Elbasan

Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients

Taxed13%–23% progressive on salaries; 0% for registered self-employed up to ALL 14 million gross a year until 2029

Salary from a foreign employer is employment income. The annual allowance is ALL 600,000 if you earn up to that amount, ALL 420,000 between ALL 600,000 and ALL 720,000, and ALL 360,000 above that (Article 22). The rest is taxed at 13% up to a taxable base of ALL 2,040,000 and 23% above it (Article 24). No Albanian payer withholds the tax, so you declare it on the annual return due by 31 March of the following year (Article 61), and the Ministry's instruction confirms a resident working in Albania for a non-resident employer must declare and pay. Work physically done in Albania is Albanian-source income (Article 4), so it can be taxable even before you become resident, unless a tax treaty gives the right to tax to your home country. Tax paid abroad is credited per country, capped at the Albanian tax on the same income (Article 25). Freelancers can register as self-employed through the National Business Centre (QKB) on e-Albania and get a tax number (NIPT). They then pay 0% on gross income up to ALL 14 million a year until 31 December 2029 (see regimes). If 80% or more of your income comes from one client, or 90% from fewer than 3, the tax authority treats it as salary taxed at 13%–23%. That rule does not apply when all your clients are non-residents without an Albanian permanent establishment (Article 12). Self-employed people pay social insurance of 23% of a declared wage of at least the national minimum wage, plus a fixed health contribution of 3.4% of twice the minimum wage (Council of Ministers Decision No 77/2015). Employees on an Albanian payroll pay 9.5% plus 1.7%, and the employer pays 15% plus 1.7%. Whether a nomad paid by a foreign employer with no Albanian presence must contribute is not spelled out; the social insurance law covers foreigners who work in Albania. Whether a holder of the digital-worker permit may also register as self-employed is an immigration question that this profile did not verify.

On the nomad visa

Albania's unique permit for digital mobile workers (Law 79/2021 on Foreigners, Article 68) is a one-year renewable residence permit for people working remotely for a foreign employer or foreign clients. It has no tax rule of its own. Many guides still describe a first-year exemption from Albanian income tax for these workers, but neither the consolidated income tax law (Law 29/2023, as amended up to December 2025) nor the Ministry of Finance's general instruction (as amended up to March 2026) contains one, and Article 68 of the foreigners law says nothing about tax. Holders become resident under the ordinary tests, often within weeks if they rent a home for 6 months or more, and then pay tax on worldwide income. Remote work done while in Albania is Albanian-source income even before that.

Dividends, interest, gains, rent and pensions from abroad

Taxed8% on dividends; 15% on interest, capital gains, rent and crypto

Investment income of residents is taxed at flat rates with no deduction for costs: 8% on dividends and 15% on everything else, including interest, gains on shares and other securities, rent and gains from property, and crypto gains (Law 29/2023, Articles 15 and 24). Foreign tax already paid is credited per country, capped at the Albanian tax on the same income (Article 25). Losses on securities can only offset gains on securities in the same year, and crypto or property losses count as zero (Articles 16–17). Gains on personal movable property are exempt, except cars, aircraft and boats sold within 12 months (Article 15(2)). If you own more than 50% of a foreign company that pays less than half the tax it would pay in Albania, its undistributed passive profits are taxed to you, unless passive income is no more than 30% of its profit (Article 19). Pensions from Albania's own mandatory social insurance are exempt (Article 11). The law and the Ministry's instruction do not say how a foreign state or occupational pension is taxed, so this profile does not state a rate; check the tax treaty with the paying country.

Net wealth and inheritance

No wealth taxInheritance tax applies

Albania has no net wealth tax. It does have a tax on inheritances and gifts inside the income tax law: 15% of the higher of the nominal or market value, with no deduction for costs (Law 29/2023, Article 60). A resident pays it on assets inherited or received anywhere in the world, and a non-resident on assets located in Albania. Transfers between legal heirs of the first and second rank under the Civil Code, and between brothers and sisters, are exempt. Other heirs and recipients are exempt up to ALL 5,000,000 for real estate and ALL 1,000,000 for movable property, and pay 15% above that. Owners of buildings pay an annual local tax of 0.05% of the building's value for homes and 0.2% for buildings used in business (Law 9632 on local taxes, Article 22/2). On a sale, 15% tax on the gain must be paid before the transfer is registered (Law 29/2023, Article 17), and a local transfer tax applies per square metre for buildings and at an indicative 2% of the sale value for other real estate (Law 9632, Article 28).

Tax resident after

183 days a year

Top income tax rate

23%

When you become tax resident

You are an Albanian tax resident if you meet any one of these tests in a tax year (Law 29/2023 on Income Tax, Article 8): you have a stable home in Albania; you stay 183 days or more in the year, counting the days of arrival and departure; you have a shop, professional office or other place where you work in Albania, or your habitual abode is there (unless you keep a permanent home abroad for the whole year and none in Albania); or your centre of vital interests (family, business, investments) is in Albania. The Ministry of Finance's General Instruction No 26 explains that a stable home includes a flat you own or rent for at least 6 months and live in. So a nomad-permit holder who signs a lease of 6 months or more and lives in it can be resident before reaching 183 days, while a tourist who keeps moving and stays under 183 days in the calendar year is usually not. Foreign artists are carved out for 24 months (see regimes). Residents are taxed on income from all sources inside and outside Albania (Article 2).

Top income tax rate

23% on taxable employment income above ALL 2,040,000 a year (Law 29/2023, Article 24). After the ALL 360,000 allowance that applies at that income, it starts at a gross salary of about ALL 2,400,000 a year (ALL 200,000 a month). Tirana and other municipalities levy no local income tax, so the rate is the same across the country. Self-employed net profit is also taxed at 23% above ALL 14,000,000, once the 0% transitional rate no longer applies. Employee social and health contributions of 9.5% and 1.7% come on top, up to the contribution ceiling.