 3 euros for 1,000 stamps, they are faced with a difficult situation of a lack of production of fiscal stamps. The Albanian government must be activated to fulfill its responsibility for the production of fiscal stamps, as this situation is penalizing businesses."

Other businesses claim that they are operating with stock stamps valid until March 31, while remaining concerned about how goods produced after this deadline will circulate in the market.

"We are working with fiscal stamps held in stock purchased since December 15, 2024. We have no information on how things will proceed after March 31. If there is no production of fiscal stamps, we risk closing the production factory, as we have no way to circulate the goods on the market," said the administrator of the Korça brewery, Adrian Kostaqi.

The Ministry of Finance is also aware of the situation, which claims that a decision to resolve the situation will be communicated soon.

After the termination of the concession contract for the production of fiscal stamps, initially decision no. 273, dated 2.5.2024, published in the Official Gazette No. 80 dated 9.5.2024 in its point 2, states that: "The Ministry of Finance transfers to the company "Shtypshkronja e Letrave me Vler?", free of charge, all data and assets, received by the concessionaire, according to the provisions of the concession contract "On the establishment and functioning of the fiscal stamp system", between the Ministry of Finance, as the contracting authority, and the companies "SICPA Security Solutions SA" and "SICPA Security Solutions Albania sh.pk", approved by law no. 10381, dated 24.2.2011, and amended by law no. 17/2023.

Further, on February 2, 2025, the decision was changed, whereby for the production of stamps, in addition to the securities printing house, a company created by it will also be authorized.

"From January 1, 2025 onwards, the company "Shtypshkronja e Letrave me Vlerë"1 sh.a. is authorized, itself or through a company created by it, for the production and distribution of fiscal stamps, within the meaning of the law on excise duties in the Republic of Albania, against payment," the decision stated.

The concession contract for the affixing of fiscal stamps on excise goods was signed by the previous government in 2012 for a period of 10 years. The fiscal stamp fee from businesses began to be paid in 2012, but the effective date of the contract was set at February 6, 2023.

The implementation of the concession contract during these years sparked a lot of debate due to the high fee, almost 8 times more than the average price of fiscal stamps in Europe, and the deadlines for its implementation.

For these reasons, the contract was amended by Parliament in January 2023. The additional term for the concession contract for fiscal stamps for excise goods with the company "SICPA Security Solutions Albania" ended on December 31, 2024. Parliament approved the postponement of the implementation by another 2 years, scheduled to end in February 2023, and the fee paid by businesses was revised, with a 10% reduction from the previous fee./ Monitor Magazine