
The International Monetary Fund does not believe that the tax administration in Albania will be able to collect a good portion of the debt accumulated over the years, so it suggests its deletion.
The IMF has published a report with recommendations to Albanian Tax, following a period of consultancies held early last year, called at the time by former Director of Tax, Delina Ibrahimaj.
The report states that the increasing level of outstanding tax liabilities must be stabilised and lowered, the scheme for using the payment of tax insandshould be resolved, and the issue of arcane debt must be resolved.
According to the report, by September 2020, the number of tax payers who had outstanding obligations was 171 thousand of whom 96,000 are active and the total debt stock was 122 billion dollars of which 83 billion lek (70 mln euros) have non-active businesses. The IMF says there is a critical need to pay off indebtedness when it is uneconomic to pursue, or cannot be legally recovered.
The other recommendation says that the Directorate of Tax should have more autonomy and flexibility in staff selection, job distribution and organisational changes, without always needing the minister's approval. The level of technical skills and competences throughout the workforce must be improved especially in the areas of tax control, data analytics, implementation of tax debt, the functions of the Office of The Great Tax Men and the interpretation of tax law.
Also, the IMF requires that the reimbursement of tax on value added to businesses be carried out without preconditions, to improve the tax administration in the direction of independence and staff selection, and to better manage the main risk groups.