Most progressive tax systems apply a higher rate only to the income above a threshold, so earning one lek more always leaves you with more. Albania’s monthly schedule for employment income does not work that way at two points, and the consequence lands on the employee.
What actually happens at 50,000
A gross salary of 50,000 is not taxed. Above it, tax is charged at 13% of the amount over 35,000 — applied to the whole salary at once rather than only to the excess.
The effect on take-home pay:
| Monthly gross | Take-home |
|---|---|
| 50,000 | 44,400 |
| 50,500 | 42,829 |
| 51,000 | 43,208 |
| 52,573 | 44,400 |
An employee moved from 50,000 to 51,000 gains 1,000 in gross and loses 1,192 in net. Take-home does not return to the 50,000 level until gross reaches roughly 52,573. Every salary in between pays the employer more and the employee less.
The same thing at 60,000
The second step is smaller but sits in a much more common salary range. Up to 60,000, tax is 13% of the amount over 35,000. Above it, the deduction drops to 30,000, so 5,000 more of the salary becomes taxable.
| Monthly gross | Take-home |
|---|---|
| 60,000 | 50,030 |
| 60,500 | 49,759 |
| 60,858 | 50,030 |
A raise from 60,000 to 60,500 costs the employee 271 lek a month. Take-home only passes the 60,000 level again above about 60,858.
What to do about it
Nothing in the law needs to change for an employer to handle this well. It requires one habit: when setting or reviewing a salary near either threshold, check the net, not the gross.
If a proposed salary falls inside one of the two ranges — 50,000 to 52,573, or 60,000 to 60,858 — either keep it at the band edge below, or lift it clear of the range. Paying 52,600 rather than 51,500 costs the employer a little over a thousand lek a month and leaves the employee genuinely better off instead of worse.
The same applies to anything that raises gross pay in a month: a bonus, a shift premium, overtime. A one-off payment that pushes a salary across a threshold carries the step with it for that month.
Explain it before somebody notices
An employee who receives a raise and finds less in their account concludes that payroll made a mistake. The explanation is straightforward, but it has to arrive before the payslip does.
You can check any figure on our salary calculator, which flags both ranges automatically and shows the gross that would leave the employee better off.