Albania: Categories of foreigners working in Albania

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

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

Software company Oracle has won the right to have its A$250m dispute with the ATO stayed, paving the way for a mutual agreement procedure
If the US doesn't participate in pillar two then global consensus on the project can’t be a reality, tax academic René Matteotti also suggests
If it gets pillar two right, India may be the ideal country that finds a balance between its global commitments and its national interests, Sameer Sharma argues
As World Tax unveils its much-anticipated rankings for 2026, we focus on EMEA’s top performers in the first of three regional analyses
Firms are spending serious money to expand their tax advisory practices internationally – this proves that the tax practice is no mere sideshow
The controversial deal would ‘preserve the gains achieved under pillar two’, the OECD said; in other news, HMRC outlined its approach to dealing with ‘harmful’ tax advisers
Former EY and Deloitte tax specialists will staff the new operation, which provides the firm with new offices in Tokyo and Osaka
TP is a growing priority for West and Central African tax authorities, writes Winnie Maliko, but enforcement remains inconsistent, and data limitations persist
The UK tax agency has appointed six independent industry specialists to the panel
The two tax partners have significant experience and expertise in transactional and tax structuring matters
Gift this article