Harmful Tax Practices – 2023 Peer Review Reports on the Exchange of Information on Tax Rulings

1. Albania can legally issue the following one type of ruling within the scope of the transparency framework: (i) cross-border unilateral APAs and any other cross-border unilateral tax rulings (such as an advance tax ruling) covering transfer pricing or the application of transfer pricing principles.

2. For Albania, past rulings are any tax rulings issued prior to 1 March 2020. However, there is no obligation for Albania to conduct spontaneous exchange information on past rulings.

3. For Albania, future rulings are any tax rulings within scope that are issued on or after 1 March 2020.

4. No future rulings were issued by Albania during the year in review.

5. In the prior years’ peer review reports, it was determined that Albania issues rulings based on legal provisions and that the General Directorate of Taxation (GDT) identifies these rulings and has all relevant information in relation to APAs, including information on relevant exchange jurisdictions. Albania confirmed that taxpayers are required to provide information on related parties, as well immediate and ultimate parent companies at the time the request for a ruling is submitted to the tax administration as well as additional information at the request of the tax administration.

6. In the prior years’ reports, it was noted that Albania could issue rulings on preferential regimes and there were no processes yet in place to ensure the identification of all relevant exchange jurisdictions. Albania confirms that the preferential regime (industry incentive regime) was abolished during the year in review. Therefore, Albania can no longer issue any rulings related to preferential regimes, and the prior years’ recommendation is removed.

7. In the prior years’ peer review reports, it was determined that Albania did not yet have a review and supervision mechanism under the transparency framework. Albania has now provided additional information on its review and supervision mechanism. The transfer pricing team, which is part of the office of large taxpayers within the General Directory of Taxation (GDT), is responsible for issuing APAs. APAs can only be concluded after signature of the Director General of the GDT. Staff members have been made aware that any issued APA should be identified and exchanged under the transparency framework. The DGT regularly reports statistics on the APAs to the Ministry of Finance. It is noted, however, that no APAs have been issued in practice so far. The prior years’ recommendation has now been removed.

8.  Albania has met all of the ToR for the information gathering process that can be met in the absence of rulings being issued in practice and no recommendations are made.

9. Albania has the necessary domestic legal basis to exchange information spontaneously. Albania notes that there are no legal or practical impediments that prevent the spontaneous exchange of information on rulings as contemplated in the Action 5 minimum standard.

10. Albania has international agreements permitting spontaneous exchange of information, including: (i) the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters: Amended by the 2010 Protocol (OECD/Council of Europe, 2011[2]) (“the Convention”), (ii) bilateral agreements in force with 46 jurisdictions.1

11. In the prior years’ peer review reports, it was determined that Albania did not yet have a process to complete the templates on all relevant rulings, to make them available to the Competent Authority for exchange of information, and to exchange them with relevant jurisdictions. Therefore, Albania was recommended to develop a process for the completion and exchange of information as soon as possible. During the year in review, Albania notes that it is currently in the process of taking appropriate steps.

12. During the year in review, no exchanges were required to take place and no data on the timeliness of exchanges is reported.

13. Albania is recommended to continue to develop a process to complete the templates for all relevant rulings and to ensure that the exchanges of information on rulings occur in accordance with the form and timelines under the transparency framework going forward (ToR II.B).

14. As no rulings were issued, no statistics can be reported.

15. Albania does not offer an intellectual property regime for which transparency requirements under the Action 5 Report (OECD, 2015[3]) were imposed.

[1] OECD (2021), BEPS Action 5 on Harmful Tax Practices - Terms of Reference and Methodology for the Conduct of the Peer Reviews of the Action 5 Transparency Framework, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/beps-action-5-harmful-tax-practices-peer-review-transparency-framework.pdf.

[3] OECD (2015), Countering Harmful Tax Practices More Effectively, Taking into Account Transparency and Substance, Action 5 - 2015 Final Report, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264241190-en.

[2] OECD/Council of Europe (2011), The Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters: Amended by the 2010 Protocol, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264115606-en.