You must file the annual DIVA return for 2026 if at least one of three conditions applies to you: more than ALL 1,200,000 of gross income from all sources, more than one employer, or more than ALL 50,000 of income on which nobody withheld tax. The deadline to file and pay is 31 March 2027. If none applies, you are not required to file, but you may still choose to, for example to claim the child allowance.
Check whether you have to file
Answer for your 2026 income. The tool follows Instruction no. 26/2023 and the tax office's own orientation test. It does not replace a check of your full records.
Do you have to file DIVA for 2026?
Answer for your income from 1 January to 31 December 2026.
Answer every question. The untaxed amount cannot be larger than the total.
An orientation tool based on point 67 of Instruction no. 26/2023 and the tax office's test. Business income as a sole trader is declared separately, in the TAPB return.
Your choices stay on this page and reset on reload. They are not sent to Pivot or the tax authority.
Official source: Albanian tax authority, DIVA individual declarationThe three conditions, one by one
Instruction no. 26/2023 of the Ministry of Finance, point 67, says who must file the annual return. Meeting one condition is enough. Law no. 29/2023 adds that when you file, you declare all your income, including income already taxed or exempt.
1. Over ALL 1,200,000 from all sources
Gross income counts, before tax and contributions, and not only salary: rent, interest, dividends, income from abroad. You can see your annual gross salary on e-Albania, in the "Vërtetim page" (salary certificate) service, annual period.
Illustrative example: a gross salary of ALL 95,000 a month is ALL 1,140,000 a year. You also have ALL 80,000 of interest from a deposit. The total is ALL 1,220,000, so you file DIVA, even though the salary alone stays under the threshold.
The instruction says "more than ALL 1,200,000", while the tax office's notice says "ALL 1,200,000 or more". If you are exactly at the threshold, the tax office's test tells you to file.
2. More than one employer
This applies whatever the amount. The tax office describes it as more than one employment within at least one month. The reason is practical: each employer works out the tax as if its salary were your only one. In the tax office's DIVA 2025 Q&A, an employee with two employers in the same month had a combined gross monthly salary of ALL 260,000. Each employer taxed its share at 13%, but salary above ALL 200,000 a month is taxed at 23%. So her DIVA showed tax to pay.
3. Over ALL 50,000 with no tax withheld
This covers income that did not pass through a withholding agent. The instruction gives three cases:
- rent when the tenant is an individual with no NUIS (tax number);
- income from outside Albania, whether or not it was taxed there;
- any other income on which the payer withheld nothing, even when it should have. The tax is still yours to pay; the payer is penalised separately.
In the tax office's Q&A, someone who let a flat for 2 months for ALL 65,000 had to declare the rent in DIVA and pay 15%.
The cases in the table are illustrative, except the pension case, which comes from the tax office.
The official example: salary and rent
Instruction no. 26/2023 gives this example (Example 4, for 2025). We found no change to these rules for 2026.
Foreigners and income from abroad
This depends on tax residence, not citizenship. Under article 8 of the law you are resident if, among other tests, you have a permanent home in Albania, you stay here 183 days or more in the year, or your centre of vital interests is here.
- Residents declare their worldwide income. Tax paid abroad is credited, but not beyond the tax you would pay in Albania on the same income.
- Non-residents are taxed only on Albanian-source income. The tax office's test asks them only about that income.
- Registration: if you have an Albanian identification number from the civil register, you register online on the tax office's website. If not, go to a regional tax directorate.
How to prove residence is covered in Albanian tax residency certificates.
What happens if you do not file
The opposite mistake also costs. In the tax office's Q&A, someone created a return by mistake for a year in which they had no obligation, and the system issued a fine. The tax office answered that the created return must be submitted, and that removing the fine is a matter for the Tax Appeals Directorate.
The return comes prefilled, but check it
Since DIVA 2025, the return comes prefilled with data from payrolls and withholding tax returns. In its notice of 28 April 2026 the tax office says that payers who reported withholding tax inaccurately caused mismatches in DIVA, and asks them to correct their returns.
- If a payment with tax withheld does not show, ask the payer to correct its return with your personal ID.
- If you change values by hand, the "Ruaj" (save) button does not keep them. Changes are kept only when the return is submitted with "Dorëzo" (submit).
- After filing, you can correct DIVA within 6 months, no more than twice (Law no. 79/2025).
The return is now officially called DVAP, the Annual Personal Income Return. You will see both names in e-Filing.
Filing by choice: children and refunds
Even without an obligation, you can file DIVA to claim deductions that are only available there: ALL 48,000 for each dependent child under 18, and children's education costs up to ALL 100,000 if your taxable employment or business income is below ALL 1,200,000. The family member with the highest income claims them. There is a refund only if the return shows tax overpaid; if you paid no tax on your salary, there is nothing to give back.
For a refund, the tax office needs a personal, active bank account in lek, added under "e-Filing Im", "Profili im", "Detajet e bankës". The request is made in "Çështjet e mia" as a "Pyetje e përgjithshme" (general question), with the bank document and, where relevant, the family certificate and education invoices. The full steps are in the tax office's refund guide and its refund orientation form. If you do not ask, the overpayment counts as an advance for the following year.
How Pivot helps
We check which conditions apply to you, compare the prefilled DIVA with your payslips, rents and foreign income, and file before the deadline. If you overpaid, we prepare the refund request with the right documents.
Ask us to prepare your annual return. Related: DIVA documents by tax year and rental income tax.
Official sources and period
- Tax administration: DIVA, individual declaration
- Tax administration: "Find out whether you must declare" test
- Tax administration: Tax Test notice and DIVA 2025 conditions, 12.02.2026
- Tax administration: DIVA 2025 Q&A, 24.02.2026
- Tax administration: changes to annual returns, 28.04.2026
- Tax administration: DIVA refunds for individuals
- Tax administration: refund orientation form
Sources: Instruction no. 26 of 8.9.2023 on income tax, updated up to Instruction no. 9 of 12.3.2026, points 24 (Example 4), 25, 26 and 67; Law no. 29/2023 on income tax, as amended, articles 2, 8, 11, 22, 23 and 61; Law no. 9920/2008 on tax procedures, as amended, articles 39, 67 point 5, 76, 113 and 114; Law no. 79/2025, article 8. Checked on 28 October 2026. Example 4 and the pension, two-employer and ALL 65,000 rent cases are official; the other examples are illustrative.
