Taxes and local tariffs have changed along with some procedures that involve business activity.  To better understand them but also to address some issues that have been raised during the implementation of these taxes, AmCham organized a round table with the Municipality of Tirana to discuss issues that affect the bilateral relations between local business and local administration.

AmCham organized a Business Forum with senior officials of the Municipality of Tirana to discuss the “Changes on local taxes and tariffs and their impact on business.” The event was attended by the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Tirana Mr. Arbjan Mazniku, the Head of the Economic Development Directorate Mr. Enkelejd Musabelliu, and the Head of the Local Taxes and Tariffs Directorate of the Municipality of Tirana, Mr. Arli Naska.

“This is the first meeting with managers of the Municipality of Tirana, therefore it was significant for AmCham Albania to discuss with them issues related to local taxes and tariffs which are very important for businesses,” said the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Albania, Mr. Mark Crawford.

The Chairman of the Tax and Legal Committee, Mr. Artan Bozo, while explaining the purpose of the meeting highlighted some issues that AmCham members had referred to this committee.
For making a complaint, businesses must prepare a long list of documents and pass through a bureaucratic procedure that not only takes too much time but may also be costly. All those businesses that have secondary TINs are obliged to pay the education tax more than once.
Identification signs are often confused with advertising signs and bring other costs to businesses.
Foreign businesses that have only tax representative on the country, regardless of their activity, have to pay all local taxes that are already paid for that location by the business representing them.. All these issues and other concerns of AmCham’s members were the focus of the meeting.

In response to the issues raised by AmCham, the Vice Chairman of the Municipality of Tirana Mr. Arbjan Mazniku, explained that in the context of the Municipality’s database digitalization process, it will soon be possible to reduce number of documents required when submitting a complaint to the Municipality of Tirana.

Information and advertising signs, according to Mr. Mazniku, have a clear difference between them starting from their size and other details. Information signs cannot be larger than 2 meters, which is considered enough space according to the Municipality of Tirana.

AmCham used this meeting to build a bridge of ongoing cooperation with the Municipality and to initiate a dialogue that will address issues raised by its members and that involve the Municipality of Tirana.