Preduzetnik (sole trader) keeping double-entry books, personal salary (lična zarada) at the lowest contribution base, 10% tax on the rest of the profit
Effective burden at €60k
13.0%
What you pay
- Personal salary (lična zarada) at the lowest contribution base: RSD 51,297 a month gross, including its own tax and contributions - the owner's pay and a business expense, not a levy (ZPDG art. 33a, 37a) — fixed 51,297 per month (deductible from profit) (a deduction that lowers the tax base, not a payment)
- Contributions on the personal salary: PIO 24% + health 10.3% + unemployment 0.75% = 35.05% of RSD 51,297 (ZDOSO art. 22, 44, 52a) — fixed 17,979.6 per month
- Income tax on the personal salary: 10% of RSD 51,297 less the non-taxable amount RSD 34,221 (ZPDG art. 15a, 16) — fixed 1,707.6 per month
- Income tax on self-employment 10% on the profit left after the personal salary (ZPDG art. 38) — 10% of profit (deductible from profit)
- 05
Annual personal income tax (godišnji porez na dohodak građana), age 40 or more: 3 x average annual salary 5,439,096 non-taxable, personal deduction 725,213 capped at 50%, 10% up to 6 x average annual salary 10,878,192, 15% above (ZPDG art. 87-89; 2025 salary figures)
Progressive scale · base: annual profit · allowance 5,059,778.4 RSD
when under40 = false
Annual profit · RSD Rate ≤ 1,450,426 5% 1,450,426–11,603,405 10% Annual profit · RSD Rate > 11,603,405 15% - 06
Annual personal income tax, under 40: a further 3 x average annual salary is deducted (ZPDG art. 87 st. 4; 2025 salary figures)
Progressive scale · base: annual profit · allowance 10,498,874.4 RSD
when under40 = true
Annual profit · RSD Rate ≤ 1,450,426 5% 1,450,426–11,603,405 10% Annual profit · RSD Rate > 11,603,405 15%
Eligibility
- Activities: it-services, software-development, consulting, any registered activity
- Requires tax residency
- A registered preduzetnik who pays tax on actual profit (samooporezivanje, ZPDG art. 32-37a) and has notified the Tax Administration through the ePorezi portal that they pay themselves a personal salary (ZPDG art. 33a; notice at registration or by 15 December for the next year; the choice cannot change during the year). No turnover limit. Double-entry bookkeeping and the PB 2 tax balance with form PPDG-1S are due by 15 April (ZPDG art. 43, 93). Modelled setup: the salary is set at the lowest monthly contribution base RSD 51,297 (the Tax Administration allows a salary below the base, in which case contributions are still due on the base; any salary between RSD 34,221 and 51,297 gives the same total), contributions are due only on the salary and not on the rest of the profit, and the rest of the profit bears 10% tax. This is the arrangement most entrepreneurs who keep books choose. Paying no salary instead puts 35.05% contributions on the whole profit and is much dearer (see notes). Fees from one client (or its related party) that meet at least five of the nine criteria of the test of independence are not self-employment income but other income taxed at 20% with contributions on the gross amount (ZPDG art. 85 st. 1 t. 17).
Net income examples
| Gross/year | Net/year | Burden |
|---|---|---|
| 30,000 EUR | 25,512 EUR | 15.0% |
| 60,000 EUR | 52,203 EUR | 13.0% |
| 120,000 EUR | 101,111 EUR | 15.7% |
Computed by our open tax engine — assumes no deductible expenses, full-year tax residency. Rules as of Jan 1, 2026.
Important context
Why the personal-salary variant is the modelled one: ZDOSO art. 22 puts the contribution base of an entrepreneur who pays no salary at the whole taxable profit (35.05% on profit up to RSD 8,793,840 a year, minimum 12 x 51,297 = 615,564), while with a salary the contributions are due only on the salary and the rest of the profit bears 10% tax. At EUR 60,000 with 10% expenses (profit RSD 6,339,697) the variant without salary costs between about 30% and 40.5% of revenue, depending on how the base of the contributions is read (the law does not settle whether the entrepreneur's own contributions first reduce it; see the research log), against 11.5% here, so it is dominated and not drafted as a scheme. The salary is gross: it includes its own 10% tax (above the non-taxable RSD 34,221) and the 35.05% contributions, and the whole amount is a business expense; any salary from RSD 34,221 to 51,297 gives the same total because the tax on the salary and the tax on the profit are both 10%; a higher salary only adds 35.05% contributions. The annual personal income tax (GPDG) is included with the thresholds of the 2025 average annual salary (RSD 1,813,032) because the 2026 figure is published only in early 2027 (the law uses the average of the tax year, art. 87); the 2026 thresholds will be higher, so the annual tax shown is an upper bound; with the 2025 figures it is nil for a profit below about RSD 6.24 million (EUR 53,100) and, for people under 40, below about RSD 12.28 million (EUR 104,600). Not modelled: accounting fees, the PIO years of insurance bought only at the minimum base (low future pension), the 10% tax credits for investment in fixed assets (ZPDG art. 39), loss carry-forward, advance payments, foreign-tax credit and treaties, and VAT: from RSD 8,000,000 of turnover in 12 months registration is compulsory (ZPDV art. 33, 38; EUR 60,000 = RSD 7,044,108 is below it, EUR 100,000 is above); services to a foreign business client are outside Serbian VAT (art. 12 st. 4) and input VAT is deductible. Foreigners need a residence permit with the right to work or to run a business before they can register as a preduzetnik (not checked here).