Registering a foreign employee for tax and social security in Albania

A foreign employee is declared on form E-SIG 027 at least 1 calendar day before work starts, according to the General Directorate of Taxation. Wages and contributions are then reported on form E-SIG 025/a by the 20th of the following month. Failing to declare an employee carries a fine of 500,000 lekë per case.

The two forms that carry the whole procedure

The General Directorate of Taxation, known as DPT, administers the declaration of the employment relationship and of contributions, while the collection of contributions is governed by Instruction no. 26 of 16 April 2009 issued by the Social Insurance Institute. For the employer in practice, it all comes down to two forms.

Form E-SIG 027 is the change of status declaration: it declares a new hire, and the same form declares a departure. The entry deadline is strict, and it is the one most often breached. The declaration must be filed at least 1 calendar day before the date the employee starts work, under DPT rules. For a departure the deadline is no later than 10 days from the date of leaving.

Form E-SIG 025/a is the monthly payroll return. It reports social and health insurance contributions together with the tax on employment income, governed by law no. 29/2023 on income tax. The filing and payment deadline is the 20th of the following month.

There is no separate form for an employee holding foreign citizenship. He is declared on the same two forms as anyone else, but only once he holds the permit that allows the work, a procedure described in the single permit employer procedure.

Deadlines and the cost of getting it wrong

The calendar of a new hire closes inside two months and holds four fixed dates.

The fine for failing to declare an employee is 500,000 lekë per case, according to DPT. The words "per case" are what make the figure heavy: five undeclared workers found in a single check do not produce one fine of 500,000 lekë but five of them.

The minimum base of 50,000 lekë per month under the 2026 rules has a practical consequence that rarely makes it into the offer. Even where the parties agree a lower gross wage, or where the employee works part time, contributions are calculated on at least that base. The employer's monthly cost therefore does not fall below a floor, and that floor belongs inside the budget set out in the cost and timeline of hiring a foreign worker.

Where the order of steps breaks

The most frequent error is not a forgotten form but the wrong order between permit and declaration.

The employer brings the worker in, puts him on the line on day one and files E-SIG 027 the next morning, assuming a single day makes no difference. It does: the deadline is before work starts, not within the first week, so on day one the worker was undeclared. If an inspection lands that day, the employer faces the inspector's sanction and the tax fine at the same time, as described in labour inspection of foreign workers.

The second error is the undeclared departure. The employee ends the relationship, the employer drops him from payroll but never files E-SIG 027 for the exit within 10 days. The register still shows him as employed while the payroll no longer carries him, and that mismatch between two systems is precisely what draws a check.

The third error hits cross border hires. The contract start date is written to the arrival plan, then the flight moves by three days and nobody corrects E-SIG 027. The declaration keeps a date that no longer matches the working time register. How that file is assembled before arrival is described on the employers page.

The rule that holds all of it together is plain: no employee enters the premises before E-SIG 027 has been filed, and no month closes without E-SIG 025/a filed by the 20th. Two dates, two forms, and the tax check passes with nothing to record.