Certification of declarations and the right of the tax administration to inspect
Dear taxpayers!
The selection of taxpayers for inspection is based on the risk analysis, pursuant to Article 80, paragraph 4 of the Law No. 9920, dated 19/05/2008 “On tax procedures in the Republic of Albania”, as amended.
The latest improvements to the law on tax procedures (with Law No. 112/2016, dated 03/11/2016, published in the Official Journal No. 219, dated November 15th, 2016), among concrete reliefs for taxpayers, they have provided an additional guarantee to them, whereby pursuant to the same legal reference, if the taxpayer has certified tax declarations by recognized audit companies, or companies classified as such by a special law, where it is certified that they are in compliance with the fiscal legislation, the Tax Administration shall include this element in the risk analysis of the taxpayer.
Audit and certification of financial statements and tax declarations from recognized audit companies, is considered as a “positive” element in the entirety of elements that determine if the taxpayers should be selected for inspection as per the evaluation carried out by the risk analysis.
Certification of tax declarations is not a mandatory requirement, but it is up to the free will of the taxpayers to decide if they want their tax declarations certified by the audit companies or not. The audit companies shall not certify the tax declarations of the same taxpayer for the same type of taxation for more than four (4) consecutive years. It can start again for another four (4) years after a one-year pause.
From the functional perspective, the tax administration is responsible to exercise its right to inspect pursuant to Article 80 of the Law No. 9920, dated 19/05/2008 “On tax procedures in the Republic of Albania”, as amended, and in compliance with the procedures on the performance of tax inspections and types of tax inspections, determined in paragraph 80 of the Instruction No. 24, dated 02/09/2008 “On tax procedures in the Republic of Albania”, as amended.
Attention:
Pursuant to Article 128/3 of the Law No. 9920, dated 19/05/2008 “On tax procedures in the Republic of Albania”, as amended, in case the inspection conducted by the Tax Administration at the taxpayers, whose tax declarations have been certified by certifying companies as being in compliance with the fiscal legislation, will result in tax liabilities, the certifying company shall be sanctioned with a fine amounting to 50 percent of the tax liability imposed on the taxpayer.
Upon completion of the evaluation process of the documentation submitted by the participating companies, the Ministry of Finance has published the companies entitled to carry out the tax declarations certification service, for a 4 (four) year period as follows:
1.DELOITTE AUDIT ALBANIA sh.p.k
2.ILD-99 Audit sh.p.k
3.MAZARS sh.p.k
4.nHEuroConsultshpk
5.Studio L. E. A. L. Auditing sh.p.k
6.GRANT THORNTON &HOLLY & ENDI AUDITING sh.p.k
7.UHY Elite sh.p.k
8.KPMG sh.p.k
9.ASIE sh.p.k
10.PRICEWATERHOUSE COOPERS ALBANIA sh.p.k.
Thank you!