"Construction and tourism increased employee salaries" - Malaj: Reaction to under-declaration. 77 thousand beneficiaries of reimbursement through DIVA
The state budget has increased revenues in the first three months of the year by 250 million euros compared to January-March 2026. At the monthly press conference, the Minister of Finance, Petrit Malaj, announced that this performance came as a result of good fiscal administration and anti-informality reforms. According to him, due to the reform against underdeclaration of salaries alone, businesses have reacted with an increase of 25% for salaries from 70-100 thousand lek and 26% in the 100-120 thousand lek range.
"During the first quarter of the year, 13,825 more employees were registered compared to the same period in 2025. There was an increase in salary declarations in all sectors of the economy, especially in the 70 thousand-100 thousand lek and 100 thousand-120 thousand lek ranges, where an increase of 25% and 26% was recorded respectively compared to March 2025. In the construction sector, the increase in salary declarations is even more pronounced, reaching 81% in the 70 thousand-100 thousand lek range and 61% in the 100 thousand-120 thousand lek range, compared to the same period last year. In the tourism sector, there is a significant increase in salary declarations, by 34%. The tax on salary has increased in both the private sector, by 17.1% more than in the first quarter of the year 2025, as well as in the public sector, with an increase of 9%.
The Minister also focused on the completion of the Individual Income Tax Declaration, DIVA, where he emphasized that over 164 thousand have been submitted and there are over 77 thousand beneficiaries of the reimbursement scheme.
"164,263 declarations have been submitted, or 25% more than in 2025. 77,077 beneficiaries of the scheme for children under 18. 1.4 billion lek is the total amount generated by the system for reimbursement for individuals with credit excess.
Only 670.2 million lek have been requested so far to be withdrawn as monetary reimbursement.
Regarding VAT compensation in agriculture, the Minister of Finance emphasized that the scheme will start to be applied from July 1, 2026 and the potential amount for compensation in the first quarter of 2026 is 400 million euros.
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