Albania: Categories of foreigners working in Albania

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Albania: Categories of foreigners working in Albania

lena.jpg

Erion Lena

Individuals who are foreign citizens, employees, employers or self-employed in registered entities for fiscal purposes in the Republic of Albania, are secured and protected mandatorily under Albanian legislation. The Council of Ministers, by decision no. 77 dated January 27 2015 (published in the Official Gazette No 9 on February 3 2015) excluded the following foreigners working in Albania from paying obligatory contributions and benefiting from the social insurance and healthcare system:

  1. Foreigners working for foreign entities which, according to a treaty, have no obligation to register with the tax authorities in Albania;

  2. Foreigners that are employed in foreign entities that have no obligation to register with the Albanian tax authorities, which enter Albania to work at a job or qualified service, under a service contract associated with a subject registered to the Albanian tax authorities, that is not a branch or unit of the contracting subject. Extension of residence or service period is performed according to Law no. 108/2013 "For the foreigners";

  3. Foreigners that are employed in foreign entities that have no obligation to be registered with the Albanian tax authorities, and are to be sent to Albania to work at a job or service, according to a contract entered into by the employing foreign entity with a registered entity in the Albanian tax authorities, that is not a branch or unit of the contracting entity, if the following conditions apply:

    • To have an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation concluded between the Albanian state and state of the foreign employer;

    • Registration procedure, the work permit and its duration is to be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Law no. 108/2013 "For the foreigners";

    • The residence and the payment of obligations, according to the fiscal legislation, should be implemented according to the specifications under Law no. 9920, dated May 9 2008, "On procedures tax in the Republic of Albania";

    • The contracting entity, registered with the Albanian tax authorities, requires (every three months) from the foreign employer entity, confirmed document by the social insurance structures of the relevant state for the payment of the social security contributions, together with the names of foreign workers, and administers it along with the transfer documents in favour of the foreign employer.

  4. Foreigners with residence and permanent living location outside the territory of Albania, who have activities registered in their name in both states where they perform the task of the administrator, along with another administrator, with permanent residence in Albania. In this case, the persons shall be subject to protection and compulsory social insurance in the state where they have residence and, simultaneously, prove with documents social insurance protection from the relevant state.

  5. Foreigners are exempted from paying social insurance contributions and healthcare insurance in Albania under an agreement between their state and the Albanian state.

Exempted from the payment of mandatory contributions for healthcare insurance are economically active persons, which do not have permanent residence in Albania, which are employed, self-employed, unpaid family workers or individuals with regular income from movable and immovable property and other comparable resources.

Erion Lena  (erion.lena@eurofast.eu)

Eurofast Global, Tirana Office

Tel: +355 69 533 7456

Website: www.eurofast.eu

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Levine, who served under the Joe Biden administration, led the US’s negotiations on the OECD’s two-pillar solution
The deal to acquire ITR's parent company is expected to complete by the end of May 2025
JBS, the biggest meat company in the world, allegedly used Luxembourgian ‘mailbox companies’ to avoid taxes between 2019 and 2022
Despite the conviction of Jessa Dabalos, the Tax Practitioners’ Board’s investigative work continues with five outstanding PwC scandal probes
Heads of tax need to push their teams forward as strategic business advisers to add value across their organisations, says Sandy Markwick
Scott Bessent reportedly felt undermined by Musk naming Gary Shapley as acting IRS commissioner; in other news, Baker Tilly will combine with a top 15 US firm
The promise of nine years’ tax certainty and a ‘rational and pragmatic’ government process makes APAs a no-brainer, Indian tax advisers tell ITR
Despite garnering significant revenues from multinationals, Italy’s digital services tax presents pressing double taxation issues, say Stefano Simontacchi and Francesco Saverio Scandone of BonelliErede
ITR’s research shows that in-house tax counsel in Asia also feel underserved by their advisers’ international networks
World Tax global head of research Jon Moore tells ITR how his team spots standout submissions, and gives early statistical insights into this year’s entries
Gift this article