Salary is deductible but carries contributions; dividends are taxed at a flat 8% on already-taxed profit. How the balance shifts across different revenue profiles.
- Hard turnover cliff at ALL 14 million
- Reporting consistency
- Should an owner-director take salary or dividends?
Operating in Albania combines one of Europe's most accessible entity formation thresholds with a turnover-monitoring discipline that companies near the ALL 14 million exemption ceiling must treat as an ongoing, not annual, compliance task.
The 0% turnover exemption is the single most consequential planning variable for small and growing businesses in Albania, precisely because it is a cliff rather than a graduated benefit. Companies approaching the ALL 14 million threshold should model the tax impact of crossing it well before year-end, not discover the consequence only when filing the annual return.
What a company pays in Albania. Every figure below is published on the Albania country page.
| Albania | |
|---|---|
| Employer social security | 16.7% of gross salary (15% pension + 1.7% health) — base between ALL 50,000 and ALL 186,416/month (2026) |
| Dividend tax | 8% |
| Minimum wage | ALL 50,000/month gross (~€430), effective January 2026 |
| Annual accounts filing | Annual financial statements filed with the National Business Center by 31 March following year-end |
| Statutory audit | Statutory audit required for joint-stock companies (Sha) and large entities per National Accounting Standards thresholds — smaller Shpk entities are generally exempt |
What makes it complex in Albania
- Hard turnover cliff at ALL 14 million — — crossing it by any amount applies 15% CIT to the entire year's net profit, with no graduated transition.
- Reporting consistency — between Albanian statutory accounts and group-level requirements.
Should an owner-director take salary or dividends?
Salary paid to an owner-director is a deductible business expense, reducing net profit, but is subject to personal income tax and social contributions. Dividends are taxed at a flat 8% after corporate tax has already been paid. The optimal split depends on the company's specific revenue and cost structure and should be modelled individually.
Hard turnover cliff at ALL 14 million is one of the points HTLC Network handles for clients operating in Albania, within a single engagement that covers every other country they operate in — executed locally, governed centrally.
In Albania the scope is: Statutory accounts under IFRS, VAT returns, and corporate tax filings aligned with Albanian standards, including continuous turnover monitoring against the CIT exemption threshold.
See Accounting & Tax Compliance in Albania for the full scope, or the Albania country page for the statutory framework across every service.
Figures as published on the HTLC Network country pages, reviewed September 2026 and collected from public sources. They are not a substitute for advice on a specific case and should be verified before being relied on.