Serbia taxes residents on worldwide income and non-residents on Serbia-source income only. Serbia operates a self-assessment system for corporate tax, with the Tax Administration conducting post-filing review.
The Serbian tax year is the calendar year. The corporate filing deadline is generally 180 days after the fiscal year-end.
Serbia's headline corporate income tax (CIT) rate is 15%.
The headline personal income tax (PIT) rate is 10-20% depending on income type.
The standard VAT/GST (or equivalent consumption tax) rate is 20%.
An individual is a Serbian tax resident if their permanent residence or center of vital interests is in Serbia, if they reside in Serbia 183 days or more (continuous or with breaks) within any 12-month period beginning or ending in the tax year, or if they are posted abroad for Serbian diplomatic/consular or international-organization work. Where Serbia has a treaty with the other relevant country, treaty tie-breaker rules govern in cases of dual residency. Residents are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents only on Serbia-source income.
A non-Serbian entity has a Serbia permanent establishment through a fixed place of business or a dependent agent habitually concluding contracts in Serbia on the entity's behalf, following the OECD Model Treaty definition as applied under Serbian domestic law and any applicable tax treaty.
Serbia has no Controlled Foreign Company rules.
Interest and related costs on loans from related parties are fully deductible up to four times the taxpayer's net equity (ten times for banks and leasing companies) - net equity measured as the average of total assets less total liabilities at year start and year end, with related-party loans measured as a daily average. Where the 4:1 (10:1) threshold is exceeded, non-deductible interest is calculated proportionally to the excess.
Serbia does not use an elective check-the-box classification system; entity classification generally follows the entity's actual legal characteristics. As a non-EU member (EU accession candidate), Serbia is not bound by the ATAD2 directive and does not have a comprehensive ATAD2-style anti-hybrid regime, consistent with Serbia having no CFC regime of its own (see CFC section above).
No foreign bank account or foreign financial asset reporting regime exists requiring residents to separately disclose foreign accounts; foreign income is reported through the standard annual tax return.
Serbia does not provide a broad participation exemption for foreign dividends in the European sense; foreign dividends received by a Serbian company are generally taxable, with relief from double taxation available through Serbia's foreign tax credit system rather than an outright exemption.
Serbia has a real foreign tax credit regime available to both individuals and companies for foreign tax paid on foreign-source income also taxed in Serbia, capped at the Serbian tax otherwise due on that income.
Serbia has concluded double tax treaties with 64 countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China, the UAE, Russia, and most Balkan and European neighbors. Notably, Serbia has no comprehensive tax treaty with the United States.