Eko Taksa for Paušalci: Serbia's Annual Environmental Fee, Explained

Last updated: May 2026. Reflects the Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara and the Uredba o kriterijumima za određivanje aktivnosti koje utiču na životnu sredinu i iznosima naknada ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 30/2024).

What is eko taksa, exactly?

The eko taksa is a local environmental fee paid by businesses in Serbia, calculated by how much their activity is considered to affect the environment. It funds local environmental programs run by the city or municipality (opština) where your business is registered.

A few things make it different from your regular monthly paušal obligations:

• It's local, not republic-level. Your monthly porez and doprinosi go to Poreska uprava. Eko taksa goes to your lokalna poreska administracija (LPA) — in Belgrade, that's the Sekretarijat za javne prihode Grada Beograda; elsewhere it's the LPA of your opština.
• It's annual, not monthly. One filing, one annual amount, paid in quarterly chunks (or all at once if you prefer).
• The amount doesn't depend on your revenue. It's a flat amount based on what kind of activity you do.

The legal basis: the eko taksa is regulated by the Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 95/2018 with amendments), and specifically by the Uredba o kriterijumima za određivanje aktivnosti koje utiču na životnu sredinu i iznosima naknada ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 30/2024), which sets out which activities pay what.

Who has to pay it (and who doesn't)

The short answer: most paušalci do.

The slightly longer answer: it applies to all legal entities and entrepreneurs whose registered primary activity (pretežna delatnost, the one you chose when you registered with APR) appears in the list attached to the Uredba. Almost every common paušalac activity is on that list.

Some activities aren't listed — meaning, technically, no fee is owed. But here's the catch: most LPAs still expect you to file Obrazac 1 anyway. They'll then issue a decision (rešenje) confirming you owe nothing. Skipping the filing because you think you don't owe anything can backfire — if an LPA later disagrees with your interpretation, they can charge you retroactively and impose a fine for not filing.

How much you'll pay

For paušalci (treated as mikro preduzetnici under the Uredba), the annual amounts depend on the environmental impact category of your activity:

For typical service-based paušalci, you're almost certainly in the mali (low impact) bracket. That covers:

• 62.01 — Računarsko programiranje (computer programming)
• 62.02 — Konsultantske delatnosti u IT
• 70.22 — Business and management consulting
• 74.10 — Specialized design activities
• 74.20 — Photography services
• 85.59 — Other education (language schools, courses, training)

If you do something more industrial — printing prep work (18.13), waste collection (38.11), brewing (11.05) — you may land in the medium or high category. Your šifra delatnosti (the activity code from your APR registration) determines which.

There's also a cap built into the Uredba: the fee can't exceed 0.4% of your total revenue from the previous year. For a paušalac with low to moderate revenue, this cap is almost never triggered, but it's there.

The annual filing: Obrazac 1

Once a year, you file a one-page form called Obrazac 1 with your LPA. This form tells them who you are, what you do, and which impact category applies. The form is prescribed by the Pravilnik o izgledu, sadržini i načinu dostavljanja prijave ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 30/2024).

The deadline is April 30 of the current year, for the current year. (This used to be July 31, but it was moved to April 30 starting in 2024.)

A common question: do I need to file every year, even if nothing's changed?

Legally, the obligation to file kicks in when something changes — your address, your activity code, your impact category, opening or closing the business. If nothing changes, you could in theory skip filing. In practice, most LPAs prefer you file annually as a way of confirming "yes, my situation is still the same." Filing every April 30 is the safe default, takes a few minutes, and avoids confusion later.

When and how to pay

After you file Obrazac 1, your LPA issues a rešenje — a decision that includes your annual amount, the account number to pay into, and the unique poziv na broj (reference number) you'll use for every payment.

Payments work like this:

• The annual amount is split into four equal quarterly installments.
• Each installment is due within 15 days after the end of the quarter — so the deadlines are April 15, July 15, October 15, and January 15 of the following year.
• The account number is always 840-714562843-56 (this is a national account, the same everywhere in Serbia).
• The šifra plaćanja is 253 if you're paying from your business bank account.
• The poziv na broj comes from your rešenje and is unique to you — it includes a code for your opština and your PIB.

The rešenje itself usually arrives in your electronic mailbox on the JIS LPA portal a few weeks to a few months after you file. Until it arrives, you technically don't have a poziv na broj to use — so the first quarterly installment is often paid a bit late, without penalty, simply because the rešenje hadn't arrived yet.

Can you pay for the whole year at once?

Yes — and for many paušalci, this is the simplest option.

The law sets out quarterly installments as the schedule, but it doesn't forbid prepayment. The Treasury (Uprava za trezor) accepts the full annual amount as a single transfer with no issue. The LPA's system simply applies the prepayment against each quarterly obligation as it comes due.

For a low-impact paušalac paying 5,000 RSD a year, splitting that into four payments of 1,250 RSD is more administrative work than it's worth. A single annual payment in March or April (once you have your rešenje and poziv na broj) gets it out of the way for the year.

A small caveat: some LPAs send opomene (payment reminders) automatically based on the quarterly calendar, without checking your actual payment status first. If you've prepaid the whole year and still get a reminder for the second quarter, you can either ignore it (if you're confident in your prepayment) or check your balance on the JIS LPA portal to confirm. Neither costs you anything.

How to file: your options

You can file Obrazac 1 in several ways. The routes available:

• Online, through the JIS LPA portal (lpa.gov.rs). Usually the fastest option and available in every opština. You'll need a kvalifikovani elektronski sertifikat (a qualified electronic signature, available for free on your biometric Serbian ID card via MUP, or on a smart card from Pošta Srbije or Halcom) or an eID account.
• In person, at the pisarnica of your LPA. In Belgrade, that's the relevant odeljenje of the Sekretarijat za javne prihode covering your opština sedišta (Savski Venac, Stari Grad, Novi Beograd, and so on). Elsewhere, it's the LPA of your opština.
• By registered mail to your LPA's address.
• By email, in some Belgrade opštine, which accept scanned forms sent to dedicated email addresses. This varies — check what your specific opština accepts.

Whichever route you choose, the form itself is the same one-pager. If you're using software that generates a pre-filled Obrazac 1 from your business profile, you can typically print or download it and submit it through any of the above channels.

If you're a new paušalac

Two things to know.

First, the first-year filing. When you register your paušalac status with APR, you're expected to file Obrazac 1 with your LPA within 15 days of registration. This is on top of the regular April 30 deadline — so if you register in, say, October, you don't wait until April; you file within 15 days. The relevant rule is in član 138. of the Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara.

Second, the first-year amount. The eko taksa for a given year is calculated based on the previous year's revenue. Since you didn't have any revenue in the previous year (you weren't registered yet), your obligation for the year you register is zero. You file the form, the LPA issues a rešenje showing 0 RSD or no payment due, and that's it.

From the second year onward, you're a normal paying paušalac, with a regular April 30 filing and quarterly payments.

If something changes mid-year

If anything significant about your business changes during the year — you move your sedište to a different opština, you change your šifra delatnosti to one in a different impact category, you pause the business (mirovanje) or close it entirely — you need to file an updated Obrazac 1 within 15 days of the change.

A few specifics:

• Moving to a different opština. You'll need to deregister with the old LPA and register with the new one. APR's address change automatically notifies tax authorities, but the local fee filing is a separate step you handle yourself.
• Mirovanje (temporary suspension). During mirovanje, you don't pay eko taksa for the period you're paused. When you resume, file an updated Obrazac 1 within 15 days, and the LPA will calculate the prorated amount for the rest of the year.
• Closing the business. Before you can deregister with APR, the LPA will require confirmation that all local fees are paid up — including any back-dated eko taksa they think you owe. Skipping filings in earlier years can create a real headache here, because the LPA can retroactively assess the fees and you'll need to clear them before closing.

What happens if you don't file

Filing Obrazac 1 is a legal obligation. Not filing is a prekršaj (administrative offense) under the Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara, with fines ranging from 5,000 to 150,000 RSD for an entrepreneur. The fee itself, if owed, also accrues zatezna kamata (default interest) under the Zakon o poreskom postupku i poreskoj administraciji until it's paid.

In practice, LPAs don't aggressively chase missed filings every year. The bigger risk is that the missed filing surfaces later — when you try to close your business, change your sedište, or apply for something that requires proof of clean local-tax status. At that point, the LPA can assess the missed years all at once and add interest, which is far more painful than just filing on time.

The takeaway: the eko taksa filing is small, cheap, and low-effort. The downside of missing it is asymmetric — small fee, but potentially big and very inconvenient consequences if it catches up with you.

Don't confuse eko taksa with other "green" fees

There are a few other Serbian fees with "environmental" in the name, and they sometimes get mixed up. Here's what eko taksa is not:

• Naknada za ambalažu — a fee on packaging, paid by producers and importers of products that come in packaging. If you're a service-based paušalac (IT, consulting, design, etc.), this doesn't apply to you.
• Eko taksa for vehicles — paid when you register a car, motorcycle, or other vehicle with MUP. Unrelated to your business activity.
• Naknada za posebne tokove otpada — a fee on producers of products that become specific waste streams (electronics, tires, oils, etc.). Also a producer obligation, not relevant to most service paušalci.

If someone tells you that you owe one of these because you're a paušalac, double-check — usually it's a misunderstanding.

Quick recap

• Eko taksa is a local annual fee, handled by your LPA, not Poreska uprava.
• Most service-based paušalci pay 5,000 RSD per year.
• File Obrazac 1 by April 30 each year, plus within 15 days when you first register or when something changes.
• Pay in four quarterly installments, or just pay the full annual amount in one go — both are fine.
• First year: you file, but you don't pay — there's no previous-year revenue to base the fee on.
• Don't skip the filing, even if you think you don't owe anything. The downside of a missed filing is much bigger than the few minutes it takes to do it right.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the eko taksa for paušalci in Serbia?

For most service-based paušalci (IT, consulting, design, photography, education), the eko taksa is 5,000 RSD per year — roughly €43. Activities classified as medium environmental impact pay 10,000 RSD; high-impact activities pay 20,000 RSD. The fee is capped at 0.4% of the previous year's revenue.

What is Obrazac 1?

Obrazac 1 is a one-page form filed annually with your local tax administration (LPA). It declares your business, activity code, and the environmental impact category that applies, and it's the basis on which the LPA issues a rešenje with your annual eko taksa obligation.

When is the eko taksa deadline in Serbia?

The Obrazac 1 filing deadline is April 30 each year. The annual amount is split into four quarterly installments due by April 15, July 15, October 15, and January 15 of the following year — though you can also prepay the full annual amount in a single transfer.

Do new paušalci pay eko taksa in their first year?

No — your first-year amount is zero, because the fee is calculated from the previous year's revenue and you have none. But you still have to file Obrazac 1 within 15 days of registering your paušalac status with APR. Skipping that filing can lead to an administrative fine later, even though no actual money was owed.

Can I pay the eko taksa for the whole year at once?

Yes. While the law schedules four quarterly installments, the Treasury accepts a single annual transfer, and the LPA's system applies it across the quarters automatically. For a 5,000 RSD/year paušalac, a single payment in March or April (once your rešenje arrives) is the simplest option.

Where do I file Obrazac 1?

With your local tax administration (LPA). In Belgrade, that's the Sekretarijat za javne prihode Grada Beograda; elsewhere, it's the LPA of your opština. You can file online through the JIS LPA portal (lpa.gov.rs), in person at the pisarnica, by registered mail, or — in some Belgrade opštine — by email.

What happens if I don't file Obrazac 1?

Not filing is an administrative offense (prekršaj) with fines from 5,000 to 150,000 RSD for an entrepreneur. The unpaid fee also accrues default interest. Practically, LPAs don't chase every missed filing immediately, but missed years catch up when you try to close the business, change your address, or apply for anything that needs a clean local-tax certificate.

Is eko taksa the same as VAT or income tax?

No. Eko taksa is a local environmental fee handled by your municipal LPA. VAT (PDV) is a republic-level consumption tax — and paušalci aren't in the VAT system at all unless their revenue crosses the threshold. Income tax (porez na prihode) and social contributions are paid monthly to Poreska uprava based on your rešenje. The three obligations are completely separate.

Does the eko taksa apply to paušalci with zero or low revenue?

The filing applies; the fee depends on the previous year's revenue. The Uredba caps the fee at 0.4% of revenue, which means a paušalac with very low revenue may owe less than the standard 5,000 RSD bracket amount — though for most paušalci this cap doesn't kick in. Either way, Obrazac 1 must still be filed.