For 12 years, revenue from the concession of fiscal stamps reaches 110 million euros

2024-12-23 10:46:00, Ekonomi CNA

For 12 years, revenue from the concession of fiscal stamps reaches 110 million

On December 31, 2024, the additional term for the concession contract for fiscal stamps on excise goods with the company "SICPA Security Solutions Albania" ends. In January 2023, the Parliament approved the postponement of the implementation by another 2 years, expected to end in February 2023, as well as the fee paid by the business was revised, with a 10% reduction from the previous fee.

For 12 years, namely for the period from 2012 to 2023, the revenues of the concession company "SICPA Security Solutions Albania", which are realized from the production and distribution of fiscal stamps for businesses that trade excise goods, according to the balances submitted to the KKB, reach the value of 10.8 billion ALL or about 110.5 million euros.

At the beginning of its activity, the income of the company "SICPA Security Solutions Albania", according to the balance sheets of the CKB for 2012, was 7 million euros and 8 million euros for 2013. Throughout these 12 years, the highest income of collected from the production and distribution of fiscal stamps result in 2022. The company in this period records 10.2 million euros of income.

For 2023, the company's revenues reach 8.2 million euros or 19.6% less than the previous year. The decrease in revenue volume is related to the reduction of the sale price under the terms of the renewed concession contract, which brought a 10% reduction in the fee in 2023.

For the period 2012-2015, the company reported a loss of about 3 million euros, while in the following it increased profits, culminating in 2019 with 2.1 million euros. For the period 2016-2019, the company has declared profits in the total of 5.9 million euros. The company's profit for 2023 was 362 thousand euros from 2 million euros in 2022. From 2016 to 2023, the company's profits were 12.2 million euros.

Debates about the concession period and the high fee

During these years, several debates have been sparked regarding the implementation of the concession contract.

First, the date of the start of implementation and the end of the contract remained unclear. The concession contract for placing fiscal stamps on excise goods was signed by the previous government in 2012 with a 10-year term. The tax stamp fee from businesses began to be paid in 2012, but the effective date of the start of the contract was set at February 6, 2023.

The working group set up with experts from the Ministry of Finance and the State Attorney's Office, after consulting a series of documents and minutes of previous meetings, reached the conclusion to determine the effective date of the contract, February 6, 2013 and February 6, 2023 as the date of termination of the contract. From the conclusions, it was also determined that August 6, 2022, as the start date of the exit period and asset inventory.

But the effective date of the start of the contract was contested by the concessionaire company, which according to its claims, the effective date of the contract coincided with the start of the implementation of the incomplete component, which was the placement of fiscal stamps on drugs. "With the strengthening of this element, the deadline for the implementation of the contract was postponed for another 10 years", the representatives of the company claimed earlier.

The implementation of the high rate of fiscal stamps, almost 8 times more than the average price of fiscal stamps in Europe, was encountering strong opposition from businesses producing and trading excise goods, which were charged with an annual obligation of up to 1 million euros, while Stamping did not solve problems with illegal trade and informality.

In the country, the previous tariff of fiscal stamps reached 22.4 USD per 1,000 pieces, while in Europe the average price of fiscal stamps is 3 USD per 1,000 pieces, in Kosovo 2.2 USD.

Postponement of the contract

After all these debates, 1 month before the end of the official deadline, in order to avoid the confrontation of the parties in the Court of Arbitration, the government proposed to the Assembly for approval the draft law to postpone the deadline for another 2 years and reduce the fee by 10%.

"Through this draft law, it is intended to amend and conclude the concession contract, approved by law no. 10381, dated 24.2.2011.

The amendment of this additional contract will enable: the continuity of this service in the field of fiscal control in the Republic of Albania even after 6.2.2023, the date when this contract ends;

waiver of the parties from any claim for all the years that the part of the concession contract related to pharmaceutical products has not been fulfilled;

the declaration of SIPCA Albania and the "Mother" company that they have not presented or claimed and will not have in the future any claim or demand 3 against the authority, for the implementation of other products, object of the concession contract, approved by law no. 10381 dated 24.2.2011.

that the concessionaire company will not have claims for compensation, retroactive damages and will not claim any penalty for non-fulfillment of the object of the contract by the Albanian state;

revaluation and reduction of prices per unit of products, referred to in point 17.1 of the concession contract, starting from 7.2.2023;

that the concessionaire company continue this contract, using the current technology implemented, based on the concession contract, with technological improvements in the areas judged as mandatory for proper operational and field functioning, related to the existing platform – CAPEX;

the creation of the new data services reporting module, which enables the authority to do more descriptive analytics, focusing on what has happened in the past, diagnostic analytics that help discover why things happened, and predictive analytics that enable prediction of what is likely to happen in the future – activation + integration into existing platform;

technical assistance to the authority with all the technological and operational expertise of the company's experts, for the continuity and operation of the fiscal stamp system, 7 months before the end of the concession contract term", was quoted in the report.

Termination of the contract

The law provides that the term of the concession contract ends on 31.12.2024. During this period, the concessionaire undertakes to make an investment ranging from 3 to 5 million euros, according to the schedules that will be detailed with respective deadlines in the Contract Management Board. The draft law will address the solution of the problems of the concession contract, for the design, financing, design, production and establishment of a system for the emission, distribution, finding and monitoring of fiscal stamps and drug control stamps, approved by law no. 10381 , dated 24.2.2011, and, apart from the above-mentioned positive effects, does not carry any negative effect or fiscal risk for the Albanian state."

From January 2025, fiscal stamps are expected to be produced by the printing house of securities, which is a Joint Stock Company with the Ministry of Finance as a shareholder./ Monitor Magazine