Some 90% of businesses make online declarations

TIRANA, April 6 – Around 90 percent of businesses included in the valued added tax (VAT) scheme have fulfilled their legal obligation of electronically submitting their sales and purchase records to the General Tax Directorate. The deadline to submit the data electronically was April 5.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the head of the General Tax Directorate Artur Papajani said 13,000 of the 15,000 big businesses had acted in time. Satisfied with the results of this new practice, Papajani appealed to the remaining businesses to submit their data as soon as possible saying that no penalties will be imposed on them.
“The big challenges of the information technology which this administration is obliged and aware of implementing are those dealing with the major electronic declaration of taxpayers including even small businesses,” said Papajani.
The electronic declaration aims at eliminating direct contact between businesses and tax officials, getting information on sales and purchases by private subjects in real time, a practice which is expected to lower tax evasion.
According to Papajani, this practice has brought the Albanian tax administration on par with other European tax administrations which have been using this method for years.
The electronic declaration for big businesses came after some changes to the law on tax procedures entered into force last February and March.
More than 10,000 tax payers were trained by the General Tax Directorate to electronically declare their sales and purchase records.