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Serbian VAT threshold of 8 million dinars: when you must register, the filing, deadlines and duties

Serbia's VAT threshold is RSD 8,000,000 in the previous 12 months. Registration deadline, EPPDV form, tax period, PP PDV return, 20% and 10% rates, leaving VAT.

INFO
Short answer. You must enter the Serbian VAT system (PDV) on the day your total turnover in the previous 12 months (not the calendar year) exceeds RSD 8,000,000; the registration form EPPDV is filed with the Tax Administration within five days of the day you reached that turnover (Arts. 33 and 38 of the VAT Act, Zakon o PDV). Below the threshold you are a small taxpayer: you charge no VAT and have no right to deduct input VAT, but you may register voluntarily. A voluntary entrant stays at least two years, and from 1 January 2027 at least until the end of the following calendar year, which from then on also applies to those who entered because they crossed the threshold. A new taxpayer's tax period is the calendar month; the PP PDV return with the POPDV calculation summary is filed, and the VAT paid, within 15 days after the end of the period.
ROK
Deadline. Registration form EPPDV: five days from the day turnover in the previous 12 months exceeded RSD 8,000,000. VAT return PP PDV and payment: 15 days after the end of the tax period (month or quarter). Request for a monthly instead of a quarterly period: 20 to 31 December for the following year. Voluntary registration binds you for at least two years, and from 1 January 2027 at least for the current and the following calendar year. (Arts. 33(4), 38(1), 48, 50(1) and 51 of the Value Added Tax Act (Zakon o porezu na dodatu vrednost, Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 84/2004, 86/2004 - corr., 61/2005, 61/2007, 93/2012, 108/2013, 6/2014 - adjusted amounts, 68/2014 - other statute, 142/2014, 5/2015 - adjusted amounts, 83/2015, 5/2016 - adjusted amounts, 108/2016, 7/2017 - adjusted amounts, 113/2017, 13/2018 - adjusted amounts, 30/2018, 4/2019 - adjusted amounts, 72/2019, 8/2020 - adjusted amounts, 153/2020, 138/2022, 94/2024, 109/2025 and 80/2026); the amendments in No. 80/2026 apply from 1 January 2027.)

Who is a small taxpayer and how the RSD 8,000,000 threshold is calculated

The Value Added Tax Act divides everyone carrying on a business into VAT payers and small taxpayers. A small taxpayer is a person whose total turnover of goods and services in the previous 12 months does not exceed RSD 8,000,000, or who, when starting the business, estimates that turnover in the next 12 months will not exceed that amount (Art. 33(1)). A small taxpayer does not charge VAT, may not show it on invoices, has no right to deduct input VAT and does not keep VAT records (Art. 33(2)).

Two things are commonly miscalculated. First, the period: 12 months back from any given day, not the calendar year. Turnover of RSD 7,500,000 in 2025 and RSD 1,000,000 in January 2026 does not mean you "start the new year at zero"; in February 2026 you look at February 2025 to January 2026. Second, what counts as turnover. Total turnover consists of taxable supplies and supplies exempt with the right to deduct input VAT (Art. 33(6) read with Art. 28(1)(1) and (2)); sales of equipment and premises used for the business and investments in premises for which you charge a fee are excluded. Supplies exempt without the right to deduct (Art. 25), such as letting flats for housing, healthcare and education services, are not in that formula. A doctor or a residential landlord with RSD 15 million of turnover remains a small taxpayer; an IT freelancer invoicing a foreign client RSD 9 million a year does not, because exported services are supplies with the right to deduct.

Mandatory registration: the EPPDV form within five days

On the day turnover in the previous 12 months exceeds RSD 8,000,000, you become obliged to file the registration form within five days (Art. 38(1)). The five-day deadline has applied since 1 January 2025; the older rule, under which the form was filed by the first deadline for the periodic return, no longer exists, so many online guides are out of date.

The form is filed as EPPDV through the ePorezi portal, using a qualified electronic certificate or an eID account (ConsentID). The Tax Administration issues a VAT registration certificate and enters the taxpayer in a register that is publicly available on its website, so any customer can check whether you are in the system (Art. 38(6) and (8)). From the day of filing you acquire the right to deduct input VAT, including VAT paid on advances (Art. 38(4)). If you miss the deadline you may file late, and if you do not, the Tax Administration registers you ex officio (Art. 38(3)).

The same form is filed by a small taxpayer who opts into VAT voluntarily (Art. 33(3) and Art. 38(5)). Any later change to the data in the registration form is reported electronically within five days (Art. 51a).

Voluntary registration and how long you stay in

A small taxpayer may enter the system before reaching the threshold. The point is the right to deduct: if you buy equipment or goods with VAT and sell to other VAT payers who deduct your VAT, the system is neutral for you and registration returns the 20% on your purchases. If you sell to consumers, VAT is either a higher price or a smaller margin, so staying below the threshold is usually the better option.

Voluntary registration is binding. Until 31 December 2026 the rule is that the VAT obligation lasts at least two years (Art. 33(4)). The August 2026 amendments (Sl. glasnik RS No. 80/2026), which apply from 1 January 2027, change this to "at least in the current and the following calendar year" and introduce the same rule for those who entered because they crossed the threshold (Art. 38(2)). Someone who registers voluntarily in March 2027 stays at least until 31 December 2028. After the period expires you may ask for the obligation to end (Art. 33(5)), but only if turnover in the previous 12 months did not exceed RSD 8,000,000 (Art. 38a).

Tax period, PP PDV and POPDV

The tax period is the calendar month for a taxpayer whose turnover in the previous 12 months exceeded RSD 50,000,000 and for every taxpayer starting VAT activity for the first time, in the year of entry and the following calendar year. Others have a calendar quarter; whoever exceeds RSD 50,000,000 during a quarter switches to a monthly period from the following month. A quarterly taxpayer may request a monthly period between 20 and 31 December for the following year (Art. 48).

For each period you file the PP PDV return electronically within 15 days after the end of the period, even when there is no VAT to pay in that period (Art. 50(1) and (2)). The return is accompanied by the POPDV calculation summary prescribed by the VAT Rulebook. Within the same deadline you pay the VAT: the positive difference between the VAT charged on your sales invoices and the input VAT on your purchase invoices (Art. 51). If you do not file, from 2027 the Tax Administration files the return ex officio on the basis of a preliminary return built from SEF data, showing only output VAT and none of your input VAT (Art. 50(6) to (8)). A VAT payer that is a business entity must register on the electronic invoicing system (SEF) and record VAT electronically in it under the Electronic Invoicing Act.

The 20% and 10% rates and what changes in your prices

The general rate is 20%. The reduced rate of 10% applies to bread, milk, flour, sugar, edible oil, fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and eggs, medicines, orthopaedic aids, fertilisers and seed, textbooks, daily newspapers, firewood and pellets, accommodation in tourist facilities, tickets for cinemas, theatres, concerts and sports events, utilities (water, sewerage, waste collection), natural gas and heat for heating, passenger transport and the first transfer of residential buildings (Art. 23).

Example: a freelancer invoices a domestic company RSD 100,000 a month and crosses the threshold. If the client accepts RSD 100,000 + 20% VAT, it is neutral for the client, who deducts the VAT, and nothing changes for you. If the client is an association or a consumer for whom VAT means nothing and the price stays at RSD 100,000 including VAT, the VAT is RSD 16,666.67 (100,000 x 20/120) and your net revenue is RSD 83,333.33. That is why contracts are negotiated with a "VAT excluded" clause before the threshold is reached.

Flat-rate entrepreneurs: VAT means the end of the flat rate

A flat-rate entrepreneur (paušalac) cannot be a VAT payer (Art. 40(2)(5) of the Personal Income Tax Act). Flat-rate status is lost even earlier, when turnover exceeds RSD 6,000,000 (Art. 40(2)(4)), so in practice a flat-rate entrepreneur leaves the flat rate before reaching the VAT threshold. Whoever becomes a VAT payer keeps business books from that day, without a separate decision (Art. 42(6)). If you later leave VAT, the request for flat-rate taxation is filed within 15 days of receiving the deregistration certificate, and no later than 31 December of the current year. For the limits of the flat rate in detail: flat-rate tax.

Leaving the VAT system

Deregistration is requested by a taxpayer whose turnover in the previous 12 months does not exceed RSD 8,000,000, provided the mandatory period has expired (Art. 38a). From 1 January 2027 you set the date your VAT activity ends yourself, starting from the first day of the period in which the conditions are met, and file the request within five days of that date; the final PP PDV is filed within 15 days of the end date (Art. 38a(2) and (3) and Art. 50(4)). Requests filed by 31 December 2026 are completed under the current rules. A business that ceases trading cannot be deleted from the business register without the VAT deregistration certificate. Before leaving, check with your accountant the adjustment of input VAT deducted on equipment, premises and stock bought with a deduction, because part of that VAT is repaid.

What if you cross the threshold and do not register

The consequence is not only a fine. VAT is owed on all turnover from the day the form should have been filed, and as a rule you cannot recover it from customers afterwards, so 20/120 of every price you collected goes to the state out of your margin, with interest at the National Bank of Serbia reference rate plus ten percentage points. Failing to file the registration form is a misdemeanour under Art. 178a of the Tax Procedure and Tax Administration Act: RSD 100,000 to 2,000,000 for a legal entity, 50,000 to 500,000 for an entrepreneur and 10,000 to 100,000 for the responsible person, and a fixed RSD 100,000 or 50,000 for a late form. Failing to file PP PDV and to pay VAT is punished under Art. 177 of the same Act, as a percentage of the tax owed. A relief from 2027: a taxpayer who registered late may show the VAT for the missed periods in the first return after registration, without amended returns for each period (Art. 50(9) to (11)).

When to consult a tax advisor or accountant

When you are at 6 to 7 million and growing, because the move from flat rate to books and contracts with a VAT clause needs planning. When you have mixed turnover (taxable and exempt without the right to deduct), because input VAT is then apportioned. When you invoice abroad, because the place of supply of services decides whether the export is exempt with the right to deduct. And before leaving the system, because of the deduction adjustment. This page is general information; the actual calculation depends on your invoices.

Sources

What to do

  • Add up your turnover for the last 12 months counting back from today, not from 1 January: "total turnover" includes taxable supplies and supplies exempt with the right to deduct (e.g. exports), and excludes sales of equipment and premises used for the business and supplies exempt without the right to deduct, such as residential letting (Art. 33(6) and Art. 28(1)(1) and (2)).
  • If you have exceeded RSD 8,000,000, file the registration form EPPDV through the ePorezi portal within five days of the day you reached that turnover (Art. 38(1)). The Tax Administration issues a registration certificate and enters you in the public register of VAT payers.
  • From the day of filing you charge 20% or 10% VAT on every invoice and acquire the right to deduct input VAT on your purchase invoices (Art. 23 and Art. 38(4)). Check your price list: if you cannot add VAT on top of your existing prices, the VAT comes out of your margin.
  • If you are a flat-rate entrepreneur (paušalac), entering VAT ends your flat-rate status and you keep business books from the day you become a VAT payer (Art. 40(2)(5) and Art. 42(6) of the Personal Income Tax Act); arrange bookkeeping before the threshold is crossed.
  • Register on the electronic invoicing system (SEF) if you have not already: a VAT payer that is a business entity issues and receives e-invoices and records VAT electronically in SEF (Electronic Invoicing Act).
  • Keep VAT records and, for every tax period, even one with no VAT to pay, file the PP PDV return with the POPDV summary within 15 days after the end of the period; pay the difference between output and input VAT within the same deadline (Arts. 46, 50 and 51).
  • As a new taxpayer you have a monthly tax period in the year of entry and the following year; after that it is quarterly if turnover in the previous 12 months is below RSD 50,000,000, and you can request a monthly period between 20 and 31 December (Art. 48).
  • If you want to leave the system, apply for deregistration once turnover in the previous 12 months falls below RSD 8,000,000 and the mandatory period has expired; with the final PP PDV, check with your accountant the adjustment of input VAT deducted on equipment and stock (Arts. 38a and 50).

What it costs

Entering the VAT system costs no fee: the EPPDV is filed electronically. The real cost is the VAT you charge from then on at 20% (10% for food, medicines, textbooks, accommodation, utilities and other goods listed in Art. 23(2)): if your customers will not accept higher prices, of every RSD 1,000 you collect RSD 166.67 is VAT and your net revenue is RSD 833.33. On the other hand, registration gives you the right to deduct VAT on your purchase invoices, so VAT is neutral if you sell to other VAT payers. A missed registration form is a misdemeanour with a fine of RSD 100,000 to 2,000,000 for a legal entity and RSD 50,000 to 500,000 for an entrepreneur (Art. 178a of the Tax Procedure and Tax Administration Act), in addition to the VAT owed for the whole period from the day the form should have been filed, plus interest.

FAQ

What is the VAT threshold in Serbia in 2026?

The threshold is RSD 8,000,000 of total turnover of goods and services in the previous 12 months (Art. 33(1) of the VAT Act). The amount was not changed by the December 2025 amendments (No. 109/2025) or the August 2026 amendments (No. 80/2026), so the same RSD 8,000,000 applies in 2026 and 2027. The threshold is not tied to the calendar year: on any given day you look 12 months back.

What counts towards the 8 million VAT turnover?

Taxable supplies of goods and services and supplies exempt from VAT with the right to deduct input VAT, for example exports, count (Art. 33(6) read with Art. 28(1)(1) and (2)). Sales of equipment and premises used for the business and investments in premises for which you charge a fee do not count. Supplies exempt without the right to deduct under Art. 25, such as letting flats for housing, healthcare or education services, are not supplies under Art. 28(1)(1) and (2), so they are not counted towards the threshold.

What is the deadline to register for VAT once I pass 8 million?

Five days from the day you made the supply that took you over the threshold (Art. 38(1)). The older rule, under which the form was filed by the first deadline for the periodic tax return, has not applied since 1 January 2025. If you do not file, you may file late, and if you still do not, the Tax Administration registers you ex officio (Art. 38(3)) and VAT is assessed on all turnover from the day you should have entered the system.

Is it worth registering for VAT voluntarily below 8 million?

It depends on your customers and costs. If you sell mostly to other VAT payers, they deduct your VAT and you acquire the right to deduct VAT on your own purchases, so registration usually does not make your service more expensive. If you sell to consumers or small firms outside VAT, 20% VAT means either a higher price or a smaller margin. Voluntary registration is binding: until the end of 2026 for at least two years (Art. 33(4)), and from 1 January 2027 at least for the current and the following calendar year, after which you may apply for deregistration (Art. 33(5)).

How long must I stay in the VAT system?

A voluntary entrant stays at least two years until the end of 2026 (Art. 33(4)). From 1 January 2027 the rule is milder and uniform: the VAT obligation lasts at least for the current and the following calendar year, both for voluntary entrants and for those who entered because they crossed the threshold (Art. 33(4) and Art. 38(2) as amended by No. 80/2026). After that, deregistration is possible only if turnover in the previous 12 months did not exceed RSD 8,000,000 (Art. 38a).

When is the PP PDV return filed and what is the tax period in 2026?

The PP PDV return, together with the POPDV calculation summary, is filed electronically within 15 days after the end of the tax period, even when there is no VAT to pay in that period; VAT is paid within the same deadline (Art. 50(1) and (2) and Art. 51). The tax period is the calendar month for a taxpayer with turnover above RSD 50,000,000 in the previous 12 months and for every new taxpayer in the year of entry and the following year; others have a calendar quarter and may request a monthly period between 20 and 31 December (Art. 48).

What happens if I pass 8 million and do not register for VAT?

The Tax Administration registers you ex officio and assesses VAT on all turnover from the day the registration form should have been filed; as a rule you cannot recover that VAT from your customers afterwards, so you pay it out of your own funds, with interest. Failing to file the registration form is a misdemeanour: RSD 100,000 to 2,000,000 for a legal entity, 50,000 to 500,000 for an entrepreneur and 10,000 to 100,000 for the responsible person, and a fixed RSD 100,000 or 50,000 for a late form (Art. 178a of the Tax Procedure and Tax Administration Act). From 2027 a taxpayer who registers late may show the VAT for earlier periods in the first return after registration (Art. 50(9) to (11)).