Few businesses use online banking services, survey

TIRANA , July 25 – Some 71% of the interviewed businesses in Albania’s five main cities have full internet access in their offices, but only 22% of them use online banking services (money transfers and online payments), according to a survey.
The internet access percentage is higher for businesses in Tirana (84%) and lower (57%) in other cities. Some 80% of the interviewed businesses that have Internet access in their office have high speed internet connection (ADSL/Cable or Antenna/Wireless), said the Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA) in the latest report on electronic tax services usage. The survey aimed to assess the performance, accessibility and usefulness of electronic tax services as well as the awareness of the business community regarding their availability. It also aimed to make recommendations on increasing e-tax services usage and efficiency.
The electronic tax services were introduced in Albania in October 2007 during the first phase of the Millennium Challenge Corporation program. This is the first time that a study is undertaken to measure their performance.
IDRA conducted the survey during January – March 2010 in 5 cities: Tirana, Durr쳬 Fier, Vlora, and Shkodra. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to assess taxpayers’ awareness of e-tax services, measure the extent of their usage and identify concerns regarding their effectiveness.
The survey found out that businesses are in favour of using these services and that e-tax services seem to reduce and improve the interaction between businesses and tax officials. However, businesses also indicated concerns related to insufficient submission deadlines, lack of IT capacity, server overload, confirmation receipts, and other technical problems.
Some 70% of business representatives stated that their company downloads tax declaration forms from the General Directorate of Taxes (GDT) web site. Nearly 81% of the interviewed businesses consider the procedure for downloading the tax forms from the GDT web site easy or very easy.
Some 77% of the interviewed businesses are aware of the e-filing procedure, while 22% of them have tried this procedure at least once. 16% of the interviewed businesses always use the e-filing option.
Meanwhile, 37% of responses by businesses that do not use e-filing point out that the main reason is that these businesses do not trust documents that one uploads on the internet. The second most important reason (28%) is that they do not know that this service exists.
The law requires that business file their taxes by the 14th day of each month, while they should submit electronically to GDT their sales and purchases books by the 5th day of the month. Businesses complained that this period was not sufficient to collect and compile all the invoices for their business activities. In some specific cases, such as companies that have several branches dispersed throughout Albania, this becomes truly problematical.
E-filing requires a certain level of IT knowledge and especially of MS Office software; however, many businesses, and in particular those located outside Tirana, lack this knowledge. Business people and their representatives suggested that they need more training on e-filing.
GDT servers are sometimes overloaded and do not allow taxpayers to complete the e-filing procedure at that specific time.
Businesses complained that the e-filing system is not always working correctly, in particular regarding the e-mail confirmation for e-tax declarations. In some cases, businesses do not receive an e-mail confirmation after they complete the e-filing procedure.
There are cases when businesses that perform e-filing, receive the e-mail confirmation when the procedure is completed; however, this process is not reflected in a timely manner in the GDT data base. This situation often leads to disputes between businesses and tax officials on whether e-filing has taken place or not and may result in fines for businesses even though they have submitted the tax forms on time.
The e-filing system does not offer businesses the option for making changes in their e-tax declaration in case they made a mistake in an e-tax form that they have already submitted. This option is theoretically available in the e-filing system accessed through the GDT web site, but it is not functional.
Some businesses cannot yet access their online tax account statement, the so-called ‘Taxpayers Ledger’. This makes it impossible for them to check whether their e-filing declaration has been posted on their account in the GDT data base.
The quantitative survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews. The targeted respondents included businesses top management representatives such as Chief Executive Officers (CEO), owners, General Managers, and Directors or Chiefs of Finance.