What a Serbian company costs to run each month and each year

Short answer: the fixed costs are the accountant, the bank account and the registered address. Taxes come on top and depend on what the company earns: 15% corporate income tax on profit, then tax on dividends when you take money out, and VAT once turnover passes RSD 8 million in 12 months. The filings are due every year, even in a year with no business at all.

People usually ask us this after registration, when the first accountant's invoice arrives. It is better to know the list before.

Every month

• The accountant. A Serbian d.o.o. keeps double-entry books from day one. The fee depends on the number of invoices, payroll, VAT status and foreign transactions, so ask two or three accountants for a quote based on your real volume. A company with ten invoices a month and one with three hundred are not the same job.
• The bank. Account maintenance, domestic and foreign payments, cards and e-banking. Each bank has its own packages, and the difference shows mostly in foreign payments. Read the fee list when you open the account, not after.
• Your own pay, if any. Whether the company pays social contributions for you depends on how you are engaged as director: employed by the company or not. It is the biggest variable in the monthly cost, and we go through both options with you before registration.
• Corporate income tax advances. From the second year the company usually pays monthly advances, based on the tax from the year before.

Every year

• Registered address. If the company sits at a virtual office, that is a yearly fee. See registered address or virtual office.
• Annual financial statements filed with the Business Registers Agency (APR), and the corporate income tax return with the Tax Administration. For a company whose year is the calendar year, both are due by the end of June. Your accountant prepares them; APR charges a fee for the filing.
• Corporate income tax of 15% on taxable profit, settled against the advances paid during the year.

When you take money out

Profit leaves the company as a dividend, after the annual financial statements and a decision on how the profit is distributed. The company withholds the tax and pays it on your behalf.

• Owner is an individual: 15% on dividends.
• Owner is a foreign company: generally 20%, and more for companies from jurisdictions on Serbia's list of preferential tax regimes.
• Double tax treaties can lower these rates. To use one, the company needs your tax residency certificate from your home country before it pays. See how tax residency certificates work.

VAT and e-invoices

VAT registration becomes mandatory once turnover passes RSD 8 million in the previous 12 months. The standard rate is 20%. A VAT-registered company files VAT returns monthly or quarterly, depending on turnover, which also adds to the accountant's work.

Invoices between Serbian companies go through the state e-invoicing system, SEF (Sistem elektronskih faktura). VAT payers issue and receive invoices there. A company outside VAT still uses SEF when it invoices the public sector. Set up SEF access with your accountant in the first weeks, before the first invoice goes out.

If you sell to private customers, add e-fiscalisation: a fiscal device or software for receipts. That is a separate cost and only applies to retail.

Our prices

SerbiaGate's own fees for registration, the virtual office, Visa D and residence are on the price list. State fees, translations and notary costs are paid at cost, and you get the full number in writing before anything starts. We don't keep books ourselves; we introduce you to accountants who work with foreign owners.

Costs people forget

• Bank fees on incoming foreign payments, which add up when clients pay from abroad
• The accountant's extra fee for payroll, if you employ yourself or others
• Translations of foreign invoices and contracts when the tax office asks for them
• Fines for late filings in a year when "nothing happened"

General information, not tax advice. Rates and thresholds are those in force in 2026 and change from time to time; your accountant confirms them for your company.