Income concealment and its impact on the Economy

• Pages: 29-38

29

Vol. 10 No. 3

November, 2024

Academic Journal of Business, Administration

Law and Social Sciences

E-ISSN 2410-8693

ISSN 2410-3918

Research Article

© 2024 Skerdian Kurti & Arnold Visha

This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

Income concealment and its impact on the Economy

Skerdian Kurti

Faculty of Law, University of Tirana

Arnold Visha

Lalaj CPA Group

DOI: hps://doi.org/10.2478/ajbals-2024-0017

Abstract

The revenues collected from taxes and levies constitute the largest part of the State budget.

These revenues are signicant as, without them, the State’s nancial activities cannot be

carried out, nor can the public needs of society be met. More revenue from taxes and levies

means more schools, kindergartens, nurseries, hospitals, roads, and more services for the

community, drafting eective social and criminal policies to protect individuals and society.

For this purpose, it is important not only to determine the level of taxes and levies but also to

protect their collection to ensure the necessary services for the benet of society. One way to

protect tax and levy collection is through criminal legislation. Among the criminal oenses

provided for this purpose, Article 180 titled “Income Concealment”, which punishes all

illegal behaviors that favor tax evasion, is of great importance. Through this paper, we aim to

present the direct importance of revenue collection for the economic and social development

of a country by initially identifying some of the ways in which the criminal act of income

concealment is commied by commercial companies. This paper will also include a brief

analysis of criminal legislation protecting tax revenues before moving on to the economic

analysis of tax evasion and the diculties encountered in combating this phenomenon.

Keywords: Taxes, levies, economy, economic crime, criminal law.

1. Introduction

Income concealment or “tax evasion” as it is otherwise known, falls under the

category of criminal oenses that are part of a broader category of crime known as

“economic crime”. This type of crime includes all forms of criminal activities oriented

towards the national economic system and its functioning. Key characteristics of this

crime are “dark gures”, dynamics, and adaptation to all economic and regulatory