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What property tax will you pay in Albania in 2026?
Three taxes and one deadline. Housing is taxed at 0.05% of fiscal value a year, roughly 3,600 to 10,200 lek for a 90 square metre Tirana flat. Selling costs 15% capital gains, and short-term rental income has been taxed at 15% since January 2026. Until 31 December 2026 you can revalue at 5% instead.
Under Law 85/2025 and Udhëzimi 5/2026, between 1 January and 31 December 2026 any owner can revalue a property to its market value and pay 5% on the increase. Do nothing, sell later, and the same gain is taxed at the 15% capital-gains rate. Apartments get a further 1% per year of ownership knocked off. The application goes to ASHK by 31.12.2026 and the payment follows by 31.03.2027.
If you expect to sell in the next few years, the arithmetic is not close. If you have no intention of selling, revaluing raises your fiscal base and therefore your annual tax, so it is not free.
Housing is taxed at 0.05% of fiscal value, which is the zone reference price times the area. Commercial is 0.2%. An unfinished building whose permit has expired pays 30% of the rate, and the municipality can move any of it by ±30%.
For a 90 m² apartment in Tirana that lands somewhere around 3,600–10,200 lek a year depending on the zone. Not a number that changes an investment case.
A Ministry of Finance draft went to public consultation until 15.07.2026. It has not been enacted, the rates below are from the draft text, and they can move. Treat this section as a forecast.
The base shifts from fiscal value to approximate market value, using ASHK maps under a "fiscal cadastre". Proposed municipal corridors are 0.1–0.2% for housing, 0.15–0.25% for commercial, 0.05–0.15% for agricultural and 0.075–0.175% for truall.
One line in the draft matters more than the rates for anyone reading this as an investor: apartments used for short-term rental are classified as economic activity and land in the 0.15–0.25% band. If you are buying to put a flat on Airbnb, that is your bracket, not the housing one.
First-home relief is a 50% deduction with municipal thresholds — 8.4 million lek in Tirana, 4.75 million in Durrës, Vlora, Saranda and Himara, tapering to 0.75 million elsewhere. A second home gets no deduction, which is where multi-owners see the increase.
Payment splits in two, on 30 June and 30 September. Debtors get ASHK and QKB services blocked, and the cadastre will not register a transaction without proof of payment. Four and five-star hotels under an international brand are exempt for ten years, as is social housing and single pensioners.
The part that gets misreported: the market-value base starts in 2029 for buildings and 2031 for land. Until then you pay the current 0.05% and 0.2%.
Capital gains is 15% on the difference between sale and purchase, and the sale price used for tax is the higher of what you actually got and the zone reference. Reference depreciation runs 1% per year up to 30%. The tax is withheld before registration, and non-residents are treated identically.
Long-term rental income is a flat 15%.
Short-term rental changed on 01.01.2026. You no longer need a NIPT; you declare through DIVA by 31 March; you pay 15% on the amount after the platform's commission, and expenses are not deductible. The rules are the same for residents and non-residents, and the tax authority receives data directly from Airbnb and Booking. A non-resident needs an Albanian tax ID to file, which usually means a representative. What that actually earns you, city by city, is a separate question.
Albania has around 46 double-taxation treaties, including Italy, Germany, Poland and Kosovo. Rental income and capital gains are taxed in Albania under articles 6 and 13; your country of residence gives the credit.
You will read that new builds carry 20% VAT. Historically a developer selling apartments is an exempt supply, with VAT sitting in the cost rather than being charged separately, and the introduction of VAT on first sale was part of a 2022–2026 strategy that has not been confirmed in full. We are not going to tell you which applies to your contract. Get it written into the contract in the Albanian formulation: me TVSH apo pa TVSH.