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Serbia is outside the EU and the EEA, and that decides what a company there is good for. A Serbian company suits a business that will really operate in Serbia: a subsidiary with staff and premises there, a sales or service company for the region, or a business that licenses software and other copyright work, where the licensing rule below cuts the tax. It is not a way into EU tax rules. The usual vehicle is the društvo s ograničenom odgovornošću, the d.o.o., Serbia’s limited liability company, entered in the Business Entities Register of the Agencija za privredne registre (APR), and it can be wholly foreign-owned with a single member.
| Form | Separate legal person | Capital | What it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| d.o.o. | Yes; members are not liable for its debts | RSD 100 minimum | Almost every foreign-owned business |
| a.d. (akcionarsko društvo) | Yes | RSD 3,000,000 minimum | Companies that issue shares |
| Ogranak (branch) | No; the foreign company answers for it without limit | None | A foreign company trading in Serbia in its own name |
| Predstavništvo (representative office) | No | None | Preparatory work for the foreign company |
For a foreign group the real choice is between a subsidiary d.o.o. and a branch. The d.o.o. is a Serbian legal person in its own right, so what it owes stays with it; a branch acts in the parent’s name and for its account, and every obligation it takes on is the parent’s. A new d.o.o. can only be filed with APR electronically, whereas a branch or representative office may still be filed on paper. The founding steps are on our page on company formation in Serbia.
| Tax | Position in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Corporate income tax | 15%; a company founded in Serbia is resident and taxed on its worldwide profit; return within 180 days of the year end |
| Payments to foreign companies | 20% withholding on dividends, interest and royalties, unless a treaty sets a lower rate |
| Licensing income | 80% of qualifying income from licensing deposited copyright works or patented inventions, less the related research and development expenses, can be left out of the tax base, about 3% effective |
| VAT (PDV) | 20% general and 10% special rate; registration within five days of passing RSD 8,000,000 of turnover in 12 months |
| Currency | Serbian dinar (RSD) |
Residence follows the place of founding, so a Serbian d.o.o. run from abroad is still taxed in Serbia on all its profit. A VAT registration, voluntary or compulsory, binds the company for at least the calendar year in which it starts and the next.
Members and directors may be of any nationality and live anywhere. A foreign individual is entered in the register by passport number and issuing country, so no Serbian identification number is needed to be appointed, and a foreign company by its home register number and country. The company must always have at least one legal representative who is a natural person, although a company registered in Serbia may also hold the role. An owner or director who is not employed by the d.o.o. may work in Serbia for up to 90 days in any 180 without a permit; working there for longer needs the single permit for residence and work, and owning a company does not by itself give a right to live in Serbia.
Beneficial owners are recorded in the Central Records of Beneficial Owners, also kept by APR, under a law in force since 1 October 2025. Each individual holding 25% or more of the shares or votes, or with dominant influence over the business, is entered within 30 days of registration or of a later change, and the record is confirmed once a year. APR publishes a list of companies that missed the 30 days, and the anti money laundering law treats them as high risk.
Serbian law gives a d.o.o. no company secretary, so the director carries this work, with bookkeeping outsourced, if at all, only to a provider in the Register of accounting service providers. Two lapses are fatal: two consecutive years with no annual statements, which cannot be put right afterwards, and three months without a registered legal representative both lead to compulsory liquidation.
A Serbian company banks in dinars with an RS IBAN, and since 5 May 2026 Serbian banks have used the SEPA Credit Transfer scheme for euro payments, after the European Payments Council admitted Serbia in May 2025. Deposits are insured up to EUR 50,000 per depositor per bank, which covers micro, small and medium-sized companies but not large ones. Opening from abroad is the hard part: Raiffeisen’s fully online business account is only for companies whose owners and representative are Serbian citizens, so a foreign-owned d.o.o. applies through the ordinary channels, where ProCredit, for one, accepts certified signatures from signatories who cannot attend. Document lists and bank by bank details are on bank accounts for Serbian companies.
We set up new d.o.o. companies and supply ready-made ones. On either route we prepare the founding act or the share transfer agreement and the resolutions, make the APR and beneficial owner filings, and help put the bank application together. If we have a working contact at a bank that suits the business, we can introduce you; opening the account is the bank’s decision alone.
Yes. A foreign company can be the sole member of a d.o.o., entered by its name, seat, home register number and country. It proves its existence with an extract from its home register, apostilled and translated by a permanent court interpreter. Because that extract has to be digitised, the incorporation is filed through a Serbian notary or a lawyer admitted in Serbia. The subsidiary is then a Serbian taxpayer like any other d.o.o.
No. Serbia is outside the EU and the EEA, so a Serbian d.o.o. cannot use the Parent-Subsidiary or the Interest and Royalties Directive, and dividends it pays to a foreign parent bear 20% withholding unless a treaty lowers the rate. Serbia’s network of about 67 comprehensive double taxation treaties does that work instead. For payments, most Serbian banks have joined the SEPA Credit Transfer scheme.
Društvo s ograničenom odgovornošću, a company with limited liability: the Serbian LLC. Its members are not liable for its debts except in the cases the law lists. The registered name has three parts, the chosen name, the designation d.o.o. and the town of the seat, and may be written in either Serbian script; a name using Srbija or SRB needs approval first.
No. Under the Law on Companies only an a.d. can have a company secretary, and only if its articles provide for one. In a d.o.o. the director keeps the records, files changes with APR within 15 days, signs a consolidated founding act after each amendment and keeps the members’ addresses for service. Secretarial services in Serbia therefore mean support to the director rather than a separate officer.
Mostly. The APR company register is public and shows members, representatives and capital. The Central Records of Beneficial Owners publish each beneficial owner’s name, while identification and passport numbers and the supporting documents are open to state bodies, supervisors and obliged entities such as banks, and to anyone else only with a justified interest. Concealing the real beneficial owner is a criminal offence under the 2025 law.
Choosing between a Serbian subsidiary, a branch or a company elsewhere in the region? Tell us what the business will do in Serbia and who will own and run it, and we will tell you what the setup would need. Contact us, or write on Telegram or WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.