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Crypto-assets under the tax authorities’ scrutiny / New draft law for mandatory reporting to tax bodies, fines up to 1 million lekë

Income from crypto-assets is expected to be monitored by the tax administration.

A special legal framework for the crypto-asset market has been drafted in Albania, aiming to identify the ownership of service providers and digital money users to prevent tax evasion.

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It also focuses on the automatic exchange of this information between authorities of European Union member states. The draft law, released for public consultation and prepared by the Ministry of Finance as a requirement of the integration process, envisions the creation of an electronic system worth 80 million lekë from the state budget. The law’s effects are specified to start on the day of Albania’s accession to the EU.

The General Directorate of Taxes is designated as the competent authority for administering the system for reporting, collection, automatic exchange of information, and cooperation with other authorities responsible for overseeing crypto-asset markets. Institutional cooperation is also considered important, where the Financial Supervision Authority is required to forward to the Tax Administration within 10 days any authorization, suspension, or revocation of licenses of cryptocurrency operators, as well as their full list at the end of each year.

Service providers must obtain a unique identification number from the tax authorities, and data for each transaction will be archived for a period of no less than 7 years. If the user fails to cooperate, the cryptocurrency platform blocks the transaction after two notices within two months.

The draft law also provides for fines ranging from 100,000 to 1 million lekë by the head of the tax directorate for failure to register, failure to report within deadlines, or for providing inaccurate information. However, the draft acknowledges the procedure and obligations are considered fulfilled if they have been carried out in another member state, to avoid double reporting.