Albanian payroll in 2026: the listëpagesa, DPT and the 20th-of-the-month deadline

Albanian payroll is built around a single monthly return. The employer pays salaries at the end of the month, then reports every employee’s gross pay, withheld income tax and both sides of the social and health contributions on the listëpagesa (monthly payroll list), filed through the e-filing system of the General Directorate of Taxes (DPT). Tax and contributions are paid in the same step, and both must reach DPT on or before the 20th day of the month that follows payday.

That design makes the DPT the only collector a private employer deals with each month. Pensions and sickness or maternity money come from ISSH, the Social Insurance Institute, and health cover from FSDKSH, the health insurance fund; an employer files nothing directly with either. Their entitlements are built from the data on the listëpagesa, which is why an error on it can surface years later in someone’s pension record.

Sole traders and self-employed people who employ staff file quarterly, by the 20th after each quarter. Companies and other entities file monthly. The rest of this article describes the monthly cycle.

A practical consequence is that one well-kept spreadsheet, or one payroll system, can hold everything Albanian payroll needs. The return, the payment and the payslips are the three records that matter, and keeping all three for every month makes any later query from DPT or ISSH quick to answer.

Four percentages and two limits drive every Albanian payslip in 2026. For social insurance the split is 15% employer, 9.5% employee; for health insurance it is 1.7% on each side. Both are charged on gross pay, with a floor of ALL 50,000 a month, and social insurance stops at a monthly ceiling of ALL 186,416 while health insurance has no ceiling.

• Employer social insurance: 15%, capped at ALL 27,962.40 a month.
• Employee social insurance: 9.5%, capped at ALL 17,709.52 a month.
• Employer and employee health insurance: 1.7% each, on the whole gross salary.
• Floor for both: ALL 50,000 (raised from ALL 40,000 on 1 January 2026).
• Ceiling for social insurance: ALL 186,416 (up from ALL 176,416).

Income tax is then worked out on gross pay, not on pay after contributions. Payroll software needs four rows for 2026. Up to ALL 50,000: zero. From ALL 50,001 to 60,000: 13% applied to gross minus ALL 35,000. From ALL 60,001 to 200,000: 13% applied to gross minus ALL 30,000. Over ALL 200,000: a fixed ALL 22,100, then 23% on whatever exceeds ALL 200,000. These monthly bands are the annual scheme of Law 29/2023 spread over twelve months, which is why the two approaches give identical results over a full year.

One quirk catches out payroll software set up abroad. Cross ALL 600,000 of annual pay, the equivalent of ALL 50,000 a month, and the deduction allowed shrinks to ALL 420,000, producing a sudden jump in tax at that point. A salary of ALL 50,000 pays no tax; one of ALL 50,001 pays about ALL 1,950. The full scheme is set out in our income tax explainer.

Take an employee on ALL 80,000 gross a month, a typical salary for an experienced administrator or junior analyst. The 2026 payslip shows these deductions:

• Social insurance, employee share 9.5%: ALL 7,600.
• Health insurance, employee share 1.7%: ALL 1,360.
• Income tax, 13% of (80,000 minus 30,000): ALL 6,500.
• Net pay transferred to the employee: ALL 64,540.

Above that ALL 80,000 sits the employer’s own share, worth ALL 13,360 in total: 12,000 for social and 1,360 for health insurance. The total monthly cost is therefore ALL 93,360, about €1,015. On the listëpagesa all five amounts appear against the employee’s name, and the payment to DPT covers the ALL 15,460 withheld from the employee plus the ALL 13,360 employer share: ALL 28,820 in all.

At higher salaries the cap changes the arithmetic. Pay someone ALL 200,000 a month and the employer’s social insurance tops out at ALL 27,962.40, which brings the overall uplift down to 15.68%. The yearly figures for that example are in our breakdown of what an Albanian employee costs.

Albanian payroll has three fixed points each month: payday at month end, the listëpagesa with its payment on or before the 20th, and the declaration of any new hire before the first day. Everything else, from overtime approval to expense claims, is scheduled around them.

Article 116 of the Labour Code sets payment at the end of each month for monthly salaries. Under Article 118 the money must travel by bank, normally in lek, and Articles 118 and 119 oblige the employer to hand over a payslip with it. Miss payday and Article 120 starts charging interest, no less than 10% a year, so a missed transfer costs money as well as goodwill.

Public holidays need a look each month. The 2026 calendar carried 15 official holidays, and those landing on a rest day were replaced by the next working day. Holiday working earns a 25% premium as a minimum and the same number of hours back as paid rest. Rotas for March (three holiday dates in 2026) and the end of November (three inside eight days) should therefore reach payroll before the month closes.

• Before any start date: declare the new employee electronically to DPT, by the day before work begins.
• During the month: record hours, overtime, night and holiday work, absences and expense claims.
• Month end: pay net salaries by bank transfer and issue payslips.
• No later than the 20th: file last month’s listëpagesa on e-filing and pay tax and contributions together.
• After a leaver’s last day: send DPT the leaver declaration.

The DPT publishes guidance and the e-filing portal on tatime.gov.al. Employers using an outside payroll service should still be able to see each month’s filing confirmation, since the obligation sits with whoever is the employer. Ask for the DPT receipt as a matter of routine, the same way you would ask for a bank statement.

Bonuses and commissions join the gross pay of whichever month they are paid in, and are taxed there. There is no separate bonus rate, so a large December payment can push the month into the 23% band even when the regular salary sits well inside the 13% band.

An example from the 2026 rules: a ALL 100,000 year-end bonus lifts an ALL 80,000 earner’s December gross to ALL 180,000, and that month’s tax rises from the usual ALL 6,500 to ALL 19,500. Contributions are calculated on the same enlarged base, subject to the social insurance cap. Employees should be warned in advance that the net amount of a bonus will look smaller than they expect.

Sick pay runs through payroll for the first fortnight only. Certified sick days one to fourteen cost the employer four-fifths of salary or more, reported on the listëpagesa in the usual way. From day 15 the Social Insurance Institute pays sickness benefit instead, so the payslip for a long absence shows a gap rather than a reduced salary. Rates for the ISSH stage are in our sick pay article.

Statutory premiums also flow through payroll. The floor for overtime is a 25% uplift, doubling to 50% on a holiday or the weekly rest day. Hours worked from 19:00 to 22:00 carry 20% or more, and anything from 22:00 to 06:00 a minimum of half as much again. Benefits in kind, such as a car or accommodation, may not exceed 20% of monthly pay under Article 118(2).

Most Albanian payroll work is monthly, but a few items come round once a year. The employer handles optional deductions that employees claim through payroll: ALL 48,000 a year for each dependent child under 18, claimed by one parent only, and education costs for dependent children of up to ALL 100,000 a year where the parent’s annual income does not exceed ALL 1,200,000.

Some employees also file their own annual return, known as DIVA. Someone who worked for two or more employers in the year, for example, must file one and pay DPT any shortfall themselves. An employer should give such employees a clear statement of income and tax withheld so they can complete it.

Corrections are easier when caught early. If a salary or a deduction was wrong, fix it in the following month’s listëpagesa with a note on the payslip explaining the adjustment, rather than leaving it until the year end. Errors in contributions affect the employee’s ISSH record, so they matter to the employee as much as to the tax authority.

The last payslip of a leaver carries more than salary. Annual leave cannot be paid out during employment, but untaken days are paid on termination. A dismissal after three or more years also brings seniority pay onto that last slip, 15 days’ wages or more per completed year, and unworked notice is paid out too. After the last day, DPT receives a leaver declaration. The final listëpagesa for that person should show every one of these amounts.

Filing the listëpagesa yourself requires an employer set up with DPT, and for most foreign businesses that means forming an SHPK first. Otherwise, an employer of record can step in: it puts your hire on its own Albanian payroll, files and pays each month, and sends you a single invoice for salary, contributions and its fee.

With Employer of Record Albania our fee begins at €599 monthly per employee and is invoiced apart from the salary and statutory costs it sits next to. You approve the variable items each month, such as bonuses, overtime and expenses, and receive copies of the payslips. Our plain-English guide to the EOR model in Albania explains the division of tasks, and the onboarding timeline shows how the first payroll month is reached.

Q01What is the listëpagesa?+

A.The monthly payroll list each Albanian employer files with DPT. It shows every employee’s gross pay, income tax withheld and the employee and employer contributions for social and health insurance.

Q02By which date must Albanian payroll taxes be paid?+

A.Payment goes with the listëpagesa, and the cut-off is the 20th: March salaries, for instance, are settled with DPT by 20 April. Sole traders with staff file quarterly.

Q03Is income tax calculated after contributions in Albania?+

A.No. Income tax is worked out on gross pay. Employee contributions are deducted from the salary but do not reduce the tax base.

Q04Can salaries be paid in cash?+

A.No. Cash wages are ruled out: Article 118 sends all pay through a bank, in lek by default, and a payslip must go with every payment.

Q05How is a December bonus taxed?+

A.It is added to December’s gross and taxed through the monthly table. On a ALL 80,000 salary, a ALL 100,000 bonus raises that month’s income tax from ALL 6,500 to ALL 19,500.