Albanian 
Prishtinë, September 20, 2018 – The efforts of the Government of Kosovo in completing the fiscal reforms, as well as the recent fiscal measures during the last few years have been positively assessed by businesses in Kosovo. Since the fiscal environment is one of the crucial factors for businesses and which affect their competitiveness, the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo invites the Ministry of Finance and the Government of Kosovo to further establish new measures, including here the Value Added Tax to be collected within the country as opposed to the border crossing points which has been announced to start from January 1, 2019.
According to the Private Sector Pulse survey on the Stabilization and Association Agreement, conducted by AmCham with over 500 businesses in Kosovo, about 65% of the respondents are satisfied with the fiscal environment. This is in line with the previous requests expressed by businesses in removing this tax for businesses which negatively affected their operations. Also, the issue of collecting VAT within the country as opposed to the border crossing points is recommended as well as from organizations that represent the private sector’s interests in Kosovo.
The positive evaluation on the fiscal system in 2018 marks a remarkable achievement since 4 years ago about 60% of businesses said that they were not satisfied with the fiscal environment, according to a similar research conducted with Kosovar entrepreneurships within the study State of Business in Kosovo.
Meanwhile, businesses have also highly evaluated the reforms made in the business and tax environment based on the performance of the state institutions, thus confirming the effectiveness of private and public sectors’ cooperation and dialogue in Kosovo.
Therefore, the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo reiterates its call in reactivating the Independent Review Board of Appeals for businesses to the Tax Administration of Kosovo and Kosovo Customs, or otherwise to find another solution in offering a mechanism that enables the treatment of disputes. Diversity in administrative procedures is not only a legal right, but it would also further improve the fiscal environment and consequently the environment of doing business in Kosovo.