How to file VAT in the EDI system

Who this guide is for

This guide is written for business owners and for the people who handle paperwork inside the company — not for experienced accountants.

VAT — value added tax — is borne by the final consumer, but collected and remitted by the business. You charge VAT on the invoices you issue (this is output VAT) and you pay VAT on the invoices you receive from suppliers (input VAT). At the end of the month only the difference goes to the state; the monthly return is the act by which you show TAK that calculation.

Who is required to file

The obligation falls on every person registered as a VAT declarant. Registration becomes mandatory once annual turnover exceeds EUR 30,000, but it is also permitted voluntarily below that threshold — and once you are registered, the monthly obligation is identical in both cases. The return is filed even in months with no sales or purchases at all, showing zero values: failure to file is treated as a breach even when there is nothing to pay. If you are still unsure whether you need to register at all, that question is dealt with separately in the VAT questions.

What to prepare before you log in to EDI

The most common mistake is entering the system without having the data ready. A VAT return is not filled in from memory — it is the summary of two registers that must be closed before you start:

• Sales book — the list of invoices you issued during the month, with the date, invoice number, the buyer's identifying details (fiscal number, unique identification number or personal number, as applicable), the value excluding VAT, the VAT charged and the total. Fiscal receipts belong here too.
• Purchase book — the same structure, for invoices received from suppliers and for imports. For imports, the source document is the customs declaration (the SAD), not the foreign supplier's invoice.
• Invoices and supporting documents — sorted by number, so you have them to hand if a figure does not reconcile.
• The bank statement for the month — to verify what was actually received and paid, especially where there are advances.

Both books follow a format set by TAK: the Excel templates are downloaded from the EDI system itself, in the upload window. The columns must be exactly those of the template, otherwise the upload is rejected — and the validation checks on the fiscal number, the unique identification number and the personal number are strict, so a single invoice with a wrong number stops the entire list.

The steps in the EDI system

EDI is TAK's electronic filing system, at edeklarimi.atk-ks.org. You log in with the business fiscal number and the password issued by TAK. The order of work is as follows:

1. Log in to the system — enter the fiscal number, the password and the security text shown on screen.
2. Upload the Purchase Book — from the "Shërbimet" menu open "Libri i Blerjes", then the "Ngarko Librin" button. There you download the template, complete it outside the system, select the tax period, upload the file and submit the list.
3. Confirm the upload — the system returns a confirmation that has to be accepted. Without this step the book does not count as filed.
4. Repeat for the Sales Book — the same route, from "Shërbimet" to "Libri i Shitjes".
5. Complete the VAT return — form TV. The amounts in the boxes must agree with the totals of the two books; if they do not agree, the error is in the book.
6. Check the result and submit — the system computes the amount payable or the credit itself. Read it before you submit.
7. Pay the liability — payment is made at the bank using the reference generated by the system. Filing and payment are two separate acts: filing without paying within the deadline still gives rise to interest.

The books and the return are submitted within the same window — from the 1st to the 20th of the following month. The full calendar is in the tax deadlines.

Output VAT against input VAT

The whole return closes with a simple comparison. On one side box 30 — how much VAT you charged on sales. On the other side box 67 — how much VAT you paid on purchases and are entitled to deduct. If the first is larger, the difference is paid; if the second is larger, you are left with a credit.

The right to deduct is not automatic: it requires a proper tax invoice in your business's name, with the fiscal number and the VAT shown separately, and it requires the purchase to serve the taxable activity. Purchases for private needs, food and drink, gifts and entertainment are not deductible; for vehicles in mixed use the deduction is restricted. This is where businesses lose most — not by paying more tax, but by deducting less than they are entitled to, or by deducting what they are not entitled to and having it clawed back during an audit.

If a purchase invoice from an earlier month went unrecorded, you do not need to correct that period: the input VAT may be taken later, but no later than the final tax period of the year following the year of the invoice. So an invoice from 2025 goes in at the latest in the December 2026 return.

When a credit arises

A credit is not automatically turned into cash. As a rule it is carried forward to the following month and set against the liability for that period — the normal route for a month with heavy purchases or a large investment. A refund claim, meaning money returned to your account, can be made only where the credit exceeds EUR 3,000 and has been carried forward for three consecutive tax periods. A refund is a procedure in its own right, with a file of invoices, contracts and proof of payment, and it is usually followed by a TAK audit.

How to correct an incorrect return

Mistakes happen — an invoice recorded twice, a transposed figure, a sale classified as exempt when it was not. If the error is in the sales or purchase book, the EDI system has a correction function: select the relevant period, upload the corrected book and confirm again. If the error is in the return itself, an amended return is filed for that period, replacing the first one.

Timing matters. Where you disclose an error yourself before TAK notifies you of an audit, penalties are reduced to 25% of the amount that would otherwise apply; where the notice has arrived but the audit has not yet begun, they are reduced to 50%. Where the inspector finds the error, this relief does not apply. In practice: the moment you spot it, correct it.

Where we come in

For clients on our monthly accounting service this entire cycle is handled by us: you place the invoices in the shared folder, we record them, reconcile them against the bank, upload the books and tell you the amount before the deadline — the way we work is described in how we work. If you keep the books yourself and only need a review before filing, or if you have fallen a few months behind, we take that on as well. The legal basis is Law no. 05/L-037, listed in the tax legislation.