Peace and the cancellation of obligations create confusion among businesses, taxes continue to collect obligations

2026-01-09 07:28:00, Ekonomi CNA

Peace and the cancellation of obligations create confusion among businesses,

The transitional phase, where the new laws on the Fiscal Peace Agreement and on the cancellation of unpaid tax and customs obligations were approved by the Parliament, but are not yet officially in force, as they have not been decreed and published in the Official Gazette, is apparently being used by the tax administration to continue the forcible collection of unpaid obligations before 2024.

But this situation has created confusion and concern among businesses that have unpaid obligations before 2024, but are currently awaiting their forgiveness, according to the deadlines approved in the law.

According to businesses, the Tax Administration continues to take measures to collect unpaid obligations, while the laws on the Fiscal Peace Agreement and the cancellation of unpaid tax and customs obligations are still awaiting entry into force.

Specifically, some of them claim that during December 2025 and January 2026 they received official notices of confiscation measures even for unpaid obligations before 2024, although the law "On the Cancellation of Tax and Customs Duties" stipulates the full cancellation of unpaid obligations until December 31, 2014.

The law also provides for partial forgiveness of unpaid obligations for the period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019, provided that 50 to 75% of the principal is paid. For obligations incurred from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2024, the cancellation of fines and late payment interest is possible only if the principal is paid in full by December 31, 2026.

One of the businesses claims that it had a tax fine (not a principal obligation) for unpaid profit tax and VAT since 2022. On December 24, 2025, the entity received an official notice by mail with the subject: “Notice of Confiscation of Daily Turnover”. Previously, the tax administration had also applied the legal measure of blocking accounts to this business.

Meanwhile, according to the official notification of the Tax Administration sent on December 24, 2025, the business is faced with the measure of confiscation of daily turnover, which foresees the seizure of no less than 50% of the daily turnover, until the full repayment of the obligation. The document cites Article 89 of the Law "On Tax Procedures" and provides for the continuation of the calculation of interests until the debt is repaid, despite the fact that the Parliament has approved the Fiscal Peace Law, which is still awaiting entry into force.

"If you have not paid the full amount of the tax liability, even after we have started its collection by force, in accordance with Article 89 of Law No. 9920, "On Tax Procedures in the Republic of Albania" (as amended), the confiscation procedure will be applied to you. At the end of each day, an amount of at least 50% of the daily turnover will be confiscated. The interest on the debt will continue to be calculated and accumulated until its full repayment. The final interest will be reflected in the payment order," the notice sent by the tax administration states.

Taxes: We are collecting unpaid obligations for 2025

The Tax Administration explained to "Monitor" that it is currently implementing the forced collection of obligations, and is implementing the measures set out in the law on tax procedures only for unpaid obligations of 2025, which are not included in the approved laws on fiscal peace and the cancellation of obligations.

For fiscal experts, this phase is considered transitional, as the laws have been approved by the Albanian Parliament, but their implementation will only begin after their enactment and publication in the Official Gazette, as well as after the approval of the relevant instructions by the Ministry of Finance. Consequently, the process of forcible collection of tax liabilities is legally correct.

However, for a fair and sustainable implementation, these laws must also be interpreted in the spirit of their purpose. Otherwise, uncertainty is created among taxpayers who want to enter into a fiscal peace agreement with the tax administration or who seek to make partial payments to forgive the remaining part of the obligations.

"In modern fiscal administration, the implementation of the law is not reduced to a strict literal reading of the norm, but must start from the spirit and purpose of the law, proportionality and the principle of legitimate trust. Actions that contradict the spirit of an already approved reform risk creating uncertainty, damaging the climate of compliance and, in practice, undermining the effectiveness of the reform itself," asserts fiscal expert Julian Saraçi.

What do the Fiscal Peace Agreement and Debt Cancellation Laws Provide?

The Law "On the Cancellation, Extinction and Payment of Tax Liabilities to the Central Tax Administration and Duties Payable to Customs" establishes the full cancellation of unpaid Tax and Customs liabilities by December 31, 2014.

The amnesty will not include social security and health insurance contribution obligations. For contributions, the law only stipulates the cancellation of fines and late payment interest accrued until December 31, 2014. Self-employed people in agriculture will also be a beneficiary category.

In addition to the complete cancellation of debts over 10 years unpaid, the law also provides for the forgiveness of newer debts, but on the condition that a portion of the debt is paid.

For liabilities belonging to the period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019, taxpayers can benefit from partial cancellation on the condition that if they pay 50% of the liability by June 30, 2026, the remaining part is deleted. If they pay 75% of the liability by December 31, 2026 in monthly installments, the remaining 25% is automatically deleted. In both cases, fines and late payment interest for the relevant periods are completely deleted.

For liabilities incurred from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2024, the cancellation of fines and late payment interest is only possible if the principal is paid in full by December 31, 2026. The same scheme also applies to social security and health insurance contributions, including self-employed persons in agriculture, provided that 100% of the contribution is paid within the specified deadline.

The law stipulates that administrative penalties (fines and late fees) for social and health insurance that belong to the tax periods from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2024, which result in being registered in the taxpayer's account, including self-employed persons in agriculture, are abolished, provided that 100% of the contribution is paid by 31.12.2026.

Businesses have 100 million lek or about 1 billion euros in unpaid taxes and customs duties by 2014. The figure for unpaid debts by businesses by 2014, which is expected to be completely eliminated, was made public by Finance Minister Petrit Malaj at the previous meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs.

The Law "On the Fiscal Peace Agreement" enables the signing of an agreement between large businesses with gross income over 14 million lek per year and the tax administration for the prepayment of corporate tax.

Any regular business, whether a natural person or an entity, can voluntarily enter into this agreement with the tax administration. Excluded from the right to enter into an agreement with the tax administration are businesses against which a criminal case has been opened for fraud or tax evasion.

During this 1-year agreement (with the right to renew up to 2 times), businesses with gross income over 14 million lek per year will be charged a tax advance on an increased taxable base. So the business will not pay any tax in advance, but will be charged on the taxable base consisting of the taxable profit of the previous year plus an 18% increase. If the actual profit at the end of the year exceeds the limit (calculating the profit of the previous year plus an additional margin of 18%), 5% will be paid on this increase.

So essentially the agreement does not change the profit tax rate which is 23% for businesses with net income over 14 million lekë, but increases the taxable base, as the tax will be calculated on the previous year's profit plus an additional margin of 18%. Only for profit exceeding this estimated level, an additional 5% tax is paid.

In exchange, businesses will benefit from the exemption from tax audits for the period of implementation of the agreement.

But businesses that will seek to voluntarily enter into an agreement with the tax administration for tax prepayment and correction of financial statements will initially have to submit an online request through the e-Filing platform.

Minister of Finance Petrit Malaj earlier in the meeting with the entrepreneurship for the fiscal package 2026 said that the business request for the fiscal peace agreement with the tax administration, after being reviewed by the General Directorate of Taxes (GDT), will be delegated to the regional tax directorates. The procedure starts in January, while the Ministry of Finance is expected to approve the relevant instructions for the implementation of the procedures.

In addition to prepaying the tax against non-audit for 1 year, large businesses that will enter into the Fiscal Peace agreement with the tax administration will also have the opportunity to re-declare the financial statements of the last 5 years, against a 5% tax.

The 5% tax will be applied to changes such as: revaluation of cash balances, writing off fictitious assets or liabilities, declaring previously undisclosed assets, redeclaring retained earnings and distributing them as dividends.

For all these cases, there will be no fines, interest or late payment interest, provided that the taxpayer declares in advance that he will benefit from the agreement.

An exception to entering into tax agreements, in exchange for not conducting an audit, will be made for businesses against which criminal cases have been opened for fraud or evasion./ Monitor