‘Legaformalesty’ – A Different Approach for a New Amnesty in Albania

Governments have periodically turned to tax amnesties, as a mechanism used in the frame of their fiscal programs, or partly to activate more capital in the national economy and establishing the fiscal rule to a new higher level. As a non-traditional instrument, it can be used to smooth out inconsistencies, arising from the existence of a tight tax regulatory framework, in an economic environment that experiences highly dynamic changes, within a short period of time. The implementation of the fiscal amnesty is not mainly related more to a country’s stage of economic development, or to the level and professional competence of the bodies collecting fiscal obligations, than to the practical objective that is required to be achieved.In Albania, various governments have made several efforts, back in 2011 and 2017, to implement the fiscal amnesty but, unfortunately, they were partial and failed to meet their initial goals and objectives. This is because they were not comprehensive and, above, all did not contain the key element, that of legal amnesty and secrecy.For an amnesty to be successful in Albania, it is proposed that, along standard elements of tax amnesty, it must also consider the legalization of all real assets built without permission, or illegal ones, as well as the formalization of various business activities, combined with the legal amnesty. Combining these elements would create an advantageous synergy, in terms of maximizing the expected economic effect, thus using amnesty not just as a classic instrument of collecting some more budget revenues and increasing fiscal discipline in the future, but as a lever that produces an efficient moment for the country’s economic development