Compensation for children under DIVA 2025, payments begin after documentation deficiencies are addressed

Since the beginning of September, the tax authorities have begun distributing compensation through the Annual Personal Income Declaration (DIVA 2025) to applicants who were asked by the tax administration to address deficiencies in their documentation.

Z.Sh., a teacher by profession, says that in mid-June she was notified by letter from the tax administration that she needed to address deficiencies in her documentation, based on a list they had sent.

When applications opened in March, she applied for compensation after completing DIVA, as she had a credit balance of 25,000 lek.

The applicant has two children and is entitled to an expense deduction of 48,000 lek for each, while her annual income does not exceed 1.2 million lek. Consequently, she received the maximum expense deduction of 100,000 lek for her children’s education.

After reviewing the applications, the tax administration set a 20-day deadline for applicants to address deficiencies in their documentation, otherwise the application would be canceled. Individuals required to address deficiencies in the submitted documentation were notified by the tax administration through official letters during June.

“Our review of the documentation you declared regarding its compliance with the aforementioned legal basis found the following: The legal criteria that must be met for reimbursement include:

The amount requested as reimbursement for educational expenses for children under the age of 18; the amount recognized by the tax authorities following verification of the documentation declared for children’s educational expenses; the credit balance remaining in the tax authorities’ information system after deducting child benefits; the amount of Individual Income Tax approved for reimbursement; fulfillment of the requirement that annual income from employment/business be below 1.2 million lek; completion of the Individual Income Tax reimbursement form in the information system, etc.

With reference to the above and the deficiencies identified by the tax administration, in order to meet the legal requirements for your request to deduct educational expenses for children under the age of 18 from the taxable base for 2025, pursuant to Law No. 9920, dated 19.05.2008, ‘On Tax Procedures in the Republic of Albania,’ Article 60, ‘The taxpayer’s obligation to provide information and allow access to the premises where economic activity is conducted,’ you must address the deficiencies identified in the table above—the legal criteria marked ‘NO’—within 20 days of the date this notice was mailed, so that the tax administration may proceed with the subsequent reimbursement procedures.

If you fail to meet the legal criteria, the tax administration will proceed with the cancellation of the request for reimbursement of educational expenses for children under the age of 18,” states the notice previously sent by the tax authorities to applicants.

In many cases, applicants turned to economists and accountants for assistance in addressing the deficiencies identified in their documentation. In these cases, the economists explained that applicants must respond to the tax authorities’ notice with an explanatory letter, attaching documentation proving that they meet the relevant criterion or providing the requested information that the administration had identified as missing.

Meanwhile, the tax administration is continuing to issue reimbursements to individuals under DIVA 2025.

According to tax authority data, as of August 15, 39,940 individuals had benefited from reimbursements for overpaid tax and child deductions. The total value of the reimbursements amounts to €6.4 million.

The scheme provides for the recognition of up to 100,000 lek in educational expenses for children under the age of 18, while eligible beneficiaries are individuals with gross annual income of up to 1.2 million lek. In addition to meeting the income requirement, applicants must substantiate educational expenses with fiscal invoices, which must be uploaded online to e-Filing.

No category loses the right to apply for compensation for five years.

However, to receive the compensation in a bank account, applicants must complete an online request in the e-Filing system and upload supporting documents, including a family certificate, invoices for children’s educational expenses for parents with annual income below 1.2 million lek, and the bank account IBAN in PDF format, either generated through the account application or obtained at a bank counter./ Monitor.al