Do I Need an Accountant as a Paušalac in Serbia?

Last updated: October 2026. Reflects the Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana (ZPDG, "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 24/2001 … 6/2026 – usklađeni din. izn. i 80/2026), the Zakon o doprinosima za obavezno socijalno osiguranje (ZDOSO, "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 84/2004 … 6/2026 – usklađeni din. izn. i 80/2026) and the Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 95/2018 … 118/2025 – usklađeni din. izn. i 35/2026), all checked 2026-10-31.

Ask whether a paušalac in Serbia needs an accountant and the answers contradict each other. One guide says a flat-rate entrepreneur keeps no books at all, another says only the KPO book, a third says double-entry books that an accountant has to run. The law settles it in one sentence, and this article starts there.

Short answer. Serbia's income tax law, the ZPDG, does not require a paušalac (a flat-rate entrepreneur) to hire an accountant. You keep one book, the KPO (ZPDG čl. 43 st. 4), pay the monthly amounts from your rešenje (tax decision) and, if your activity is liable, file a yearly return for the local eko taksa. An accountant becomes the practical choice when you leave the regime, register for VAT, hire staff or face an inspection. Preduzmi, our app, covers only the routine.

Does the law require a paušalac to have an accountant?

No: the ZPDG puts the paušalac's obligations on the paušalac, and none of them has to be carried out through an accountant. We searched the consolidated ZPDG (through Sl. glasnik RS 80/2026, checked 2026-10-31) and found no provision that requires a preduzetnik paušalac to engage an accountant or an accounting agency.

What the law does say is short. ZPDG čl. 43 st. 4 reads: 'Preduzetnici paušalci dužni su da vode samo poslovnu knjigu o ostvarenom prometu', paušal entrepreneurs are obliged to keep only the book of realized turnover. That book is the knjiga o ostvarenom prometu, the KPO. Note the word samo, only. A paušalac keeps no double-entry books, no balance sheet and no profit-and-loss account.

So why do the guides disagree? Because each of them describes a different regime. 'No books at all' is wrong for a paušalac, because the KPO is a book and it is mandatory. 'Only the KPO' is exactly čl. 43 st. 4. 'Double-entry books' is the rule for a preduzetnik who pays tax on actual profit (ZPDG čl. 43 st. 2), which is where you land if you lose or leave the paušal regime. So all three describe something real. Only one of them describes you while you are a paušalac.

However, 'not required' is not the same as 'never useful'. Note also whom the law addresses: the duty in čl. 43 st. 4 is placed on the paušalac, not on whoever keeps the book for you. That is the honest frame for the rest of this article. The law tells you what must be done; an accountant is one way of getting it done, and in some situations the sensible one.

What does a paušalac have to keep, pay and file?

A paušalac keeps the KPO, pays four monthly amounts set by the rešenje, files and pays the yearly eko taksa if its activity is liable, and in a normal year files no income tax return. The checklist below is the whole list of routine obligations under the laws in the header, as of October 2026.

A few words on each line.

The KPO. It records turnover, not expenses or profit, and it is the only business book the law asks of you. What goes into each column, how foreign-currency invoices are converted and how the book is certified are covered in our guide to the KPO book.

The monthly payments. The amounts are not something you calculate. The Poreska uprava (the Tax Administration) assesses your paušal income by rešenje (ZPDG čl. 33 st. 3), and the tax on it is due within 15 days after the end of each month (ZPDG čl. 110 t. 1). The contributions are also set by the Poreska uprava's rešenje (ZDOSO čl. 58), and they follow the same deadline, because ZDOSO čl. 60 st. 1 ties them to the deadline for the tax. Account numbers and reference formats are in the guide to paying paušal taxes, and what a paušalac pays in a year puts all the amounts in one place. A late payment carries interest, explained in the guide to late payments.

The eko taksa. This local environmental fee applies only if your activity is on the list (Zakon o naknadama čl. 134 st. 1 t. 1), and then you file a return with the local tax administration by 30 April and pay quarterly by its decision (čl. 137; čl. 138 st. 1). Who is liable, the amounts and the form are in the eko taksa guide.

The annual return. In a normal year there is none for the paušal tax. ZPDG čl. 93 st. 1 requires the annual tax return and tax balance by 15 April from entrepreneurs who keep books, and it names the paušalac as the exception. Two situations change that, and both are in the cases section below.

That is the list under the three laws in the header; depending on your clients, other rules can add duties, such as SEF e-invoicing. Every item on that list can be done by the paušalac personally: the rešenje can be delivered to you electronically on the Poreska uprava portal (ZPPPA čl. 36), the payments go through your own bank, and the eko taksa return goes to the local administration. None of the provisions cited above requires a professional's signature.

What does an accountant add?

An accountant adds judgment and representation, not a legal requirement: reading what the Poreska uprava sends, deciding what a change in your business means for your tax status, and acting for you in the system. While you stay a standard paušalac, that is the value. The moment you leave the standard case, it becomes the work itself.

In practice an accountant can do several things for a paušalac:

1. Keep the routine. Enter the KPO, prepare the monthly payment orders and file the eko taksa return. This is the part you can also do yourself, by hand or with software.
2. Read and check the rešenje. The annual decision sets the base for all four monthly payments, and it can be wrong. Our guide to reading the rešenje covers its fields and the appeal deadline, and it also explains where the decision lands when an accountant holds the authorization for your account on the ePorezi portal.
3. Act for you in ePorezi. The portal lets a taxpayer grant and revoke authorization to use the Tax Administration's electronic services (Poreska uprava, ePorezi portal page, checked 2026-10-31). The FAQ below gives the details.
4. See a change coming. Crossing the turnover limit, a new client in the public sector, a first employee: each of these changes your obligations. A good accountant spots it before the deadline, not after.
5. Answer the tax authority. A request for documents, a tax inspection or a letter you do not understand is easier to handle with someone who reads these documents for a living.

Points 1 and 3 are delegation. Points 2, 4 and 5 are expertise. Software can help with the first kind. It cannot take over the second, and we do not claim otherwise.

We do not quote accountants' prices here. When you compare offers, check which of the five points above each one covers.

When does a paušalac need an accountant?

You need an accountant when your situation stops being a standard paušal case: when you leave the regime, enter VAT, hire people, face an inspection, or have income that adds up for the annual tax. These are the cases where we would bring one in.

• You lose or leave the paušal regime. ZPDG čl. 40 st. 2 t. 4 excludes from paušal taxation anyone whose turnover in the preceding year exceeded 6,000,000 RSD (as of 2026). When the conditions stop being met, the Poreska uprava orders you by rešenje to keep business books from the middle of the current year or from the start of the next (ZPDG čl. 42 st. 4–5). As a preduzetnik taxed on actual profit you then keep double-entry books under the accounting law (ZPDG čl. 43 st. 2) and file an annual return with a tax balance by 15 April (ZPDG čl. 93 st. 1). How the limit is counted is in the guide to revenue limits; what changes between the two regimes is in the paušalac vs knjigaš comparison.
• You choose a personal salary after leaving. A paušalac who has to keep books because the right to paušal taxation ended may opt for a lična zarada, a personal salary paid from the business (ZPDG čl. 33a st. 1, as amended by Sl. glasnik RS 80/2026, applicable from 1 January 2027). That choice changes how tax and contributions work, and it is a decision to make with an accountant.
• You register for VAT. A VAT-registered person cannot be taxed as a paušalac (ZPDG čl. 40 st. 2 t. 5), and must keep business books from the day of becoming a VAT payer at the latest, without waiting for a rešenje (ZPDG čl. 42 st. 6).
• Your business changed significantly. A paušalac whose scope of business, turnover or other conditions affecting paušal taxation changed significantly in the preceding year must file a tax return by 31 January (ZPDG čl. 93 st. 2). Whether your change is 'significant' is a judgment call, which is exactly what an accountant is for.
• Your income may reach the annual income tax. The godišnji porez na dohodak građana applies when a person's annual income exceeds three times the average annual salary in Serbia, and assessed paušal income is part of that sum (ZPDG čl. 87 st. 1–2). The return is due by 15 May (ZPDG čl. 92 st. 1). Combining paušal income with a salary, rent or foreign income is where we would ask a professional; the annual income tax guide covers how it reaches a paušalac.
• You hire an employee. Nothing in ZPDG čl. 40 forbids a paušalac from employing people (see the FAQ), but payroll is a separate set of employer obligations, and it is not something Preduzmi handles.
• You face a tax inspection or a dispute. Representation in a procedure, an appeal against a decision or an answer to a request for documents is professional work.

Our app says the same in its own interface. The compliance calendar on the dashboard carries the footnote 'Covers standard pausal cases only. Consult an accountant for complex situations.' When the turnover bar passes the paušal limit, the alert reads 'You have exceeded the pausal revenue limit. Consult your accountant immediately.' We wrote those lines on purpose: the app tracks the standard case, and it tells you when you have left it.

What can you do yourself, and what does Preduzmi do?

The routine part of the checklist (the KPO, the four monthly payments and the bank statement behind them) is what Preduzmi is built for: it imports the statement, keeps the KPO and reconciles payments in one tool. That combination is the difference between our app and a spreadsheet or a pure invoicing tool, and it is a fact about the product, not a promise about your taxes.

Here is what the app does, as of October 2026:

• Bank-statement import. Raiffeisen XML and Alta Banka XLS exports are read directly; a CSV export from another bank is imported through a column-mapping dialog. Duplicate transactions from overlapping statements are removed on import. The app sorts each transaction into income tax, PIO, health, unemployment, income, expense, currency exchange or other, based on payment references and treasury accounts, and you can change any category.
• Reconciliation. For an invoice, the app suggests matching bank transactions by date and amount. You confirm the match, the invoice becomes Paid and takes the payment date from the bank. A difference in amount can be recorded with a reason.
• The KPO book. The app exports the KPO as PDF or DOCX from your confirmed and paid income invoices; the KPO guide explains what it contains.
• Monthly payments. It shows what is due and what is paid per category, with payment orders pre-filled from your rešenje and an NBS IPS QR code you can scan in your banking app; the payment guide explains the fields. You still confirm each payment in your own bank and check the details yourself.

As of October 2026, Preduzmi costs $30 a year, with a 14-day free trial that requires a card and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

If the routine is what takes your time, the trial is the quickest way to see whether the app fits how you work.

When is Preduzmi the wrong tool, and an accountant the right one?

Preduzmi is the wrong tool whenever your business is not a services paušalac, and whenever you need someone to file or represent you. We would rather say this plainly.

• A DOO or an entrepreneur on actual profit. The app is built for paušal taxation. A company (DOO) or a preduzetnik keeping double-entry books has different books and different returns, and that is a case for an accountant.
• Selling physical goods. The app does not track inventory or goods.
• Filing anything. Preduzmi files nothing with the Poreska uprava, ePorezi, SEF or APR. It prepares figures and documents; you or your accountant submit them. Whether you need SEF at all is covered in the SEF guide.
• Shared access for an accountant. Each account belongs to one user, and there are no team or shared-access features. You can download the KPO as PDF or DOCX, your invoice files and a CSV of transactions, and send them to your accountant.
• Deadline follow-up. The app does not contact you about deadlines. The calendar and the countdown to the next payment are visible when you open the dashboard, nothing more.
• Anything outside the standard case. Every situation in the section on cases where you need an accountant, above, from the VAT entry to payroll and inspections.

Other paušal apps cover a different mix. For example, pausalko.rs lists invoicing, sending invoices directly to SEF, an online fiscal cash register and the KPO book on its homepage (checked 2026-10-31). pausal.rs sells its app by monthly subscription, and its pricing page lists online accountant support in the Medium and Premium plans and individual bookkeeping services that can be ordered without a subscription (checked 2026-10-31). If direct SEF sending, a fiscal register or an accountant in the same subscription is what you need, compare what each tool lists before you choose.

The short version: an app can keep the standard paušal routine in order, and an accountant handles everything that is not standard. Some paušalci will only ever need the first, others will need both, and that is fine.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an accountant as a paušalac in Serbia?

The ZPDG, the law that sets up the paušal regime, does not require it. Under ZPDG čl. 43 st. 4 a preduzetnik paušalac must keep only the KPO book, the monthly tax and contributions are set by the Poreska uprava in a rešenje, and if the activity is liable for the eko taksa, its return is filed once a year with the local tax administration. A paušalac can do all of this personally. An accountant is needed in practice in non-standard situations: leaving the paušal regime, registering for VAT, hiring staff, a tax inspection, or income that may reach the annual personal income tax.

What does a paušalac have to keep and file in Serbia?

A paušalac keeps the KPO book (ZPDG čl. 43 st. 4) and stores it for at least five years (ZPDG čl. 48). The income tax and contributions assessed by rešenje are paid within 15 days after the end of each month (ZPDG čl. 110 t. 1, ZDOSO čl. 60 st. 1). Where the activity is liable for the eko taksa, its return is filed by 30 April (Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara čl. 134 st. 1 t. 1, čl. 138 st. 1). In a normal year there is no annual return for the paušal tax, because ZPDG čl. 93 st. 1 exempts the paušalac.

Does a paušalac file an annual tax return in Serbia?

Not for the paušal tax itself in a normal year: it is assessed by rešenje (ZPDG čl. 33 st. 3), and ZPDG čl. 93 st. 1 exempts the paušalac from the annual return and tax balance due by 15 April. There are two exceptions. A paušalac whose scope of business, turnover or other relevant conditions changed significantly in the preceding year files a return by 31 January (ZPDG čl. 93 st. 2). Separately, the annual personal income tax return is due by 15 May (ZPDG čl. 92 st. 1) when annual income, assessed paušal income included, exceeds three times the average annual salary in Serbia (ZPDG čl. 87).

Can a paušalac hire an employee in Serbia?

Yes. ZPDG čl. 40 st. 2 lists the grounds that exclude paušal taxation (certain activities, outside investors in the business, turnover above 6,000,000 RSD in the preceding year, and VAT registration), and having employees is not among them. ZPDG čl. 21v and čl. 21d go further and name the preduzetnik paušalac among employers entitled to a refund of part of the payroll tax for qualifying new hires, for salaries paid through 31 December 2028 (the end date as amended by Sl. glasnik RS 80/2026, applicable from 1 January 2027); under čl. 21d the refund is 75% when at least two new people are hired. Payroll itself is a separate set of employer obligations and a case for an accountant.

How does a paušalac give an accountant access to ePorezi?

The ePorezi portal lets taxpayers grant and revoke authorization to use the Tax Administration's electronic services, which requires a qualified electronic certificate. Without a certificate, the Poreska uprava describes granting authorization on the PEP form (Ovlašćenje za upotrebu elektronskih servisa) submitted to its competent unit. Its page words that route for the legal representative of a legal entity, so confirm with your Poreska uprava branch how it applies to an entrepreneur.

Sources

• Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana (ZPDG) — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 24/2001 … 6/2026 – usklađeni din. izn. i 80/2026; consolidated text checked 2026-10-31. The 80/2026 amendments apply from 1 January 2027 (some from 1 January 2028) and change only čl. 15a, 21v, 21g, 21d and 33a; other provisions are cited as in force in 2026. čl. 21v, čl. 21d, čl. 33, čl. 33a, čl. 40, čl. 42, čl. 43, čl. 48, čl. 87, čl. 92, čl. 93, čl. 110.
• Zakon o doprinosima za obavezno socijalno osiguranje (ZDOSO) — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 84/2004 … 6/2026 – usklađeni din. izn. i 80/2026; checked 2026-10-31. The 80/2026 amendments apply from 1 January 2027 (some from 1 January 2028) and change only čl. 45, 45b, 45v and 65 (contribution reliefs and incentives); čl. 58 and 60 are unchanged. čl. 58, čl. 60 st. 1.
• Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 95/2018 … 118/2025 – usklađeni din. izn. i 35/2026; checked 2026-10-31. čl. 134, čl. 137, čl. 138.
• Zakon o poreskom postupku i poreskoj administraciji (ZPPPA) — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 80/2002 … 109/2025 i 80/2026; checked 2026-10-31. čl. 36.
• Portal ePorezi, Poreska uprava — granting and revoking authorization for electronic services; checked 2026-10-31.
• How to become a user?, Poreska uprava — the PEP authorization form and the qualified electronic certificate; checked 2026-10-31.