How can We Measure the VAT Fraud and Evasion? Case of Albania

Abstract

Taxation is one of the most important fiscal instruments which in many case is used to recover the economy performance of a country. It is the main budget revenue and its role in decreasing budget deficit is undisputed. The intensity of the instrument efficiency is depended although by the level of tax evasion in the country. At this point, knowing the level of tax evasion from one side is one of the most important topics that fiscal policy could work and from the other side improving the tax administration system is a purpose for public financial stability. The focus of the paper will be only on the value added tax (VAT) as the main tax revenue component in Albania with about 37 percent of total tax revenue. In the absence of a comprehensive analysis between VAT that should have been paid by all taxpayers and real VAT collected, the divergence between them could be considered as VAT evasion, or known as VAT gap, which will be our objective measurement. Calculations will be based on the data from the national accounts (Supply-Use Tables), more concretely on the use side of the economy. All the variables of final demand are treated at a very detailed level specifying the VAT ratio by product and the threshold level for each component of final use. Estimations are done for year 2011 as the latest year where the Supply Use Tables are available for Albania.