ACCOUNTING · BOOKKEEPING · TAX COMPLIANCE · UPDATED OCTOBER 2026
Accounting and bookkeeping in Serbia for foreign-owned companies and entrepreneurs in 2026: what the law requires, the filing calendar, e-invoicing, what a licensed accountant costs, and the mistakes that get bank accounts blocked
Every Serbian company must keep double-entry books from the day it is registered, whether or not it has any revenue, and a foreign-owned company is no exception. Annual financial statements go to the Business Registers Agency (APR) by 31 March, the corporate income tax return within 180 days of the year end, VAT returns by the 15th after each month or quarter, and a payroll return before every salary payment. Books are kept in Serbian and in dinars. If you outsource them, which almost every foreign owner does, the provider must by law be licensed and entered in the APR register of accounting providers. A flat-rate entrepreneur (paušalac) below 6,000,000 dinars of turnover keeps only a simple record of invoices; everyone else keeps full books. A small foreign-owned company pays roughly €100–300 a month for licensed accounting in 2026. Missing a filing is not a paperwork problem: the Tax Administration can order your bank to block the company's account until the debt is paid, and at the National Bank's last published count (31 January 2024) more than 46,000 Serbian companies and entrepreneurs were in that position.
Accounting is the part of a Serbian company that foreign founders think about last and pay for longest. Registration takes a week; the books run for as long as the company exists, and in Serbia the obligations start with registration, not with the first invoice. This guide explains, as of October 2026, who must keep books and to what standard, why a dormant company still files, the calendar of statutory filings, how the state e-invoicing system (SEF) changes the way invoices and VAT work, the licence rule for accountants and what they charge, the points that are different for a foreign owner, and the penalties, including the account block that catches more foreign-owned companies than any fine. It is a guide to the obligations and the decisions, not a filing manual; how the company itself is formed is covered in our company formation in Serbia guide, and the tax rates in our taxes in Serbia hub.
Who must keep books in Serbia, and to what standard?
The Law on Accounting applies to every legal entity, so every DOO, branch and representative office, and to every entrepreneur who keeps double-entry books. Only one type of business sits outside it: the flat-rate entrepreneur (paušalac), who is taxed on an assessed base rather than on actual profit and keeps a book of issued invoices (KPO) instead of ledgers. Flat-rate status is available only below 6,000,000 dinars of annual turnover and is closed to accounting, tax advisory, advertising, wholesale and retail trade, hospitality, real estate and a few other activities, and to anyone registered for VAT. The proposal to lift the ceiling to 8,000,000 dinars was not adopted in the August 2026 amendments, so the 6,000,000 limit still applies.
Everyone else keeps double-entry books, and the standard depends on size. The law sorts entities into four classes by average headcount, revenue and assets, converted into dinars at the National Bank's middle rate on the balance-sheet date:
| Class | Thresholds (two of three) | Reporting framework | Statutory audit? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | ≤ 10 employees; ≤ €700,000 revenue; ≤ €350,000 assets | Ministry of Finance rulebook (simplified); may opt up | Only if revenue exceeded €4,400,000 (rare) |
| Small | ≤ 50 employees; ≤ €8,000,000 revenue; ≤ €4,000,000 assets | IFRS for SMEs; may opt into full IFRS | Only above €4,400,000 total revenue |
| Medium | ≤ 250 employees; ≤ €40,000,000 revenue; ≤ €20,000,000 assets | IFRS for SMEs or full IFRS | Yes, every year |
| Large | Above the medium thresholds; also parents of groups and listed companies | Full IFRS | Yes, every year |
Almost every foreign-owned company we work with is micro or small, which keeps the reporting light, but "light" still means a journal, a general ledger, subsidiary ledgers, a chart of accounts in the prescribed Serbian format, and documents for every entry. Statements, ledgers and supporting documents must be kept for 20, 10 and 5 years respectively, and payroll records permanently. The books are kept in Serbian and in dinars, so an invoice you issue in euros is booked at the National Bank's middle rate on the date of the supply, and the difference when the money arrives is a foreign-exchange gain or loss that itself has to be recorded.
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Why a company with no revenue still has monthly obligations
The question we hear most from new owners is why a company that has not traded needs an accountant. The answer is that the obligation attaches to registration, not to activity. From the first month a DOO has bank charges, a capital contribution, an accountant's invoice and state fees to book; a founder who works in the company without a salary is compulsorily insured, and the company pays contributions of 35.05% on at least the lowest monthly base, 51,297 dinars in 2026, about 18,000 dinars a month, through a monthly return; a VAT-registered company files a return every period even when the figure is zero; and the corporate income tax return is due every year regardless of profit. The law does allow a statement of inactivity instead of financial statements, but only for an entity that had no business events and no assets or liabilities at all during the year. Because a bank account with a maintenance fee is a business event, almost no real company qualifies, and the APR's own figures show it: of nearly 290,000 filings for 2025, 11% were statements of inactivity and 89% were full statements.
The practical consequence is that the accountant is a running cost from month one, and the cheapest way to run a company you are not yet using is to decide early whether you need it at all. Our business opportunities in Serbia guide and the company formation service page cover the entrepreneur-or-company decision; this guide assumes the company exists.
The statutory filing calendar for a Serbian DOO
These are the filings a typical small foreign-owned company faces in a year. Deadlines are statutory as of October 2026; the forms are named so that you recognise them on your accountant's reports, not so that you file them yourself.
| Obligation | Deadline | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll return (PPP-PD) with salary tax and contributions | Before every salary payment; salary at least monthly | Any company with employees, including an employed director |
| Founder's contributions (PP OD-O) | 15th of the following month | A founder or member who works in the company without an employment contract |
| VAT return (PPPDV) and payment | 15 days after the end of the month or quarter | VAT-registered companies; monthly above 50,000,000 dinars turnover and in the first two years, quarterly otherwise |
| Electronic VAT recording in SEF | By the 12th day after the tax period | VAT payers, for VAT not already shown on an e-invoice or fiscal receipt |
| Corporate income tax advance | 15th of each month | All companies, one twelfth of last year's tax; a new company files an opening advance return within 15 days of registration |
| Annual financial statements to the APR | 31 March | All legal entities; consolidated statements by 30 April; audit documentation by 30 June |
| Property tax self-assessment (PPI-1) | 31 March | Companies that own real estate, every year |
| Corporate income tax return (PDP) with tax balance and transfer-pricing report | 180 days after the year end (29 June for a calendar year) | All companies; the transfer-pricing report covers every transaction with a related party, including the foreign parent |
| Environmental fee return | 30 April | All companies and entrepreneurs; micro entities pay 5,000–20,000 dinars a year depending on activity |
| Archive book transcript to the state archive | 30 April | All legal entities, under the 2021 Law on Archival Material |
| Beneficial-owner register at the APR | 30 days after founding or any ownership change, plus a yearly confirmation | All companies, under the law applied since 1 October 2025 (previously 15 days) |
| Withholding tax return on payments abroad | Per payment | Companies paying dividends, interest, royalties, rent or consulting, legal, accounting or market-research fees to a non-resident: 20% (25% to preferential-tax jurisdictions) unless a treaty lowers it |
| Employee registration (CROSO) | Before the employee starts work; deregistration within 3 working days of leaving | All employers |
Two of these are new or newly strict. The beneficial-owner regime was rewritten in 2025: the deadline moved from 15 to 30 days, every company must now confirm its entry once a year even if nothing changed, and a company that does not goes on the APR's public non-compliance list with fines of 500,000 to 2,000,000 dinars. And the transfer-pricing report is not optional for a small company: any management fee, loan or service charge between the Serbian company and its foreign owner is a related-party transaction. A short-form report is allowed when transactions with a related party stay under 8,000,000 dinars in the year, but loans from a foreign founder always need the full study, and the same loans must be reported to the National Bank within 10 days of signing and of every drawdown and repayment.
SEF e-invoicing, VAT recording and fiscal receipts: how invoicing works in Serbia now
Since 2023 Serbia has run a state e-invoicing platform, the Sistem e-faktura (SEF). Every VAT-registered business, every public body and every business that invoices the public sector must issue and receive its invoices through it; a company below the VAT threshold is outside SEF unless it registers voluntarily or sells to the state. Two consequences matter for a foreign owner. First, a VAT payer can deduct input VAT on a Serbian supplier's invoice only once that e-invoice has been accepted in SEF; a paper or PDF invoice from a Serbian VAT payer no longer carries the deduction. Second, VAT that does not appear on an e-invoice or a fiscal receipt, such as reverse-charge VAT on services bought from abroad, has to be recorded in SEF separately within 12 days of the end of the tax period, in addition to the VAT return.
The system is still being extended. Amendments applied from April 2026 added internal-invoice records and e-invoices for retail sales to business card holders; a separate law on electronic delivery notes has applied to public-sector and excise shipments since 1 January 2026 and reaches all private-to-private movements of goods on 1 October 2027; and from the January 2027 tax period the Tax Administration will generate a preliminary VAT return from SEF data, which the company then confirms or corrects. Fines for not issuing a required e-invoice run from 200,000 to 2,000,000 dinars for a company. Fiscalisation is the other half: a business selling to consumers needs an electronic fiscal device that reports each receipt to the Tax Administration in real time, while business-to-business sales and a list of exempt activities (most professional, financial, health, education and online services to companies) do not. Our VAT in Serbia guide covers registration and rates.
The licence rule: who is allowed to keep your books, and what it costs
Since 1 January 2023 a company may entrust its bookkeeping and the preparation of its financial statements only to a provider entered in the APR's Register of Providers of Accounting Services, which requires a licence from the Chamber of Authorised Auditors, a full-time professionally qualified accountant and clean records for the owners and representatives. Financial statements prepared by an unregistered provider are published by the APR as incomplete, and the company, not the provider, carries the fine. At the APR's published count in October 2025 there were 5,775 registered providers, and the register is searchable, so checking a prospective accountant takes a minute. An employee who keeps the books in-house is not covered by the register; the rule is aimed at outsourcing.
Prices in 2026 depend on whether the company is VAT-registered, how many employees it has and how many documents it generates. The table combines published 2026 price lists and surveys from Serbian providers; euro figures use about 117 dinars to the euro.
| Client type | Typical monthly fee (2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Flat-rate entrepreneur (paušalac) | 3,000–12,000 RSD (≈ €25–100); most pay 4,000–7,000 | Tax is assessed, so the work is the KPO record, monthly payments and the annual check |
| Entrepreneur keeping books | 10,000–20,000 RSD (≈ €85–170) | Higher if VAT-registered |
| Small DOO, not VAT-registered, no employees | 10,000–26,000 RSD (≈ €85–220) | English-language providers sit at the top of the range |
| Small DOO, VAT-registered | 15,000–37,000 RSD (≈ €130–320) | Includes VAT returns and SEF handling; monthly filers cost more than quarterly |
| DOO with several employees | 18,000–50,000+ RSD (≈ €150–450) | Payroll usually billed per employee, about €10–35 per calculation |
| Annual financial statements | 50–100% of one monthly fee, or ≈ 25,000 RSD standalone | Often included for ongoing clients |
| Cross-border tax advice, transfer-pricing study | Hourly (≈ €50–150) or per study | Rarely included in a bookkeeping fee; budget for it if a foreign parent is involved |
Choosing on price alone is the expensive option. The fee differences above are small next to the cost of one missed VAT period or one badly structured founder's salary. What a foreign owner should check is whether the provider is in the APR register, works in English on the documents you actually sign, handles payroll, SEF and the annual statements in one place, and understands cross-border questions: withholding tax on payments to your home company, transfer pricing, and your personal tax residence. Relocation Serbia's accounting and tax service is built for that profile, and we have offices in Belgrade and Novi Sad, so you can go through your structure and documents with us in person (by appointment) or by video call.
Licensed bookkeeping, payroll, VAT and the annual statements, in English, in one place.
Our accounting service keeps your Serbian books to the statutory standard, files every return in the calendar above, runs payroll and SEF, prepares the annual statements and the transfer-pricing report, and handles the cross-border questions a foreign owner actually has. Monthly plans, as listed on our pricing page in October 2026: Dormant €59 for a zero-activity company, Paušal Care €149 for a flat-rate entrepreneur, Micro €249 (full books and payroll for one), Micro +VAT €349 (adds VAT returns and SEF e-invoicing) and Growth €549 (payroll for up to five), with €15 a month for each additional employee on payroll.
What is different when the owner is abroad
The rules are the same for a foreign-owned company; the mechanics are harder, and most of the difficulty is about signatures and access. Serbia's tax portal, the APR and SEF all run on qualified electronic certificates issued by Serbian certification bodies, and a non-resident director can obtain one only in person in Serbia; a foreign certificate is not accepted. Annual financial statements must carry the legal representative's qualified signature. The usual solution is a written authorisation (the PEP form) that lets the accountant use the company's electronic tax services on the director's behalf, which a director without a Serbian certificate signs in person at the Tax Administration. A company whose only director has never been to Serbia will therefore need either one visit or a resident representative before its first filing season.
Beyond access, four points come up in nearly every foreign-owned file. Everything is booked in dinars at the National Bank's rate on the date of the event, so euro and dollar revenue produces exchange differences that are themselves taxable income or deductible expense. Money from the foreign owner is either equity or a loan, and the choice has consequences: a loan must be reported to the National Bank and carries a full transfer-pricing study and interest-deductibility limits, while equity does not. Payments the Serbian company makes to its parent for management, consulting, rent or software are subject to 20% withholding tax (25% if the recipient sits in a jurisdiction Serbia lists as a preferential tax regime) unless a tax treaty applies and the parent produces a residence certificate, and they go into the transfer-pricing report. And the owner's own position is separate from the company's: a founder paid a salary is on Serbian payroll through our payroll service, a founder paid dividends faces 15% as a resident or 20% as a non-resident, and a United States owner has controlled-foreign-corporation reporting at home, covered in our US tax guide. The bank account, which the accountant reconciles every month, is the other recurring friction: banks ask for ownership evidence again whenever the structure above the company changes.
Penalties, interest and the account block
Serbian compliance penalties are set by statute and are high relative to the size of the businesses they hit. The table gives the ranges that apply to a company in 2026; the responsible person, usually the director, is fined separately in most cases.
| Breach | Fine for a company (RSD) | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Not keeping books, not filing financial statements, or using an unregistered accounting provider | 100,000–3,000,000; director 20,000–150,000 | Law on Accounting, penalty provisions |
| Tax return not filed and tax not paid | 30–100% of the tax due, minimum 500,000 | Law on Tax Procedure and Tax Administration, Art 177 |
| Return filed, tax not paid | 10–50% of the tax due, minimum 250,000 | Same |
| Return not filed, tax paid | 100,000–2,000,000 | Same |
| Late VAT registration | From 400,000 | Law on VAT |
| Not issuing a required e-invoice | 200,000–2,000,000 | Law on Electronic Invoicing |
| Beneficial owners not registered or not confirmed | 500,000–2,000,000; concealment is a criminal offence | Law on the Central Register of Beneficial Owners (2025) |
| Archive book not kept or filed | 50,000–2,000,000 | Law on Archival Material |
Fines are the slower danger. The faster one is enforced collection: unpaid tax carries interest at the National Bank's reference rate plus ten percentage points from the first day, and after a five-day warning the Tax Administration can order the National Bank's enforced-collection unit to take the debt from the company's accounts, which in practice means the account is blocked until the balance is cleared. A blocked company cannot pay salaries or suppliers, and the block is public. The National Bank's last published aggregate (31 January 2024) showed 46,847 companies and entrepreneurs blocked at once, owing about 220 billion dinars, with almost 15,000 of them blocked for more than three years; the National Bank itself initiates deletion of entrepreneurs blocked for more than two years. A foreign owner who stops paying a founder's contributions because "the company is not doing anything" is the textbook way into this position. The Tax Administration can assess and collect for five years, pension contributions never time-bar, and the 2025 audit plan concentrated on exactly the sectors foreign founders favour: professional and IT services, trade and construction.
Common accounting mistakes foreign owners make in Serbia
- Assuming no revenue means no filings. Founder's contributions, the corporate tax return, the annual statements and any VAT returns run from registration; the only exemption is a statement of inactivity that a company with a bank account cannot use.
- Hiring an unlicensed bookkeeper, or a friend of a friend. Since 2023 the provider must be in the APR register; the company pays the fine and its statements are flagged as incomplete.
- Treating the owner's loan as cash. A loan from the foreign founder must be reported to the National Bank within 10 days and needs a full transfer-pricing study; undocumented money in the company is the first thing an audit asks about.
- Paying the parent company without withholding tax. Management and consulting fees, royalties and interest paid abroad carry 20% withholding (25% to preferential-tax jurisdictions) unless a treaty certificate is on file before payment.
- Missing the beneficial-owner confirmation. The 2025 law added a yearly confirmation and a public non-compliance list; many companies registered in 2024 or earlier are unaware of it.
- Running a flat-rate entrepreneur past the ceiling or against one client. Turnover above 6,000,000 dinars ends flat-rate status, and an entrepreneur who fails the nine-point independence test with a single client is reclassified and taxed at 20% plus pension contributions.
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Frequently asked questions about accounting in Serbia
Is bookkeeping mandatory for a company in Serbia with no income?
Yes. The Law on Accounting attaches the obligation to the legal entity, not to its activity. A company with no revenue still books its bank charges and capital, pays contributions for a working founder, files any VAT returns it is registered for, files a corporate income tax return within 180 days of the year end and financial statements by 31 March. A statement of inactivity replaces the statements only when the company had no business events and no assets or liabilities at all during the year.
How much does an accountant cost in Serbia in 2026?
Published 2026 price lists and surveys put a flat-rate entrepreneur at about 3,000–12,000 dinars a month, a small company outside VAT at roughly 10,000–26,000 dinars, a VAT-registered small company at 15,000–37,000 dinars, and a company with several employees at 18,000–50,000 dinars or more, with payroll often billed per employee. In euros that is roughly €25–100 for a paušalac and €100–450 for a company. English-language providers that handle cross-border questions sit at the upper end.
Can a foreigner do their own bookkeeping in Serbia?
The law allows a company to keep its books in-house through its own employees, and the licence rule applies only to outsourced providers. In practice the books must be kept in Serbian, in dinars, under Serbian charts of accounts and reporting rulebooks, and filed through portals that require a Serbian qualified electronic certificate, so a foreign owner who is not a Serbian-trained accountant almost always outsources to a registered provider.
What are the key accounting deadlines for a Serbian DOO?
Annual financial statements to the APR by 31 March; corporate income tax return with the tax balance and transfer-pricing report within 180 days of the year end; VAT returns 15 days after each month or quarter; a payroll return before every salary payment; founder's contributions by the 15th of the following month; property tax self-assessment by 31 March; environmental fee and archive book by 30 April; beneficial-owner changes within 30 days and a confirmation every year.
Does a Serbian company need to use the SEF e-invoicing system?
A VAT-registered company must issue and receive its invoices through SEF and can deduct input VAT from Serbian suppliers only on accepted e-invoices; it must also record VAT not shown on an e-invoice or fiscal receipt within 12 days of the end of the tax period. A company below the VAT threshold is outside SEF unless it registers voluntarily or invoices the public sector. From the January 2027 period the Tax Administration will pre-fill VAT returns from SEF data.
Does a foreign-owned company in Serbia need an audit?
Only if it is a medium or large entity, a public company, a parent preparing consolidated statements, or if its total revenue in the previous year exceeded €4,400,000 in dinar terms. A typical foreign-owned micro or small company is not audited, but its financial statements are still filed with the APR and publicly available.
What happens if a Serbian company misses a tax filing?
Statutory fines apply: not filing and not paying costs 30–100% of the tax with a minimum of 500,000 dinars for a company, interest runs at the National Bank reference rate plus ten points from the first day, and after a warning the Tax Administration can order enforced collection, which blocks the company's bank accounts until the debt is cleared. Not filing financial statements is fined separately under the Law on Accounting at 100,000 to 3,000,000 dinars.
Can a flat-rate entrepreneur (paušalac) skip bookkeeping?
A paušalac keeps a book of issued invoices (KPO) rather than double-entry books and pays an assessed monthly tax and contributions, so the accounting is light but not absent. The regime is available only below 6,000,000 dinars of annual turnover, is closed to accounting, advertising, trade, hospitality, real-estate and VAT-registered businesses, and is lost if an entrepreneur with one dominant client fails the independence test. Above the ceiling the entrepreneur moves to full books.
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Written by the Relocation Serbia team. Last reviewed: October 2026. General information, not legal, tax or accounting advice; assessments and penalties rest with the Tax Administration, the APR and the courts, and no outcome, fee or deadline extension is guaranteed. Figures are the statutory amounts and published market ranges as of October 2026; payroll parameters, fees and thresholds change each January and e-invoicing rules are being phased in through 2027. Sources: Law on Accounting (classification, outsourcing register, retention, financial statements, penalty provisions); Law on Audit (audit thresholds); Law on Corporate Income Tax and the transfer-pricing rulebook; Law on Tax Procedure and Tax Administration (Articles 75, 95, 114, 177); Law on VAT; Law on Electronic Invoicing as amended in 2024–2026 and the Law on Electronic Delivery Notes; Law on Fiscalisation and the exemption regulation; Law on Personal Income Tax (flat-rate taxation, independence test) and Law on Contributions (2026 bases); Law on the Central Register of Beneficial Owners (applied from 1 October 2025); Law on Archival Material; National Bank decision on reporting foreign credit transactions; APR filing statistics for 2025 and register counts; National Bank enforced-collection statistics; published 2026 accounting price lists and surveys. See also our accounting and tax service.