In the discussions under the fiscal package, the Committee on Economy, Employment and Finance approved several amendments to the draft law "On the cancellation, extinguishment and payment of tax liabilities to the central tax administration and of duties payable to customs".
One of the main points approved is related to the complete abolition of local taxes and fees that belong to tax periods up to 2014.
The draft proposed by the Ministry of Finance envisaged the complete cancellation of only unpaid tax and customs liabilities of businesses by 2014.
The approved amendments were proposed by Socialist Party MP Erjon Braçe.
MP Braçe also requested that other local obligations older than 10 years be included in the relief scheme, proposing that businesses have the opportunity to repay them by paying 50% of the value, while the remaining 50% be forgiven.
According to him, the same opportunity that is given to obligations towards taxes and customs should also be given to obligations towards local government.
The committee approved the amendments of MP Ejon Braçe for Article 6 of the draft law, while rejecting part of the amendments of Democratic Party MP Enno Bozdo, who proposed to exclude from the deletion individuals who own several entities that have benefited from public funding after 2015, or that have declared positive balances after 2020.
The Ministry of Finance argued that such a criterion would make the scheme unworkable due to the lack of full traceability, so the principle of universality remained in effect.
The draft law stipulates that for all direct or indirect tax and customs obligations unpaid by December 31, 2014, their full cancellation is foreseen, with the exception of social security and health insurance contributions. For the latter, only fines and late payment interest will be canceled, but not the contributions.
For liabilities belonging to the period January 1, 2015 – December 31, 2019, taxpayers can benefit from partial cancellation: if they pay 50% of the liability by June 30, 2026, the remaining part is canceled; or, if they pay 75% by December 31, 2026 in monthly installments, the remaining 25% is automatically canceled. In both cases, penalties and late payment interest for the relevant periods are completely canceled.
For liabilities incurred from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2024, the cancellation of fines and late payment interest is only possible if the principal is paid in full by December 31, 2026./Monitor
