Hundreds of Tirana businesses suspended

TIRANA, Sep. 20 – Hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses operating in Tirana have recently had their activity suspended because of tax evasion, according to the General Tax Directorate.
Tax officials this week said some 285 businesses were suspended and dozens of others fined because of not being registered with tax authorities or not using cash registers, which some businesses refuse to buy because of the high prices.
Officials also identified some 500 uninsured employees during controls carried out from August 15 to September 15.
The General Tax Directorate has warned it will impose fines of up to 500,000 lek to small businesses which have not installed cash registers following the expiry of the deadline on July 30.
The tax administration says it will start field inspections on cash registers. Under the new changes, tax officials can fine small business 100,000 lek (around 1,000 dollars) when first identifying lack of cash registers and 500,000 lek if the violation is repeated.
The tax procedures law also foresees suspension of activity for six months and even closure of small businesses.
The changes to the law are aimed at tax evasion.
Albania has some 90,000 small businesses, 20,000 of which only in Tirana.
A sharp increase of 48 percent in new business registration has been noted in the first six months of 2010, the National Registration Center reports. The increase is in comparison to the same period a year ago.
During the year’s first six-month period, there were 10,514 businesses registered at the center, and these were primarily commercial businesses – with the service sector leading, followed by production.