Housing tax, electricity distributor to collect

Housing tax, electricity distributor to collect

Albanian Government has selected the Electricity Distribution Operator for the collection of housing tax. 

This has already been determined in a draft decision that has been distributed to local government units as well as to the respective ministries.

The change is expected to be implemented on January 1st, 2019. 

The charge is foreseen to be found a line below the amount of energy consumed. In the event of non-payment of obligations by citizens or businesses forcible collection will occur within three months, according to the law.

Meanwhile, as a mitigating measure, the government has also provided a point where the right of property owners or businesses who own the building can be given the right to pay it in installments.

In the event that problems are identified in the calculation of the tax then the adjustment may be made the following month. 

The Electricity Distribution Operator has been selected as the agent who will collect the tax due to the fact that they hold more accurate data on the houses and their location.

The decision also stipulated that Electricity Distribution Operator will benefit from 4% of the gross income from this tax for each municipality. The Ministry of Finance and the local government units are responsible for implementing this decision.

The Electricity Distribution Operator and the Tax and Asset Management Department are required to initiate the drafting of sub-legal acts for the functioning of this draft decision and its entry into force.

Based on the new calculations citizens will pay 0.05% of the value of a house and businesses will pay 0.2%. This means a house in Tirana worth 100,000 euro will pay 50 euro per year or 4.1 euro per month.

The housing tax that will be collected based on new methodology, which is calculated on the basis of value, actually entered into force as of the 1st of April. 

However its implementation was postponed because the municipalities were not able to apply it accordingly.

Previously the tax was collected at a fixed rate of 1200 lekë per year for all buildings.

EMISIONET