Tax Systems in the Western Balkans, 2023

“Tax Systems in the Western Balkans, 2023” (in Albanian) is a paper based on the examination of the tax legislation in the practice of 2022 and compared with the report of previous years with the same theme of fiscal policies.

This summary fully reflects the fiscal legislation, conveying the news and important legal developments of the fiscal systems for the year 2023.

The summary is a comparative basis between the countries of the Western Balkans (WB6) region in 2023 and aims to present the most obvious similarities and differences in the Balkan fiscal policy. The materials have been processed from data and publications from internationally known organizations and consulting companies such as PwC, EY, EuroFast, Deloitte, KPMG and from the data of the legal platforms of the WB6 countries themselves.

First, the newest legal changes (2023) from some of the states are presented, where details are given on all the tax policies that are likely to be legislated or have been legislated in the fiscal and budget legislations of the states. This includes confirming previously announced policy changes and explaining where, if any, changes have been made following consultation on these changes.

The main goal in publishing the contents of the tax structure and system in each country of the Western Balkans, takes on an obvious importance in the case of the detailed study of verifiable references for regional initiatives, which need to be the subject of discussions first. on tax policies and their effects.

The content of tax legislation is simple in most of the countries we present here, but with an approach that has not deviated from simplification over the years. Based on the concern presented by civil society and various experts and organizations in Albania, but perhaps also in neighboring countries, we aim for more citizens to be involved in the processes of discussing laws and by-laws.

The Compendium of Tax Legislation is a work in progress and one of the early works in ALTAX’s fiscal thematic series. The new thematic publication is in its 6th Edition.

This research paper is based on the careful preparation of the fiscal laws and norms in a summary policy context for each of the main central and local government taxes. The publication was made possible with the support of ALTAX staff. Their meticulous attention to detail has been an inspiration and kept our work on track from the very beginning until the final draft of this paper was prepared.

The lack of institutionalized experience with tax legislation means that the process often does not proceed smoothly, does not involve adequate consultation and often does not involve people with the necessary expertise at the relevant stages of the process.

The process by which tax legislation is developed can be of key importance in determining its quality, effectiveness and acceptability.

Problems in existing legislation arise from various sources: new tax policy choices, changes in the economy, improved tax avoidance techniques, and previous bad choices in policy, drafting, and administration. To ensure that tax laws are able to respond to each of these problems, the Ministry of Finance in each state should undertake a continuous review of tax laws based not only on a single person or closed group of persons and lobbies , but the review should come from any area of ​​substantive tax expertise, with the government’s approach to coordinate processes.

Because tax laws over time seem to tend to be numerous and complex, it would be impossible to subject them all to a complete review at any one time. It should be the duty of parties involved in the review process to work closely with tax administration and public finance officials, who are likely to be the primary source of reporting problems, and to engage directly with research staff. Private sector professional associations have proven to be an excellent source of information on issues.