If you don't pay taxes, the tax authorities will seize your cars.

If you are a business and have an unpaid tax liability and you also own a car, the tax authorities may seize it as part of the process of forcibly collecting the liabilities.

Even if you are an individual and have outstanding tax obligations (e.g. the additional tax that dual-employed people show in the system when declaring their personal income on March 31st of each year) or tax on rental income, etc., taxes can still block the car you own.

Even if you want to buy a car, you should exercise caution and verify the tax status of the vehicle owner before finalizing the deal.

A new agreement signed between the Tax Administration and the General Directorate of Road Transport Services (GDRT) will enable the integration of systems for real-time data search on vehicles owned by taxpayers, according to an official tax announcement.

This development will give the Tax Administration immediate access to information on registered vehicles, which will enable real-time data monitoring, with the aim of collecting tax debts.

The General Directorate of Road Transport Service explains that the novelty of the agreement is real-time access to the system for data on vehicles owned by taxpayers who have unpaid tax obligations. Even before the signing of the agreement, the tax administration had the right to establish an executive title for the debtors' vehicles, but the data between the two tax institutions and the Directorate of Road Transport Service was carried out through letters. So, if a taxpayer had a vehicle, or even for the vehicle data including the brand or value, the taxes sent a letter to the DPTSHRR, which was then answered within 1 or 2 weeks.

In accordance with the legislation in force, the Tax Administration calls on all taxpayers to fulfill their tax obligations on time; otherwise, security measures will be taken on the assets owned by the debtor taxpayers.

"The Tax Administration has completed the signing of the agreement with the General Directorate of Road Transport Services, from which the search for data on taxpayers' vehicles in real time in the tax system has been implemented.

"All taxpayers, in accordance with the legislation in force, must fulfill all tax obligations on time, otherwise the Tax Administration will impose security measures on the assets and will implement all collection procedures by force," the announcement states.

The Tax Administration also calls on all citizens and businesses that carry out purchase-sale transactions for used vehicles to exercise caution and verify the tax status of the vehicle owner before finalizing the agreement.

Any vehicle owned by a debtor taxpayer (i.e. one that has unpaid obligations to the state) may be subject to security measures, such as blocking or seizure by the Tax Administration. In such cases, according to the tax administration, the sale transaction may result in invalidity.

"Attention! AT calls on taxpayers to fulfill their tax obligations voluntarily and not to alienate their assets to avoid these obligations!"

"Any entity that enters into asset purchase and sale transactions must ensure that the assets subject to the transaction do not belong to the debtor taxpayers. Any act signed in bad faith between the parties with the aim of avoiding obligations to the Tax Administration will bring legal consequences for invalidity," the announcement states./ Monitor.al