VAT on new-build property in Albania?

Developer prices and private resales are different cash, even when the headlines sit a few hundred euro apart. VAT on a new build is generally 20% when the seller is a registered developer. A resale between private individuals is often outside VAT. Ask whether the contract figure includes that 20% before you reserve.

Topics

• Show the tourism certificate
• Say included or say plus
• Two prices, one seafront
• Resales between private people
• Which tax are they naming?
• Completion costs stay separate
• Invoice name must match title
• Compare the cash you send
• Wrapping up

Show the tourism certificate

A 6% rate is talked about for tourist accommodation, and it depends on a Ministry of Tourism accommodation certificate on the property. Without that certificate, the rate on a taxable supply is 20%. A brochure that prints 6% beside a pool has not shown you the paper for this unit.

Ask first.

Do not model the purchase itself at 6% because guests might stay there. On an illustration of EUR 120,000 net, 20% is EUR 24,000 and 6% is EUR 7,200. The gap is EUR 16,800, larger than a year of ordinary holding costs. Income tax on a later sale, the building tax, and tax on rent are a different map, in property taxes in Albania.

Is that 6% on the certificate, or only on the brochure?

Say included or say plus

Ask for one sentence. The price is a stated euro figure inclusive of VAT at 20%, or it is that figure plus VAT at 20%. "VAT as applicable" is not a number. Put the inclusive total on the reservation too, so the reservation and the deed use the same convention.

Get it in writing.

If you pay 30% now and the rest at handover, as an illustration, each tranche is a share of the VAT-inclusive price, or each tranche is net and VAT is invoiced on top. Mixing the two double-counts or underpays. The invoice should name the developer, the VAT number, and the unit. A receipt that only says "reservation" is not evidence that VAT was dealt with.

Store the invoice.

A parking space at EUR 15,000 can become EUR 18,000 once 20% is added, and the same question applies to a kitchen billed as a separate supply. One inclusive number is what you compare with a private resale that already has the kitchen and the parking in the deed, with no VAT on top.

Two prices, one seafront

A private resale and a developer flat can sit on the same seafront with headlines a few hundred euro apart, while the cash still differs by about a fifth, because one figure often includes VAT and the other often does not. Until the contract says included or excluded, you are comparing labels.

Assume 20% when a developer's draft is silent, then confirm it in the draft. Silence is not a discount. EUR 2,000 per square metre excluding VAT is EUR 2,400 including 20%. On a 60 square metre illustration, EUR 120,000 excluding VAT becomes EUR 144,000 including it. The EUR 24,000 is part of the wire if the contract adds it. It is not a notary fee.

Read that clause.

Resales between private people

A sale from one private person to another is often outside VAT. You do not add 20% because the building was new five years ago. The first sale from the developer may have carried VAT. The second is usually the seller's capital gains position, not a VAT invoice to you. If the seller is a company, or is trading as a developer in substance, the answer can change. The kartela and the seller's status decide it. The age of the building does not, by itself.

A resale at EUR 2,200 per square metre with no VAT is EUR 2,200. A developer price at EUR 1,900 plus 20% is EUR 2,280. The resale wins on cash before you discuss condition. It can still lose on condition. Run the cash first.

We rank the cash that leaves, not the poster. Tirana, Vlora, and Durres share the rate. They do not share the asking prices.

Which tax are they naming?

Buyers do not pay a 2% transfer tax on either deal. The seller typically pays 15% capital gains tax on the gain. VAT is not that 15%, and the 15% is not VAT. If someone asks you to "cover tax," make them name it. VAT belongs in the inclusive price. The seller's tax on a gain stays the seller's unless you agree in writing to lift the price. A lift is a higher price. It is not a second VAT.

Which tax is named in the draft?

If a seller offers to drop the price by "removing VAT," ask what legal change takes the supply outside VAT. A deleted line, with the same developer and the same new build, is not a saving. It is an invoice you may have to correct later.

Completion costs stay separate

The 20% is part of the developer's price. Completion costs are extra, often around 4-7% including your lawyer. The notary tariff is roughly 0.23-0.35% of value. ASHK registration is about 3,500 ALL. The filing is about 4,000 ALL. Ask which value the tariff uses when the contract shows a net amount and a VAT amount, before you add 4-7% to the wrong base and add VAT again. The detail is in the cost of buying.

Count the lines.

On an illustration only: net price EUR 120,000, VAT at 20% is EUR 24,000, cash price EUR 144,000. A 4% completion illustration on EUR 144,000 is EUR 5,760. A 7% illustration is EUR 10,080. The ASHK fee and the filing, about 7,500 ALL together, sit inside that planning range as small lek amounts. Fit-out is still extra on a shell. None of this is the seller's 15%, and none of it is the annual building tax. A single percentage that adds 20, 15, 4, and 2 is not a calculation.

The Bank of Albania reference rate turns a lek fee into euro. It does not change the VAT rate. The wider map is on taxes.

Invoice name must match title

On an off-plan purchase the VAT-inclusive total should equal the milestones, not appear as a surprise on the last one. Delay, specification changes, weak milestones, and incomplete permits are still the delivery risks. VAT does not insure them. Paying 20% on a phase with no permit is still paying for a phase with no permit. Read off-plan property in Albania for what belongs in that contract.

The kartela is the register. A PDF that mentions VAT is not proof of the seller's VAT position, and it is not proof of title. Match the legal name on the invoice to the owner on the extract.

Check the name.

A private resale in the same block needs the seller's acquisition papers and a kartela in that name. Your lawyer draws the line between a private transfer and a sale conducted as a business. You insist the contract state it in money.

Agricultural land, forest, and pasture are not a direct purchase for a foreign individual. VAT planning does not remove that limit.

Compare the cash you send

Put every offer on one row: seller type, net price, VAT rate, VAT amount, inclusive price, parking, kitchen, and whether the 4-7% is calculated on the inclusive figure. Vatreja Q3 2026 listings near EUR 1,900 per square metre in Tirana and about EUR 2,084 in Vlora are asking prices, not VAT advice. A listing can be silent on VAT and still be the number an agent repeats.

Browse projects and build the inclusive price before you rank a developer against a resale. The lower poster can be the larger transfer.

Foreign buyers rarely fund either price with a local mortgage unless they have residency and local income a bank will accept. VAT follows the contract whether you pay from savings or from a loan at home. Why that local loan is rare is in mortgages for foreigners.

Wrapping up

Compare inclusive cash, not the poster, and keep the invoice with the deed. We do not decide whether your price includes VAT, and we are not your notary. Use the appointment page if you want a local partner to read the draft, then put the rest of the map beside it in property taxes in Albania.