LumenWhen do you become a tax resident in Serbia?
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Serbia's Personal Income Tax Law makes you a tax resident if you have your domicile or centre of business and vital interests in Serbia, or if you stay there 183 days or more in a 12-month period that starts or ends in the tax year. Residents are taxed on income from Serbia and abroad; non-residents only on Serbian income.
Key facts
| What | The law says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Test 1 | Domicile, or centre of business and vital interests, in Serbia | Personal Income Tax Law, art. 7(2)(1) |
| Test 2 | 183 days or more in Serbia, continuously or with breaks, in a 12-month period that starts or ends in the tax year | art. 7(2)(2) |
| How days are counted | Any part of a day in Serbia counts as a full day; time in transit through Serbia does not | art. 7(3) |
| Residents are taxed on | Income earned in Serbia and in other states | art. 7(1) |
| Non-residents are taxed on | Income earned in Serbia, especially from work done in Serbia and from using a right in Serbia | art. 8 |
| Tax already paid abroad | Credited against Serbian tax, up to the Serbian tax on that income | art. 12 |
Two tests, either is enough
The law uses “or”: you are resident if you meet either test. The 183 days do not have to be in one calendar year. Any 12-month window that starts or ends in the tax year counts, and the days can be split across several stays.
The first test does not count days at all. If your domicile or your centre of business and vital interests is in Serbia, you are resident even without 183 days.
The year you arrive and the year you leave
- Arriving. If you were not resident in the year before you came, you are not resident for the time before your first entry, as long as you did not have your domicile or centre of interests in Serbia in that time.
- Knowing in advance. If, when you first enter Serbia, you know you will meet one of the tests, the law treats you as resident from the day of first entry.
- Leaving. If you are not resident in the year after you finally leave, you are not resident for the rest of the year after the day you left, as long as you no longer have your domicile or centre of interests in Serbia.
- No days at all. A person who did not stay in Serbia in a tax year and does not meet the domicile or centre of interests test is not resident for that year.
Related questions
- Double taxation: if you paid income tax abroad on foreign income, Serbia gives a tax credit for it, but not more than Serbian tax on that same income would be (art. 12).
Sources
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