Company Formation Costs in Albania: Registration and First-Year Expenses

The cost of forming a company in Albania is not the same as the cost of having a business ready to operate. Registration is one step. Documents, banking, invoicing, accounting and the first year’s obligations require a separate budget.

For an ordinary Albanian limited liability company — a shoqëri me përgjegjësi të kufizuar, or sh.p.k. — the public registration charge and minimum share capital are modest. The meaningful comparison between formation proposals is therefore the work included, the recurring expenses and the funding needed before the business receives its first revenue.

This guide focuses on foreign-owned sh.p.k. companies. It distinguishes published charges from costs that require a quotation, and explains how to prepare a first-year budget without treating a registration certificate as a complete business setup.

1. The official amounts: what they cover

Use the following figures as individual budget lines. They should not be added together and advertised as the total cost of starting a company: some are conditional, while many commercial expenses fall outside them.

Amounts are stated in Albanian lek (ALL). A euro, sterling or US-dollar budget should use the actual conversion rate and bank charges when payments are made.

Does another legal form change the budget?

Yes. A joint-stock company (sh.a.) has a minimum capital of ALL 3.5 million for a private offering or ALL 10 million for a public offering, with different funding and governance requirements. These are not incorporation fees. A branch of a foreign company involves a different documentary and liability framework. Choose the structure for the operation and its risks before comparing prices. [2, Articles 107–113]

2. The work behind the registration

Legal preparation and filing

A formation engagement should identify who prepares the constitutional documents, appoints the administrator, records the ownership structure, submits the application and deals with any request for correction. For more than one founder, decisions on management authority, reserved matters, funding and transfers deserve attention before the documents are signed.

Notarisation is not a universal requirement for every ordinary sh.p.k. founding act and statute. The registration law provides alternative methods of formation and filing. Notarial work may nevertheless be required for a power of attorney, certification or a particular transaction. A quote should identify the actual act and its formalities, rather than include an unexplained standard “notary cost”. [3, Articles 27–28]

Decision No. 796/2026 also provides for electronic completion and signing of the founding act, including standard formats. The affected procedures depend on QKB system improvements, so confirm the procedure and signature requirements actually available when filing. [16, Part I(2)(a) and Part IV]

Foreign documents and authorisation

A foreign corporate shareholder usually creates a larger document package than an individual founder. QKB’s published checklist includes the foreign company’s constitutional and registration documents, evidence of current status and the relevant corporate decision. Its current-status document must be issued within 90 days before the application. [4]

Foreign documents may require apostille or consular legalisation and certified Albanian translation, subject to the applicable international agreements. Confirm the correct form before obtaining certifications. Translation volume, the country of issue, the number of ownership layers and any courier arrangements affect both price and preparation time. A passport alone should not be presented as the complete incorporation file. [3, Articles 27 and 29]

Beneficial ownership

Beneficial-owner information belongs in the formation workstream. For reporting entities registered in the commercial register, the law provides for initial beneficial-owner registration together with the application for registration of the legal entity. Mapping an international ownership chain and obtaining supporting evidence can add work even where the public electronic filing itself is free. [6, Articles 5–6]

Before accepting a fee, establish whether it covers the commercial register and beneficial-owner filing, corrections, delivery of the final records and the handover to the accountant.

3. The expenses that continue after formation

The first year should be planned around the operating model: an owner-managed consultancy, a trading company with stock and a subsidiary with employees have materially different needs.

Relevant frameworks: accounting legislation, fiscalisation guidance, bank documentation and pricing and municipal information. The checklist is a budgeting tool, not a statement that every item applies to every business.

Banking is a separate approval process

Registration does not guarantee that a bank will accept the company, open the account remotely or complete its review within a fixed number of days. The bank determines the identification, ownership and business information it requires. Its online application may also have eligibility restrictions or require a branch visit to activate the account. [13]

Allow time for that process and make banking preparation part of the engagement scope. A delay can create additional rent, travel or professional costs, even when no extra registry fee is payable.

Annual work can fall after the first twelve months

Bookkeeping and preparation of annual financial statements are distinct from the tax payable. Filing duties must be assessed under the accounting, tax and registration rules applicable to the company. Budget for the first accounting close even if its invoice or filing date falls after the initial twelve-month operating period. [7]

A company with no sales should not simply stop maintaining records or submitting required declarations. Formal suspension is a separate process; the relevant reporting obligations should be checked before ongoing services are cancelled. [9]

4. Taxes: separate the rate from the compliance cost

Albania’s standard corporate income tax rate is 15%. Article 69(1)(dh) of Law No. 29/2023 provides a 0% rate through 31 December 2029 for qualifying taxpayers with annual gross income of up to ALL 14 million. The threshold concerns gross income, not profit. Special regimes and the company’s actual circumstances must still be considered. [8]

Dividends are generally subject to an 8% domestic rate, with the applicable treatment depending on the recipient, exemptions and any relevant treaty. That figure is not a complete statement of the owner’s worldwide tax burden. A foreign owner may also have obligations in their country of residence, and cross-border management or payments require separate analysis. [8]

VAT is a separate test. For 2026, the general registration threshold is ALL 10 million, and the standard VAT rate is 20%. Exceptions and transaction-specific rules can apply, so a company should not treat the threshold as its only VAT question. A business benefiting from 0% corporate income tax can still have VAT obligations. [9] [11]

When comparing quotations, establish whether VAT is included. VAT paid to suppliers is not automatically recoverable: recovery depends on registration, the purchase and the applicable deduction conditions. Until recoverability and timing are confirmed, the cash-flow budget should allow for the amount actually payable. [11]

For the wider reporting framework, see our guide to accounting in Albania.

5. What one employee adds to the budget

For an ordinary employee within the applicable contribution base, the employer’s contributions comprise 15% social insurance and 1.7% health insurance, in addition to gross pay. Social insurance has a ceiling; health insurance does not share that ceiling. Special categories require their own calculation. [12]

For 2026, the national monthly minimum wage is ALL 50,000 and the maximum monthly social-insurance contribution base is ALL 186,416. Check the rules for the period actually budgeted, particularly when the first year crosses into 2027. [15]

An owner-managed company should also assess the administrator’s remuneration and contribution position. Having no external employees does not, by itself, establish that there will be no payroll or social-insurance obligations. See our first-employee guide.

6. Build a budget that can be compared

Ask each provider to price the same scope. A practical first-year calculation is:

Keep expenses and funding separate. Share capital and shareholder loans are ways of financing the company; a refundable rent deposit is not the same as rent expense. Recoverable VAT also differs from an irrecoverable cost. Recording them separately prevents double-counting while still showing the cash required.

Three questions that change the estimate

• Who owns the company? An individual founder and a foreign corporate group require different documentary work.
• What will it do? A service business, an importer and a licensed operation have different systems and obligations.
• Who will work in Albania? Employees, an active owner-manager and relocating family members create different employment and immigration needs.

Residence and work-permit services should be priced separately where needed. Ownership of an Albanian company should not be treated as automatic permission to reside or work in the country.

There is no single official all-in formation price. Professional fees, rent, accounting and software are commercial charges. They should be confirmed in writing for the proposed activity and ownership structure rather than presented as a universal market price.

7. Allow for the first year’s changing requirements

A company formed in late 2026 will operate into 2027. Decision No. 796 of 21 October 2026 was published in Official Gazette No. 227 on 23 October 2026. It introduces changes to activity-code certification, reporting and business-location data. Specified chapters take effect on 1 January 2027 and apply after the technical and interinstitutional conditions are met; affected procedures also depend on improvements to QKB’s system. They should not all be treated as obligations already operating on the review date. [16, Parts II–IV]

For budgeting purposes, ask who will monitor implementation and handle any additional filing or certification work. Do not insert an assumed new state fee without a verified tariff. Check the operational notices when the company is formed, alongside the lower VAT threshold described above. Our company-registration alert provides further context on the registration changes.

8. What a useful formation quotation should say

• The legal form, founders, activity and assumptions on which the fee is based.
• Exactly which formation documents and register filings are included.
• Who pays for translation, apostille, notarial work and courier services.
• Whether banking support means document preparation, assistance with the application or something more — without promising the bank’s decision.
• Whether the registered address, fiscalisation, accounting and first year-end close are included.
• The monthly or annual recurring charges, the applicable VAT treatment and payment schedule.
• The work excluded, and how additional instructions or changes will be charged.

A well-defined fixed fee can be appropriate. Its value lies in the clarity of the scope, not in whether it is described as a “package”. The right comparison is between the same deliverables and responsibilities.

Common questions