The network covers Albania within the Southern Europe region. Payslips there are drawn up in ALL, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Albanian.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Tirana, Durrës, Vlorë, Shkodër.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Albania, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Kontabilist i miratuar (comptable agréé) ; Ekspert kontabël i autorizuar (expert-comptable/auditeur légal), and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
L'Albanie distingue deux professions organisées par la loi : le kontabilist i miratuar, habilité à tenir la comptabilité et à établir les états financiers pour compte de tiers (dont la paie), et l'ekspert kontabël i autorizuar, seul habilité à l'audit légal. Un cabinet candidat doit être enregistré à l'IKM comme shoqëri kontabël.
Albania is not a member of the European Union but is negotiating accession, and both its employment law and its accounting framework have been progressively aligned with European standards. The country keeps its own currency, the lek, in which wages are paid, and Albanian is the official language, used for contracts and for documents filed with the authorities.
The most convenient feature for a foreign employer is the singularity of identifiers and counterparts. The NIPT assigned on registration serves as both the company number and the tax number. More importantly, social security and health insurance contributions are not collected by the funds but by the tax administration, the Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Tatimeve (DPT), on behalf of the social insurance institute and the compulsory health insurance fund. A single certificate therefore often covers both tax and contributions.
Finally, accountancy for third parties is an organised profession: a firm must be registered with the Instituti i Kontabilistëve të Miratuar (IKM), the institute of approved accountants.
The employee must be declared to the tax administration before starting work. Late declaration is a standard ground for penalty and is easily established during an on-site inspection: this is the immediate point to watch in Albania.
The Qendra Kombëtare e Biznesit issues the NIPT and records the officers when the entity is formed. The public e-Albania portal then concentrates most subsequent formalities, including the issue of certificates and criminal record extracts, each carrying its own verification code.
Written and drafted in Albanian, the contract is governed by a Labour Code regulating working time, overtime, probation and grounds for termination. A courtesy English translation is useful but does not displace the Albanian text.
Income tax withheld together with social and health contributions appear on the payslip, all of them declared together electronically on a monthly cycle.
The interaction with the French scheme deserves a check for a posted employee: since Albania is outside the Union, the answer depends on bilateral social security agreements rather than on EU regulations.
The formalities of notice and of the prior meeting, which Albanian law takes seriously, apply on exit, along with length-of-service compensation, all of which is documented as it happens rather than reconstructed later.
The network asks 9 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Albania. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 9 documents, 8 are required of every applicant and 7 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months. 1 of these documents exist only in Albania and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ekstrakt i regjistrit tregtar (ekstrakt i thjeshtë ose ekstrakt historik)Commercial register extract (simple or historical) Préférer l'ekstrakt historik, qui retrace tous les changements d'associés, de dirigeants et d'objet social, à l'extrait simple qui ne donne que la situation du jour. Il est délivrable en ligne via e-Albania. | Qendra Kombëtare e Biznesit (QKB) — National Business Center, ministère de l'Économie | 3 months Required | Official website |
| NIPT / NUIS — Numri Unik i Identifikimit të Subjektit ; certifikatë e regjistrimit për TVSH le cas échéantUnique business identification number (NIPT/NUIS) and VAT registration Particularité albanaise : le NIPT est à la fois le numéro d'immatriculation au registre et le numéro fiscal — inutile de demander deux numéros distincts. Il figure sur l'extrait QKB. | Qendra Kombëtare e Biznesit (QKB) pour l'attribution ; Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Tatimeve (DPT) pour le suivi fiscal | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Vërtetim për shlyerjen e detyrimeve tatimore (vërtetim i gjendjes së llogarisë tatimore)Certificate of settlement of tax liabilities Se demande depuis l'espace du contribuable sur e-Albania ; le document est vérifiable en ligne par son code de vérification, ce qui permet un contrôle direct par le réseau. | Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Tatimeve (DPT), délivrance via le portail e-Albania | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Vërtetim për shlyerjen e kontributeve të sigurimeve shoqërore dhe shëndetësoreCertificate of settlement of social and health insurance contributions En Albanie les cotisations sociales et maladie sont recouvrées par l'administration fiscale, pas par les caisses : la même attestation DPT couvre souvent impôts et cotisations. Vérifier que le document mentionne explicitement les kontribute. | Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Tatimeve (DPT), qui collecte les cotisations pour l'Instituti i Sigurimeve Shoqërore (ISSH) et le Fondi i Sigurimit të Detyrueshëm të Kujdesit Shëndetësor (FSDKSH) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Sigurim i përgjegjësisë profesionale — policë sigurimiProfessional liability insurance policy L'assurance de responsabilité professionnelle est imposée aux experts-comptables agréés (ekspertë kontabël të autorizuar) par la loi sur l'audit légal ; pour un simple cabinet de comptabilité/paie elle relève de l'usage, mais elle est facilement souscrite localement. | Compagnie agréée par l'Autoriteti i Mbikëqyrjes Financiare (AMF) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Regjistrim si kontabilist i miratuar / shoqëri kontabël pranë Institutit të Kontabilistëve të Miratuar (IKM) ; për auditimin ligjor, anëtarësi në IEKARegistration as approved accountant / accounting firm with IKM ; for statutory audit, IEKA membership L'IKM regroupe les comptables agréés et les sociétés comptables enregistrées conformément à la législation albanaise ; c'est la pièce à réclamer pour un cabinet de comptabilité/paie. L'IEKA ne concerne que l'audit légal. | Instituti i Kontabilistëve të Miratuar (IKM) ; Instituti i Ekspertëve Kontabël të Autorizuar (IEKA) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Letërnjoftim (carte d'identité) ose pasaportë e administratorit ; dëshmi penalitetiAdministrator's ID card or passport and criminal record certificate La dëshmi penaliteti (casier judiciaire) s'obtient en quelques minutes sur e-Albania et constitue une pièce KYC facile à exiger. | Ministria e Brendshme (carte d'identité) ; ministère de la Justice pour la dëshmi penaliteti, délivrée via e-Albania | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Njoftim i përpunimit të të dhënave personale pranë Komisionerit për të Drejtën e Informimit dhe Mbrojtjen e të Dhënave PersonaleNotification of processing to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner | Komisioneri për të Drejtën e Informimit dhe Mbrojtjen e të Dhënave Personale (IDP) | No expiry Where applicable | Official website |
| Ekstrakt nga Regjistri i Pronarëve PërfituesBeneficial ownership register extract La QKB tient un registre distinct des bénéficiaires effectifs ; son extrait est la pièce KYC la plus solide pour identifier les vrais détenteurs du cabinet candidat. | Qendra Kombëtare e Biznesit (QKB) | 3 months Required | Official website |
Unified collection through the tax administration is the principal advantage. Do not seek a certificate from the social insurance institute: the useful document comes from the tax directorate, and all that is needed is to check that it expressly mentions contributions and not tax alone.
The degree of digitisation comes next. Tax certificates, criminal record extracts and register extracts are obtained through the public portal and carry a verification code, allowing a foreign client to authenticate a document itself rather than take it on trust.
A terminological trap, finally, recurs in almost every first meeting we hold on this market. Many Albanian firms present themselves as chartered accountants when in fact they belong to the institute of approved accountants. That is in no way disqualifying for payroll work, but it should be stated accurately.
Le NIPT est l'identifiant unique du pays : même numéro au registre du commerce, à la TVA et devant l'administration fiscale, ce qui simplifie beaucoup les vérifications. Autre singularité, les cotisations sociales et maladie sont recouvrées par l'administration fiscale (DPT) et non par les caisses, donc pas d'attestation ISSH séparée à réclamer. Enfin ne pas confondre IKM (comptables agréés, la bonne cible pour un cabinet de paie) et IEKA (auditeurs légaux) : beaucoup de cabinets albanais se présentent comme « experts-comptables » alors qu'ils ne sont inscrits qu'à l'IKM.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Albania, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Albania has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
In Albania we look for an accounting company registered with the IKM, the institute competent for bookkeeping and payroll. The Instituti i Ekspertëve Kontabël të Autorizuar covers statutory audit only, and the distinction should be established at the first exchange. We ask for the historical commercial register extract, more informative than the simple one, the beneficial ownership register extract, the tax certificate expressly covering contributions, the administrator's criminal record extract and a professional indemnity policy.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Albania yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in AlbaniaMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Albania.