Following the introduction of ‘fiscalization’, Albania’s Continuous Transactions Controls scheme (CTC), in early 2020, the Albanian government published more information about the CTC system and in late 2020 updated the roll-out timeline.
During 2020, the Albanian government published a series of secondary legislation about different elements of the CTC scheme. The Albanian CTC scheme is a mix of e-invoice clearance and real-time data reporting to the tax authority. Both processes are regulated in separate but equally lengthy legislation.
According to published documentation, B2B and B2G invoices not paid in cash must be issued and received in electronic form, while invoices for cash transactions invoices (e.g. B2C) can be electronic subject to acceptance by the recipient.
E-invoices must be exchanged in a structured format based on the European Standards through the Central Information System (CIS) administered by AKSHI, the Albanian National Agency of Information Society.
E-invoices must be ‘fiscalized’ before they are exchanged between parties, i.e. they must be cleared by the tax authority and receive a Unique Identification Number (NIVF) which should be included in the content of the invoice. E-invoices are only valid after being cleared by the tax authority.
More information has also been published about the central invoicing platform, e-invoice content and schema as well as the reporting requirements for payment service providers.
The new roll-out timeline of the Albanian CTC system is:
- 1 January 2021: e-invoices should be issued and received for non-cash B2G transactions and should follow the fiscalization procedure
- 1 July 2021: e-invoices should be issued and received for non-cash B2B and should follow the fiscalization procedure
- 1 September 2021: invoices for cash transactions should follow the fiscalization procedure and can be exchanged in paper form or electronically
The impressive volume and pace with which Albania published CTC documentation over the course of the last months is a sign that the country is on track to meet the implementation deadlines of its CTC system.
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