Albania/February 2013
The installation of the cash registers and their use is becoming very important in Albania given the efforts to consolidate the free competition rules in the market as well as fighting the fiscal evasion. The installation of the fiscal devices has taken place in accordance with the Tax Procedures Law no: 9920, dated May 19 2008 (amended). Article 55 of this law explains the obligation of the businesses to use cash registers.
According to this article, “the taxpayers, dealing with the circulation of goods and services for which the payments are not made via the bank, are obliged to apply the fiscal system through the use of cash registers to calculate and record sales transactions and give a receipt to the customer.”
Referring to this article, “it is the Council of Ministers which approves the technical and functional characteristics of the fiscal devices, the integrated and computerized system for the periodical and automatic transfers of the financial declarations, the procedure and the documentations for their approval, the criteria for the supply with the authorization of the companies distributing the fiscal devices as well as the conditions to remove this authorization.”
Furthermore, article 56 of the law 9920 also specifies that it is the Minister of Finance who decides to collect the data of the cash registers via an automatic system. The entities, authorized by the General Tax Director, are responsible for the data collection process following the set criteria of the Council of Ministers’ decision. According to the law, the cash registers are constantly connected on-line with the General Tax Department to check and verify every transaction.
The “Tax Procedures” law led to the decision of the Council of Minister no: 781, dated November 14 (amended) “On the technical and functional characteristics of the fiscal devices” and to the ordinance of the Ministry of Finance No: 16 dated May 3 2010. At the order of the Ministry of Finance, the criteria are set for the selection of the applicants for “Authorized Company.”
The law on tax procedures also specifies the administrative penalties regarding the use of the fiscal devices. According to this law, the taxpayer, whether a juridical, physical or commercial entity, is punished on case he/she does not install the cash register. The first time the tax inspectors find out that such entities have not installed the cash registers within 10 working days, they are fined with Lek 100 000; second time Lek500 000; third time, the activity is closed for a six-month period.
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