Moved East

[markowe]

[tucovic]

Many thanks, and no need for apologies. I may be in touch again once I start the process and encounter tangible any questions.

I believe the new law is part of the EU visa requirements. I was living in Hungary a number of years back when they passed the same restriction.

All best.

[grecko]

Greetings markowe and thank for this topic so useful. I'm french and planning to come to live in Belgrade very soon. Meanwhile I'll be searching for a job in Belgrade, I'd like to register as a freelance to keep doing business with french companies i know. So I'm trying to establish a basic budget to run a freelance business in Serbia to see if its viable or not.
So far with your informations, if I don't go over the 3.000.000 dinars limit (basically 30k€), so 250.000 dinars a month (2.5k€), I would only have the 8.000 dinars contribution (80€) plus the 3.000 dinars tax (30€). So to sum up I'm allowed to earn 2500 - (80+30) = 2.390€ a month and be covered with healthcare and in total conformity with legislation?
Then I assume I will have to pay the 10% incomes tax of course, like every employee have to at the end of the year.

Thanks again

[jiggio]

great write up

could you just please confirm that there are not other taxes on top of the monthly tax you pay for your contributions? i see a member mentioned 10% but i somehow doubt that will also go on top of the monthly fees you already pay.

[markowe]

Apologies, I wrote the original thread, but didn't get back to "grecko". I should clarify:

1) I am not 100% sure about the 3,000,000 dinars limit, buit let's say 99%! The problem is that there is a discrepancy between the VAT law and the law that governs "entrepreneurs" and I believe it still has not been corrected. Just to recap what I THINK is the case, up to 3 million dinars you can choose whether you will keep books or pay flat-rate tax, and at 4 million you are also obliged to register for VAT whether you like it or not!

2) the calculation is basically correct for MY branch of work (translation) - your flat-rate contributions are determined according to the type of business activity - I believe that there are something like 5 different levels, ranging from "old trades" to what they think are the highest-earning types. For my business they assume a monthly income of 35,000 or something like that (this year - this text is a little out of date) and calculate the contributions on that basis. I don't know how it is for other business types, it would be worth trying to find out if there is any way to get into a lower bracket, though I doubt it! Remember also that you can CHOOSE to keep books if you think you will pay less tax that way, though I think for most that is not the case, unless you have a lot of deductible expenses. Actually, I DO have a lot of deductible expenses (hiring freelancers), but I still prefer it this way because I still in reality earn more than 35,000 a month.

3) No, you do not pay an additional 10% tax - the 3000 you pay every month (actually, mine is 3500 this year) IS that 10% - personal income tax.

Hope that helps. I should add that since I wrote this thread some things have apparently been simplified in the registration procedure. Apparently, your tax code is now issued at the same time and in the same place as you register the company, and the procedure is apparently quicker now too.

If you need any more info, I am not an expert but I can try to help.

All the best!

Mark
_________________
Odista - professional English and Serbian translation services.
Odista - prevod na engleski prepustite Englezima!

[jiggio]

oh great thanks for the clarification, it is weird how that works out, you pay 3000 for example but make much more than 10 times that amount which would equal the income required for a 10% tax rate. very cool

[markowe]

[jiggio]

good stuff by the way i checked and now you can do the entire thing online! looks like serbia is becoming .... modern? hehe

from what i can see, you fill out all the info online, the forms are sent to the head office electronically, then you have to be there within 5 days to sign off and proof of payment as usual with copies.

but 5 days and online thats a massive step forward.

only one thing, do you happen to have the pdf of the employment codes? the link in their form does not work, its probably because i clicked english and it asks for it to be filled out in cyrillic any way.

[markowe]

Oh, yes, good point, I saw that the other day, that you can apply online now. Yes, that is a BIG step!

Have you got the link to that PDF, so I can try to find the English version? I can't find the one you mean.
_________________
Odista - professional English and Serbian translation services.
Odista - prevod na engleski prepustite Englezima!

[jiggio]

no sorry i dont have the link as it tries to run some sort of javascript popup and fails to load anything other than an error.

[markowe]

That's annoying. Are the codes you are looking for those "business type" codes, those are the ones you meant? Must admit, not sure if they exist in English but I can try to find them.
_________________
Odista - professional English and Serbian translation services.
Odista - prevod na engleski prepustite Englezima!

[nevendula]

Hi there! I am serbian although I never lived in Serbia (even if I have my residence there, passport, ID card... )

My question is about being a freelancer in serbia. I want to start freelancing for a scandinavian company and I was thinking about doing it from Serbia.

How much taxes do freelancers have to pay in Serbia? All included, taxes, health... what's the approx %? Does it depend of the amount of the income? I would of course be paid on Scandinavian standards an avg of 600.000 RSD per month

I am looking for the easiest and fastest way to do that!

Thanks!

[markowe]

Good question. It sounds as if your earnings will be rather high to qualify you for the simple model I gave above. If nothing has changed I believe you will HAVE to register for VAT (PDV) because your earnings exceed 4 million per year. Also, because you exceed 3 million, you have to keep full books (though still no big deal).

Otherwise, I THINK that you would not have any practical problems. Your tax rate will be 10%, that is the income tax rate for everyone in Serbia (nice!) but the expensive part will be your social security/health insurance/pension payments, which are pretty high, and because you keep full books you will not be able to pay just a flat rate.

I don't know how to calculate it exactly, but it is something like 22% + 12% + 1.5% = 35% roughly, paid on a monthly basis! Much too much, considering what you get in return.

You might have to think about founding a limited company (d.o.o). This carries much more administration, so you would have to pay an accountant a small amount to deal with this for you (maybe 50-100 EUR/month). But it means that you can pay yourself a fairly minimal wage, and correspondingly low social contributions and then pay yourself dividends from the profit (which will be all of it, since you do not have any overheads, right?) - and then you only pay 10% on that part, income tax.

Please do not take this as professional financial advice - this is just what I believe to be the case. You can ask an accountant - they will not charge you very much, if anything for a consultation.

Hope that helps at least a little!
_________________
Odista - professional English and Serbian translation services.
Odista - prevod na engleski prepustite Englezima!

[d.z.]

I may be leaving Serbia for a number of months, and perhaps more. Do you know anything about whether it is possible or preferable to either freeze or close entrepreneur registration? (I've been registered and paying contributions for two years.)

[markowe]