VAT and invoicing in Serbia (2026): PDV, SEF and fiscalization

Serbia's VAT has been in place since 2005 and broadly follows the EU's VAT rules, but its paperwork is very much its own: B2B invoices travel through a government platform called SEF, retail sales are fiscalized in real time, and from 2027 the VAT return itself will be pre-filled from that data. This guide covers what a small business needs in 2026: rates, registration, returns, invoice content, e-invoicing and fiscalization, with a worked example in dinars. Rules are as of October 2026.

PDV at a glance: rates and the tax authority

The tax is porez na dodatu vrednost (PDV), governed by the VAT Law (Zakon o porezu na dodatu vrednost) and administered by the Tax Administration (Poreska uprava).

The 2025 and 2026 amendments to the VAT Law did not change any rates. Electricity is taxed at 20%, not 10%: a common slip when people assume all utilities are on the reduced list.

Who must register for VAT

• Threshold: you must register when your turnover in the previous 12 months exceeds RSD 8,000,000, or when you expect it to exceed that amount in the next 12 months. The registration application is due within five days of crossing the limit.
• Voluntary registration: below the threshold you can opt in, for example if you sell mainly to VAT payers and want to deduct input VAT. You currently commit for two years; from 1 January 2027 the commitment becomes the current and the following calendar year.
• Leaving the system: from 1 January 2027 a new procedure lets you ask to deregister when turnover is no higher than RSD 8,000,000.
• Foreign businesses making taxable supplies in Serbia must appoint a tax representative (poreski punomoćnik) and register, whatever their turnover. The main exception is a foreign business that supplies only Serbian VAT payers or public bodies: then the Serbian customer pays the VAT under the reverse charge.

Your tax number is the PIB (poreski identifikacioni broj), which also serves as your VAT identifier on invoices and in SEF.

VAT returns and payment

The pre-filled return from 2027

Amendments adopted in 2024 introduced a preliminary VAT return that SEF prepares from the invoices and records it already holds, and they abolish the POPDV. The start was postponed by one year in December 2025: it now applies from the January 2027 period (or the first quarter of 2027 for quarterly filers). Until then, keep filing the PPPDV with the POPDV. The practical lesson is the same either way: if your SEF data is wrong, your VAT return will be wrong.

Input VAT on supplies invoiced through SEF can be deducted only once you have accepted the e-invoice, so check and accept supplier invoices before you file.

What a Serbian invoice must show

Article 42 of the VAT Law lists the mandatory details:

1. 1Your name, address and PIB
2. 2Place and date of issue and the invoice serial number
3. 3The customer's name, address and PIB
4. 4Type and quantity of goods, or type and scope of services
5. 5Date of supply and the amount of any advance received
6. 6The tax base
7. 7The VAT rate
8. 8The VAT amount
9. 9Where no VAT is charged, a reference to the provision of the VAT Law that applies
10. 10Where it applies, a note that you use the cash accounting scheme

Other rules worth knowing:

• Advances: you issue an advance invoice for every advance received, and the final invoice deducts it.
• Reverse charge: when you are the one liable for VAT (for example on services bought from a foreign supplier), you prepare an internal invoice (interni račun); since 1 April 2026 this is done in SEF.
• Corrections: you never edit an issued invoice. An increase in the tax base is made with a debit note (dokument o povećanju), and a reduction with a credit note (dokument o smanjenju), which needs the customer's confirmation.
• Foreign currency: you may agree prices in euros or another currency, but the tax base is converted at the National Bank of Serbia's middle rate (or the contracted rate) on the day the tax liability arises, and VAT is reported in dinars.
• Record keeping: VAT records are kept until the limitation period runs out, which is generally five years; e-invoices in SEF are kept for 10 years.

E-invoicing (SEF), e-delivery notes and fiscalization

SEF: the national e-invoicing system

Under the Law on Electronic Invoicing (Zakon o elektronskom fakturisanju), invoices are issued and received through the Ministry of Finance's Sistem elektronskih faktura (SEF):

All VAT payers are in scope; businesses outside the VAT system can join voluntarily. Retail sales covered by fiscalization are excluded, except where a public-sector buyer asks for an e-invoice. A PDF by email is not a valid invoice between VAT payers: failing to issue an e-invoice can cost a company RSD 200,000 to 2,000,000.

E-delivery notes (e-otpremnica)

A separate law makes electronic delivery notes mandatory in stages: from 1 January 2026 for the public sector, for private senders of excise goods and for deliveries to the public sector, and from 1 October 2027 for the rest of the private sector.

Fiscalization of retail sales

Every retail sale must be recorded under the Law on Fiscalization (Zakon o fiskalizaciji). The till, PC, tablet or phone you sell from works with a fiscal processor, either local (L-PFR) or the Tax Administration's virtual one (V-PFR), and a security element issued by the Tax Administration. Each receipt carries a QR code that the customer can check. The current model has applied in full since 1 May 2022, after a transition that started on 1 November 2021.

SEF, e-delivery notes and fiscal receipts all require software approved or connected for that purpose. Clientlly does not connect to SEF or to the fiscalization system, so you need a compliant solution for those parts.

Worked example in dinars

A small Belgrade wholesaler files quarterly. In one quarter it sells:

It buys stock for RSD 300,000 plus RSD 60,000 PDV and pays an IT firm RSD 50,000 plus RSD 10,000 PDV. Input VAT is RSD 70,000.

PDV payable = RSD 95,000 − RSD 70,000 = RSD 25,000, due within 15 days after the quarter, with the return. To find the VAT inside a gross price at 20%, multiply by 20 and divide by 120: RSD 120,000 × 20 ÷ 120 = RSD 20,000.

Late payment: deadlines and default interest

The Law on Payment Deadlines in Commercial Transactions caps payment terms:

• Between businesses: no more than 60 days, and 60 days applies if nothing is agreed.
• Public sector as debtor: no more than 45 days (60 days between public bodies).
• Fixed compensation: a creditor paid late can claim RSD 20,000 per late obligation, on top of interest.
• Default interest: set by the Law on Default Interest: the National Bank of Serbia's reference rate plus 8 percentage points on dinar debts, and the ECB main refinancing rate plus 8 points on euro debts.

An e-invoice issued in SEF starts the payment clock, so SEF also gives you clear proof of when your customer received the invoice.

Common mistakes

1. 1Sending a PDF to another VAT payer instead of an e-invoice through SEF.
2. 2Forgetting to accept supplier e-invoices in SEF and then claiming the input VAT anyway.
3. 3Using the 10% rate too broadly. The list is specific: electricity, for example, is taxed at 20%.
4. 4Missing the 12th-of-the-month deadline for VAT records in SEF, which is earlier than the return.
5. 5Issuing a credit note without the customer's confirmation, which leaves your output VAT unreduced.
6. 6Not watching the RSD 8 million threshold month by month; the test is a rolling 12 months.
7. 7Assuming the POPDV is already gone. It stays until the January 2027 period.

How Clientlly helps

Clientlly handles the day-to-day invoicing and the books behind your VAT return. Invoices are numbered sequentially per series and carry Serbia's VAT rates; credit notes are linked to the original invoice; and the PDF goes out in your client's language, with a card payment link. You see when an invoice was opened, reminders go out automatically 3, 14 and 30 days after the due date, and recurring invoices and invoices in multiple currencies are supported. Receipts you scan have their VAT read automatically, sales and purchase VAT books are kept per rate (including exports and reverse charge), and tax reports with Excel and PDF exports are ready for you and your accountant. You can import clients, suppliers, products and opening balances from Excel or CSV, and use the mobile app on the go. Clientlly is not a SEF or fiscalization solution, so keep those obligations covered with an approved provider. See invoicing and accounting, or read how to get paid faster.