Albanian former state officials who have yet to declare their assets will be able to benefit from the government’s proposed tax amnesty.
Initially, Prime Minister Edi Rama promised that high state officials and former state officials would not be eligible for the tax amnesty law. However, a revised bill will now allow all former state officials to legalize their undeclared wealth with no obligations to disclose how that wealth came into being.
The bill drafted by the Ministry of Finance is expected to be passed by parliament in the following weeks. It only excludes from fiscal amnesty current high state officials, and those who will be serving at the time the law comes into effect.
This would mean that the out-of-parliament opposition, consisting in the main two opposition parties PD and LSI, would be able to benefit from the tax amnesty. This would include the current opposition party leaders, as well as former MPs and Ministers.
Similarly, all former Prime Ministers, mayors, department heads, prefects, and magistrates will be able to legalize their assets without having to disclose their source of income, with criminal impunity, and without having to pay taxes on them.
The tax amnesty would last for a year, from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021.
A previous version of the bill foresaw the exclusion from amnesty of high officials that are currently serving or have served in the last 3 years, from the date the law would pass.
