By Ardit Bejko
TIRANA, July 7 – The new law on tax procedures does not protect businesses from mistakes by tax inspectors, financial expert Agim Binaj said at a meeting of Tirana’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) and the Tax Revenue Directorate.
“Companies are left completely vulnerable to the tax inspector,” Binaj said. “There are still problems with [the ability] of a company to express its concerns if it doubts the correctness of a decision,” he added.
The alternative methods of tax assessment have lead to abuses in calculating the amount of taxes businesses owe the state, Binaj said. In some cases, the new law enables tax inspectors to calculate this amount of taxes without checking the company’s records and balance sheets. CCI asked the government to change the provisions during consultations held when the bill was drafted.
Chair of CCI, Gjok Uldedaj, said he considered the law to be complete, but the businesses should be asked for opinions in drafting the enforcement instructions that are about to be issued. “We would like to be present and contribute in the drafting of the instructions, so that no room is left for misinterpretations,” Uldedaj added, referring to the issues raised by the previous law on tax procedures.
“What we are asking for is to be able to not only enforce the law, but to also oppose any violations from the tax authorities,” Uldedaj said. Oftentimes, these violations have brought about legal conflicts between the authorities and companies, Uldedaj added, saying the courts sided with the businesses in most of the cases.
The representatives of the tax authorities protected the new law, saying it uses “modern methods of tax control” such as the risk analysis method. “According to this method, tax controls are performed only after the administration of a risk test, which means that the taxpayer who does not follow the law will be controlled more than others,” said Hysen Mecoku, Deputy Head of the Tax Revenue Directorate.
The law on tax procedures is part of the tax system reforms that the government is undertaking. The reforms aim at the restructuring of the administration, improvement of taxpayer services and the introduction of e-services. The parliament passed the bill in May.
