Flash News

Drenova prison police officer arrested for bringing drugs and illegal items into cell

Lavrov: NATO is risking self-destruction with new military budget

Kurti and Vučić "face off" tomorrow in Skopje

Construction worker dies after falling from scaffolding in Berat

The prosecution sends two Korça Municipality officials to trial

Ditari i Maxhorancës

Rama expands tax amnesty for special investors in tourism

Politiko 2025-01-17 17:09:46

Rama expands tax amnesty for special investors in tourism

A new legal proposal by Socialist MP Blendi Klosi aims to exempt from profit tax even those businesses that will benefit from special investor status in tourism over the next two years, in an initiative that is criticized as a "gift to the oligarchs" by the opposition.

With a legal initiative by MP Blendi Klosi, the socialist majority aims to extend the amnesty from profit tax to those businesses that will benefit from the special status for four- and five-star hotels or resorts until December 2026.

According to current tax legislation, the corporate income tax exemption period expired on December 31, 2024.

In the draft law submitted to the Assembly in December, Klosi proposes: "Entities operating in accommodation structures "Hotel/Resort with four and five stars, special status" as defined in the legislation in the field of tourism and which are holders of a registered and internationally recognized trademark 'brand name', are exempt from corporate income tax for a period of 10 years, for those structures, which benefit from the special status until December 2026."

The draft proposes that the effects of the exemption begin at the moment of the start of the economic activity of the accommodation structure, but no later than 3 years from obtaining the special status. In the accompanying report, Klosi argues that this legal initiative aims to “incentivize the tourism sector by reducing the tax rate to 0% for the first 10 fiscal years for hotels and resorts.”

Since 2019, the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama has granted special investor status in five-star accommodation structures to a group of businessmen close to him. These companies benefit from a number of other fiscal incentives such as exemption from the infrastructure tax and the value added tax, VAT, at a rate of 6%.

In parallel with Klos' proposal, the Assembly is also considering the initiative of another socialist MP to extend the deadline for the strategic investment law.

Jorida Tabaku, a member of parliament for the Democratic Party, called this proposal a 'special law' that serves some people and a "destruction of the rule of law" in a Facebook status.

“The socialists do not stop with their proposals for special laws, which destroy the foundations of an honest state and build a minority government, at the expense of the majority,” Tabaku wrote, calling this another 'gift' to the oligarchs.

"Special laws that are tailor-made for the interests of a privileged minority do not build an economy for Albanians. On the contrary, they deepen inequality and corruption," Tabaku emphasizes, appealing for a new investment law./BIRN

Latest news