6 ms·

Just a note that working as a remote developer(counted as export) there is no VAT and no profit-tax in Albania until ~$125K/year of revenue. It's 15% if you pas

Just a note that working as a remote developer(counted as export) there is no VAT and no profit-tax in Albania until ~$125K/year of revenue. It's 15% if you pass $125K though (for total profit).

consumer451 5y ago
Honest question I find myself asking these days about new places: are you generally safe flashing some wealth in Albania, as a single foreigner? Like for example nice car, camera, phone, mountain bike.. or best to keep a low profile?
- ddorian43 5y ago
  You'll be fine. It's not a big deal to have $50K+ car.
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    True. I think everyone in Albania drives a second-hand luxury BMW, Audi or Mercedes fixer-upper imported from Germany.
    - InCityDreams 5y ago
      "imported from..." made me laugh, especially as I know a couple of 'importers'. BTW and fwiw, I loved being in Albania, also Macedonia. Bulgaria was cool, and Romania is crazy hilarious.
- aunty_helen 5y ago
  I found Tirana weird given how many flash cars there were. 750i’s and s600’s just driving around like they were doing laps on a Friday night. However, there was also some very nice streets with new bars and restaurants. Like a lot of people had recently been pouring cash into the place which is always a good sign. The people who I met were always super friendly and outgoing too, some of the most friendly I’ve experienced.
- oblio 5y ago
  I'm not super sure about Albania, but in Romania, where I'm from, you'd generally face 2 possible problems: 1. scams as tourist (should be easy to avoid: a) know the exchange rate and the local purchasing power, i.e. think if a local paid $500 per month would buy the thing, b) don't take almost anything offered "for free" unless it's from already trusted persons) 2. theft; not robbery, theft (your stuff might get stolen when you're not around; robbery or outright violence is rare, maybe even rarer than Western Europe, but you know, poor people, expensive stuff, it's going to be tempting)
  - ardit33 5y ago
    Albania doesn’t have either. Scams or thefts are rare. It is a very tourist friendly country as it gets almost 2.5x tourists a year compared to its population. People are very welcoming.
- ardit33 5y ago
  Albania is the safest country in Europe when it comes to robberies https://landgeistdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/europe-robbery-rate.png https://landgeistdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/europe-r... This is surprising to most americans, but the Western EU countries are the least safe when it comes to mugging, stealing, and general crime. Maybe it is family values, or the fact that many people have immigrated to work in the richer countries, countries in the Balkans are really chill and crime free. The only danger is driving, as the drivers are probably not the best and roads can be tight.
  - medo-bear 5y ago
    > The only danger is driving, as the drivers are probably not the best lol! yeah balkans has many schumachers, of all ages and genders too :)
  - cure 5y ago
    > This is surprising to most americans, but the Western EU countries are the least safe when it comes to mugging, stealing, and general crime. This map would also be surprising to Europeans. This map was generated based on data from Eurostat, "who bases these number on police reports from each country." (sic, cf. https://landgeist.com/2021/10/12/robbery-rate/ https://landgeist.com/2021/10/12/robbery-rate/). So... the obvious question, then, is how many robberies do not result in a police reports in each country, and how good each country is at reporting all robberies to Eurostat. I suspect that this map is more of a reflection of the rate of reporting for robberies than the actual rate of robberies, which is why the map is so surprising: it's misleading and does not reflect reality.
    - necovek 5y ago
      If you can make up claims without backing them up with anything, so could anyone: I raise you and say that there are more unreported robberies in Western EU countries. FWIW, I cannot imagine anyone in Serbia being robbed without reporting it to police (and since you usually lose your ID document if it's your wallet or purse, you have to go to police to report it stolen/lost and get a new one issued), unless it's something like multiple gangs against each other. What I can imagine not being reported are attempted-but-failed robberies, but that strikes me as something anyone anywhere would not report to avoid the hassle for no gain.
ChuckNorris89 5y ago
Out of curiosity, how's the quality of life there? Being originally form Eastern Europe myself, devs earn and live like kings here, especially those freelancing for remote US companies, but socially you're mostly confined to these high-earning circles and gated communities where you're mostly insulated from the poverty, corruption and inequality surrounding you, along with a feeling that everyone from individuals to local businesses could be potentially unscrupulous ready to scam you of everything you've got, if your scam detector is not finely tuned and you don't know exactly how things work, as laws and regulations tend to be very loosely enforced. Plus, complete lack of infrastructure, functional government and public institutions. Roads without potholes that don't ruin your car? Forget it. Public transport? Barely. Pedestrian sidewalks not full of illegally parked cars? Nope. Drivers disobeying the law and being a hazard to everyone? Check. Police doing something? Forget it. Public hospitals? Avoid if you can. People behaving like a-holes in public. Yes. Gangs of roma beggars and parking scammers? A given. General disregard for following laws and regulations? Check. And that's in an EU country that, at least on paper, should be doing way better than Albania.
- ddorian43 5y ago
  Depends on your $$$. What's your monthly budget (rent,food,health,fun)?
- stavros 5y ago
  Your comment could basically be describing Greece.
- darebak 5y ago
  Eastern Europe has gated communities? You mean Russia/Ukraine? Because I haven't heard about gated communities in Slovakia and Serbia, I I'm guessing it's the same in neighboring countries.
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    Not like Brazil or Russia, but the newly developed suburbs of the nuveau-rich are the equivalent, even though they lack armed security and barbed wire fences typically associated with gated communities.
core-utility 5y ago
Are you saying that if you made $124,999 you owe $0, but if you made $125,000 you owe $18,750? Or do you only owe on the amount above $125k you made?
- eru 5y ago
  > Are you saying that if you made $124,999 you owe $0, but if you made $125,000 you owe $18,750? Just in general: almost no sane tax system works like this. There are sometimes some nooks and crannies of insanity in some parts of a tax system, but seldom in something as mainstream as income tax brackets.
  - pdabbadabba 5y ago
    I agree, as a general matter. Then again, the sibling comment immediately below, from someone apparently familiar with the Albanian system, seems to say that it does work this way in Albania.
    - eru 5y ago
      Yes, that was a bit weird! Though I assume that almost everyone will register expenses, so in practice it's not nearly as awful. Reminds me a bit of when Greece required everyone to collect receipts to get the first portion of their income tax free. The idea was to indirectly force businesses to actually ring up purchases properly.
  - core-utility 5y ago
    Thanks, I'm only familiar with the US workings and wasn't sure if maybe Albania was different.
    - InCityDreams 5y ago
      ..and don't forget, that as an American, if you lived in Albania (or anywhere else in the world!), you would still have to pay US taxes. To the best of my knowledge, no other country does this.
medo-bear 5y ago
as in other countries in the region, this will last only a few years, until enough IT capital flows in. one noteable exception is bosnia & herzegovina, where the personal income tax and the company profit tax is 10% flat. moreover, this has always been the case and it is unlikely to change in the near future
- ddorian43 5y ago
  It's for every type of export. Previously, it was 0% until $50K. 5% until $125K. 15% after $125K. So pretty near to what we have now. I don't expect it to get worse than that.
  - medo-bear 5y ago
    from what i can see the tax laws in albania are pretty strict, and tax seems to be applied on world-wide income [0]. i think this is rather problematic for incentivizing foreign investment into startups. compare to general tax rules in bosnia and herzegovina [1] [0] https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/albania/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/albania/corporate/taxes-on-corp... [1] https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina/corporat...

Just a note that working as a remote developer(counted as export) there is no VAT and no profit-tax in Albania until ~$125K/year of revenue. It's 15% if you pass $125K though (for total profit).

consumer451 5y ago

Honest question I find myself asking these days about new places: are you generally safe flashing some wealth in Albania, as a single foreigner? Like for example nice car, camera, phone, mountain bike.. or best to keep a low profile?

ddorian43 5y ago
You'll be fine. It's not a big deal to have $50K+ car.
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  True. I think everyone in Albania drives a second-hand luxury BMW, Audi or Mercedes fixer-upper imported from Germany.
  - InCityDreams 5y ago
    "imported from..." made me laugh, especially as I know a couple of 'importers'. BTW and fwiw, I loved being in Albania, also Macedonia. Bulgaria was cool, and Romania is crazy hilarious.
aunty_helen 5y ago
I found Tirana weird given how many flash cars there were. 750i’s and s600’s just driving around like they were doing laps on a Friday night. However, there was also some very nice streets with new bars and restaurants. Like a lot of people had recently been pouring cash into the place which is always a good sign. The people who I met were always super friendly and outgoing too, some of the most friendly I’ve experienced.
oblio 5y ago
I'm not super sure about Albania, but in Romania, where I'm from, you'd generally face 2 possible problems: 1. scams as tourist (should be easy to avoid: a) know the exchange rate and the local purchasing power, i.e. think if a local paid $500 per month would buy the thing, b) don't take almost anything offered "for free" unless it's from already trusted persons) 2. theft; not robbery, theft (your stuff might get stolen when you're not around; robbery or outright violence is rare, maybe even rarer than Western Europe, but you know, poor people, expensive stuff, it's going to be tempting)
- ardit33 5y ago
  Albania doesn’t have either. Scams or thefts are rare. It is a very tourist friendly country as it gets almost 2.5x tourists a year compared to its population. People are very welcoming.
ardit33 5y ago
Albania is the safest country in Europe when it comes to robberies https://landgeistdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/europe-robbery-rate.png https://landgeistdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/europe-r... This is surprising to most americans, but the Western EU countries are the least safe when it comes to mugging, stealing, and general crime. Maybe it is family values, or the fact that many people have immigrated to work in the richer countries, countries in the Balkans are really chill and crime free. The only danger is driving, as the drivers are probably not the best and roads can be tight.
- medo-bear 5y ago
  > The only danger is driving, as the drivers are probably not the best lol! yeah balkans has many schumachers, of all ages and genders too :)
- cure 5y ago
  > This is surprising to most americans, but the Western EU countries are the least safe when it comes to mugging, stealing, and general crime. This map would also be surprising to Europeans. This map was generated based on data from Eurostat, "who bases these number on police reports from each country." (sic, cf. https://landgeist.com/2021/10/12/robbery-rate/ https://landgeist.com/2021/10/12/robbery-rate/). So... the obvious question, then, is how many robberies do not result in a police reports in each country, and how good each country is at reporting all robberies to Eurostat. I suspect that this map is more of a reflection of the rate of reporting for robberies than the actual rate of robberies, which is why the map is so surprising: it's misleading and does not reflect reality.
  - necovek 5y ago
    If you can make up claims without backing them up with anything, so could anyone: I raise you and say that there are more unreported robberies in Western EU countries. FWIW, I cannot imagine anyone in Serbia being robbed without reporting it to police (and since you usually lose your ID document if it's your wallet or purse, you have to go to police to report it stolen/lost and get a new one issued), unless it's something like multiple gangs against each other. What I can imagine not being reported are attempted-but-failed robberies, but that strikes me as something anyone anywhere would not report to avoid the hassle for no gain.

ChuckNorris89 5y ago

Out of curiosity, how's the quality of life there? Being originally form Eastern Europe myself, devs earn and live like kings here, especially those freelancing for remote US companies, but socially you're mostly confined to these high-earning circles and gated communities where you're mostly insulated from the poverty, corruption and inequality surrounding you, along with a feeling that everyone from individuals to local businesses could be potentially unscrupulous ready to scam you of everything you've got, if your scam detector is not finely tuned and you don't know exactly how things work, as laws and regulations tend to be very loosely enforced. Plus, complete lack of infrastructure, functional government and public institutions. Roads without potholes that don't ruin your car? Forget it. Public transport? Barely. Pedestrian sidewalks not full of illegally parked cars? Nope. Drivers disobeying the law and being a hazard to everyone? Check. Police doing something? Forget it. Public hospitals? Avoid if you can. People behaving like a-holes in public. Yes. Gangs of roma beggars and parking scammers? A given. General disregard for following laws and regulations? Check. And that's in an EU country that, at least on paper, should be doing way better than Albania.

ddorian43 5y ago
Depends on your $$$. What's your monthly budget (rent,food,health,fun)?
stavros 5y ago
Your comment could basically be describing Greece.
darebak 5y ago
Eastern Europe has gated communities? You mean Russia/Ukraine? Because I haven't heard about gated communities in Slovakia and Serbia, I I'm guessing it's the same in neighboring countries.
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  Not like Brazil or Russia, but the newly developed suburbs of the nuveau-rich are the equivalent, even though they lack armed security and barbed wire fences typically associated with gated communities.

core-utility 5y ago

Are you saying that if you made $124,999 you owe $0, but if you made $125,000 you owe $18,750? Or do you only owe on the amount above $125k you made?

eru 5y ago
> Are you saying that if you made $124,999 you owe $0, but if you made $125,000 you owe $18,750? Just in general: almost no sane tax system works like this. There are sometimes some nooks and crannies of insanity in some parts of a tax system, but seldom in something as mainstream as income tax brackets.
- pdabbadabba 5y ago
  I agree, as a general matter. Then again, the sibling comment immediately below, from someone apparently familiar with the Albanian system, seems to say that it does work this way in Albania.
  - eru 5y ago
    Yes, that was a bit weird! Though I assume that almost everyone will register expenses, so in practice it's not nearly as awful. Reminds me a bit of when Greece required everyone to collect receipts to get the first portion of their income tax free. The idea was to indirectly force businesses to actually ring up purchases properly.
- core-utility 5y ago
  Thanks, I'm only familiar with the US workings and wasn't sure if maybe Albania was different.
  - InCityDreams 5y ago
    ..and don't forget, that as an American, if you lived in Albania (or anywhere else in the world!), you would still have to pay US taxes. To the best of my knowledge, no other country does this.

medo-bear 5y ago

as in other countries in the region, this will last only a few years, until enough IT capital flows in. one noteable exception is bosnia & herzegovina, where the personal income tax and the company profit tax is 10% flat. moreover, this has always been the case and it is unlikely to change in the near future

ddorian43 5y ago
It's for every type of export. Previously, it was 0% until $50K. 5% until $125K. 15% after $125K. So pretty near to what we have now. I don't expect it to get worse than that.
- medo-bear 5y ago
  from what i can see the tax laws in albania are pretty strict, and tax seems to be applied on world-wide income [0]. i think this is rather problematic for incentivizing foreign investment into startups. compare to general tax rules in bosnia and herzegovina [1] [0] https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/albania/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/albania/corporate/taxes-on-corp... [1] https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina/corporat...