TIRANA, Feb. 23 – Senior-level volunteer experts from the U.S., EU, and other countries will work with Albania’s General Tax Directorate to help increase the efficiency of tax collection with a focus on investigating large-scale evaders. The technical assistance program is sponsored by USAID and the tax administration and will be implemented by the U.S. Financial Services Volunteer Corps and the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance.
The experts will focus on increasing the efficiency of tax collection, adopting a risk-based approach to tax audits, improving intelligence gathering for tax fraud investigations, and building capacity to enforce tax compliance.”Ž
Speaking at the project’s launch, U.S. Embassy’s Chargà© d’affaires, David Muniz, said catching the ‘big fish’ remains the toughest part in the fight against informality.
“While it’s relatively easy to deal with informality among small businesses, the toughest part – and the biggest successes – depend on catching the big fish,” he said.
The project, which is part of a wider 5-year USAID assistance program worth $4.3 million to strengthen the financial sector in Albania, will assist the tax administration investigate large-scale evaders, which will ultimately reduce the burden on legitimate businesses by helping target tax audits on high-risk businesses.
