A buyer’s guide for Albania

The Best EOR
Provider in Albania, tested

Choosing the best EOR provider in Albania comes down to whether it can show its working. Ask why the employer’s 16.7% drops to 15.68% on a salary of ALL 200,000 a month. Ask when it files the new-hire declaration (24 hours before day one) and the listëpagesa (by the 20th). Ask it to walk you through the written invitation and hearing that Article 144 of the Labour Code requires before a dismissal. The sections below turn those tests into questions for any provider.

Compare costsOur approachFrom €599 per employee per month; legal on-costs pass through
Albanian contractsper Labour Code
DPT filingslistëpagesa by the 20th
Elira, Customer Success Lead, pictured on a mint card bearing the Albanian flag

What legal duties pass from you to us?

Albanian law puts each duty below on the employer, and we carry all of them for your hire from day one.

  • Declare each new starter to the DPT on e-filing at least 24 hours before work begins
  • Put the Article 21 terms in a written contract, signed within 7 days of the start if not on day one
  • Pay salary monthly through a bank, in lek, with a payslip
  • Withhold income tax at 0%, 13% or 23% under Law 29/2023 and report it each month
  • Pay 16.7% employer and 11.2% employee contributions to the DPT
  • Keep paying 80% or more through the first 14 days of a certified illness
  • Grant at least 22 working days of paid leave, holidays excluded
  • File the leaver declaration and settle final pay
Man with a tablet beside the EOR Albania online portal panel
Your payroll contact

One payroll lead who knows you.

Say an employee hands in a raport mjekësor on payday, or a manager wants to end a contract in probation. You email Arben, our Payroll Manager. He already has the salary, start date and leave balance open, so nothing needs explaining twice.

Arben, Payroll Managerone contact per team
Sales-call kit

What should you ask an Albanian EOR provider?

Eight questions that only a provider running Albanian payroll every month can answer in detail.

Whose risk is a fine?

If the DPT queries a listëpagesa or ISHPSHSH inspects, who replies, and who pays for a fine caused by a filing error?

Payroll precision

Ask for a sample gross-to-net at ALL 250,000 a month. Income tax should come to ALL 33,600; a provider that cannot show the 23% band working is guessing.

Dismissal exposure

How are disputed dismissals handled? An unjustified one can cost up to a year’s pay plus notice, and the employee has 180 days to sue.

Employee data

Where are payslips, contracts and ID copies kept, who can open them, and how quickly is access removed when someone leaves?

Labour Code fluency

Can they explain how 22 working days of leave sit alongside 15 public holidays, and why unused days cannot be paid out while the job continues?

Permit-aware timelines

For a foreign hire, does the timeline include AKPA approval and the unique permit, or only the contract and the DPT declaration?

Predictable cost

Is the fee fixed per head or a share of salary? Does the quote apply the ALL 186,416 social insurance ceiling, or a flat 16.7% on every salary?

Records you can keep

Will you get signed contracts, payslips and each month’s listëpagesa receipt, ready for a labour inspector or a future buyer of your business?

Price check

How providers compare in Albania

Published list prices on 4 October 2026, next to what our fee includes.

Single-country serviceEOR AlbaniaDeelRemoteOysterRemoFirstNative TeamsPapaya Global
Fee per monthfrom €599$599$699$699from $199from $99€650
Hire employed and paid each month✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
Tax and social contributions✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
List price stated in euros✓✕✕✕✕✕✓
Every payslip checked against the DPT table✓––––––
The same payroll manager for every employee you add✓––––––
Leje unike file prepared✓––––––
Article 144 hearing steps run✓––––––
Serves Albania alone✓✕✕✕✕✕✕
Final pay and leaver filing✓––––––

Fees are list prices for an employer of record, taken from the providers’ own websites on 4 October 2026. For a like-for-like view in dollars, our €599 converts to US$672.38 and Papaya Global’s European €650 to about US$729.63, using the European Central Bank’s 2 October 2026 figure of 1.1225 dollars to the euro. That puts our fee above Deel and the starting prices of RemoFirst and Native Teams, which show no Albania rate, and below Remote, Oyster and Papaya Global. Dashes are points those pages leave out.

What a hire includes

What comes with a hire through EOR Albania?

A Labour Code contract ready before the DPT declaration goes in

A lek payslip at each month end, paid by bank

Tax worked out on the 2026 table, bonuses in the month paid

Leave counted in working days, substitute holidays added

One invoice for salary, contributions and our fee

Notice and seniority pay worked out when a contract ends

2026changes already in payroll

Which 2026 rule changes affect payroll?

The national minimum wage went up by 25% on 1 January 2026, from ALL 40,000 to ALL 50,000 a month (VKM 776 of 19 December 2025), and it stays free of income tax. The minimum contribution base moved to ALL 50,000 with it, and the social insurance ceiling went from ALL 176,416 to ALL 186,416, which puts the employer’s maximum social insurance at ALL 27,962.40 a month. In April 2026 VKM 240 introduced a provisional unique permit issued within one working day of applying. In March 2026 a DPT instruction widened the procedure for treating self-employed income as employment income.

Good fits

Which businesses suit EOR Albania best?

01

Companies making a first hire in Albania with no SHPK or NIPT yet

02

Software teams adding developers in Tirana, where ICT pay averaged ALL 131,747 a month in Q1 2026

03

Employers bringing in a non-EU specialist whose leje unike follows the contract

04

Firms testing demand with one or two people before deciding whether to register an SHPK

Comparing providers

What do buyers ask us most?

Whose name is on my hire’s contract?+
We are. The contract is an Albanian one, signed between your hire and us under the Labour Code, and we run payroll, income tax and contributions. Picking the person and setting their work stays with you. The DPT receives the start declaration a day ahead.
How does payroll run each month in Albania?+
Each month you sign off hours, bonuses and leave in the portal. We work out gross to net on the 2026 withholding table, issue the payslip and pay salary into the employee’s bank account in lek at month end. The listëpagesa then goes to the DPT, together with one payment of tax and contributions, no later than the 20th.
Any pension?+
Pension comes through state social insurance. For 2026, social insurance takes 15% (employer) plus 9.5% (employee) of monthly pay up to ALL 186,416, collected by the DPT. The Social Insurance Institute (ISSH) later pays the pension, plus sickness and maternity benefit. Both shares show on each payslip.
Can a fired employee take it to court?+
The employee has 180 days from the end of notice to go to court, and the employer has to prove the reason. A court can award up to one year’s pay plus notice pay for an unjustified dismissal, and 2 months’ pay where the Article 144 steps were skipped. We run those steps with you first, so the file holds the invitation, hearing notes and reasons.
What happens to staff records?+
Contracts, ID copies and payslips sit in the portal, open only to the users you name and our payroll team. We collect what the DPT, ISSH and any permit application need and no more. When someone leaves, their records stay available for inspection and their portal login is closed.
How is our charge set?+
A flat amount per head, from €599 per employee per month, rather than a share of salary. Statutory costs, chiefly the 16.7% employer contribution, are passed on at cost on the same invoice.
Can a contract be changed later?+
Yes, in writing. A pay rise, new duties, different hours or a move to telework is recorded as a contract change. Telework under Article 15 needs agreed terms, and the employer provides and maintains the IT equipment unless the employee uses their own. A fixed-term contract that carries on after it expires becomes open-ended.
Who replies to my emails?+
Your payroll manager, who also runs your monthly pay calculation. Questions from your employees about leave, sick notes or payslips go to Jonida in People Operations, and Elira, our Customer Success Lead, handles contract changes and new hires.

Get a costed plan for your Albanian hire

Send the role and salary; we return the 2026 employer cost, net pay and our fee in lek and euros.

Ask us

Fill in the form and a payroll manager will reply with figures for your role.

Not taking new enquiries just now

Our Albania team is at capacity at the moment, so we have paused new enquiries. Please check back soon.