Test Samostalnosti: How to Pass Serbia's Independence Test

Last updated: March 2026. Reflects current legislation under the Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 80/2002, with amendments), Articles 85 and 85a.

If you're a Serbian paušalac working primarily with one foreign client — and statistically, you probably are — the independence test (test samostalnosti) is the single biggest compliance risk you face. Fail it, and your income gets reclassified from "self-employment income" taxed at a combined ~45% of your assessed paušal base to "other income" taxed at an effective rate that can exceed 40% of your actual gross revenue. The financial difference is enormous.

This guide breaks down all 9 criteria, explains exactly how the test works, walks through the scenarios that most commonly trigger failure, and provides concrete strategies to strengthen your position.

What is the independence test?

The test samostalnosti was introduced in 2020 to combat what Serbian legislators call "fictitious entrepreneurship" — situations where a person registers as a paušalac but functions, in practice, as a disguised employee of a single company. The concern is that companies (especially foreign ones) use Serbian preduzetnici as cheap labor without paying employer social contributions.

The test is codified in Article 85, paragraph 1, point 17 and Article 85a of the Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana. It applies to the relationship between a preduzetnik and each individual client — you can pass the test with one client and fail it with another.

The core rule

The test examines 9 criteria. If 5 or more criteria indicate dependence in your relationship with a specific client, the Tax Authority can reclassify the income from that client as "other income" (drugi prihodi) rather than self-employment income.

This reclassification doesn't mean you lose paušal status for all your income — only the income from the specific client relationship that failed the test. But if that client represents 80-90% of your revenue (as is common for IT freelancers), the practical impact is devastating.

The 9 criteria explained

For each criterion, the test asks whether the relationship looks more like employment or more like independent contracting. Here's what each one means in practice:

Criterion 1: Number of clients

Fails if: The preduzetnik earned more than 70% of their total revenue from a single client in the past 12 months.

Passes if: Revenue is distributed across multiple clients, with no single client exceeding 70%.

This is the most commonly failed criterion and the hardest to fix quickly. If you have one long-term foreign client paying you €4,000/month and a sporadic local client paying €500 twice a year, you're failing this criterion by a wide margin.

Practical strategy: Actively seek additional clients — even small projects. A few smaller contracts that generate 30%+ of revenue from sources other than your primary client will flip this criterion. Some paušalci take on consulting, training, or code-review work specifically to diversify.

Criterion 2: Working hours

Fails if: The client determines your working hours (e.g., "you must be online 9-5 CET").

Passes if: You set your own schedule and are free to work when you choose.

The key question is control, not synchronization. If you happen to work 9-5 because that's when you're productive, that's fine. If the client's contract says "consultant must be available 9:00–17:00 CET, Monday through Friday" — that reads like an employment schedule.

Practical strategy: Ensure your contract specifies deliverables and deadlines, not working hours. Replace language like "working hours: 9-5" with "deliverables will be completed by agreed deadlines." If you attend daily standups, frame them as coordination meetings, not mandatory attendance requirements.

Criterion 3: Vacation and leave

Fails if: The client approves or controls when you take time off.

Passes if: You independently decide when to take breaks, vacations, or time off, simply informing the client as a courtesy.

If you submit PTO requests through the client's HR system, that's a red flag. If you send an email saying "I'll be unavailable August 10-24, deliverables X and Y will be completed before I leave" — that's independent scheduling.

Practical strategy: Never use the client's internal leave management system. Communicate time off as notifications, not requests. Your contract should state that the contractor determines their own schedule.

Criterion 4: Workplace

Fails if: The client provides the workspace (you work at their office or are required to use their co-working space).

Passes if: You work from your own location — home, your own rented office, a co-working space you pay for yourself.

Working from a client's office regularly is a strong indicator of employment. Occasional on-site visits for meetings or workshops are fine and expected.

Practical strategy: Work from your own space. If you visit the client's office, document it as project-related travel, not your regular workplace. Your contract should specify that services are performed at the contractor's own premises.

Criterion 5: Training and professional development

Fails if: The client organizes and pays for your training, skill development, or certifications.

Passes if: You manage and fund your own professional development.

Attending the client's internal "lunch and learn" sessions is borderline. Being enrolled in their onboarding program, mandatory compliance training, or sponsored certification courses looks like employment.

Practical strategy: Pay for your own courses, conferences, and certifications. If the client offers training, consider whether attending is genuinely optional and relevant to the specific project, or whether it's part of their employee development program.

Criterion 6: Equipment and tools

Fails if: The client provides your primary work equipment (laptop, software licenses, specialized tools).

Passes if: You use your own equipment and tools.

This is common in IT: the client ships you a company laptop with pre-configured access. Convenient? Yes. Independence test problem? Also yes.

Practical strategy: Use your own hardware. If the client requires specific software (access to their VPN, their Jira instance, their Slack), that's normal project tooling. But your primary work machine should be yours. If you must use a client-provided device for security reasons, document why (e.g., "client's infosec policy requires VPN access from managed devices for accessing production systems") and ensure your contract frames this as a project requirement, not equipment provision.

Criterion 7: Exclusivity

Fails if: The client contractually prohibits you from working with other clients (non-compete or exclusivity clause during the engagement).

Passes if: You are free to take on other work simultaneously.

Review your contract carefully. Some clients include non-compete clauses by default in their contractor agreements. Even if they don't enforce it, the clause itself can fail this criterion.

Practical strategy: Negotiate removal of exclusivity and non-compete clauses from your contract. Accept reasonable confidentiality (NDA) and non-solicitation clauses instead — these don't indicate employment. If the client insists on exclusivity, this is a significant test risk.

Criterion 8: Permanence of relationship

Fails if: The engagement has no defined end date or project scope — it's an open-ended, indefinite arrangement.

Passes if: The engagement is project-based with a defined scope, deliverables, and timeline (even if renewed periodically).

A contract that says "ongoing services until terminated by either party" looks like employment. A contract that says "development of Module X, estimated 6 months, with option to extend for Module Y" looks like independent project work.

Practical strategy: Structure your contracts as project-based agreements with defined scopes and timeframes, even if you intend to continue working with the client long-term. When a project ends, sign a new contract for the next phase rather than rolling the same contract forward indefinitely. Each contract should have a clear scope of work and deliverables.

Criterion 9: Risk bearing

Fails if: The preduzetnik bears no financial risk — they get paid a fixed amount regardless of outcomes, with no liability for defects or delays.

Passes if: The preduzetnik bears business risk — responsibility for quality, potential rework at own cost, warranties on deliverables, liability for deadline failures.

A pure time-and-materials arrangement where you bill hours and the client accepts whatever you produce looks more like employment. A fixed-price project where you bear the risk of underestimating effort, with a warranty period for bug fixes, looks like independent contracting.

Practical strategy: Include warranty or defect-correction clauses in your contract. Consider fixed-price projects (or at least fixed-price milestones) rather than pure hourly billing. Your contract should include provisions for your liability in case of non-delivery or quality issues.

How the test is applied

The Tax Authority (Poreska uprava) doesn't proactively test every paušalac. The test is typically triggered by:

1. Automated risk scoring — the Tax Authority's systems flag entrepreneurs with high revenue concentration from a single source
2. Tax inspections — during a routine or targeted inspection, the inspector evaluates the independence criteria
3. Cross-border reporting — some countries report payments to Serbian residents, and high payments from a single foreign entity attract attention

When triggered, the Tax Authority examines the actual relationship — not just the contract text. They may request: your contract(s), invoices, communication records, evidence of work arrangements, and bank statements. They assess each of the 9 criteria and determine whether 5+ indicate dependence.

The assessment is per client

If you have three clients — one large (70% of revenue) and two small (15% each) — the test is applied separately to each client relationship. You might fail the test with the large client (criterion 1 automatically fails, plus perhaps 4 others) while passing it with the small ones. Only the income from the failing relationship gets reclassified.

What happens if you fail

If 5 or more criteria indicate dependence with a specific client:

1. Income from that client is reclassified as "other income" (drugi prihodi) under Article 85.
2. Tax rate: 20% income tax + 25.5% social contributions on the gross amount, effectively ~36-40% of gross depending on calculation specifics. For many paušalci, this is 3-4x what they currently pay.
3. The client also faces liability. If the client is a Serbian entity, they owe employer contributions. For foreign clients, enforcement is limited — but the burden falls entirely on the preduzetnik.
4. Retroactive assessment is possible. The Tax Authority can reclassify income for the current and previous periods within the statute of limitations.

The financial impact is severe. A paušalac earning €48,000/year might currently pay ~€500-700/month in total taxes and contributions. Under reclassification, the same income could generate a tax burden of €1,200-1,500/month — and potentially retroactive assessments for prior periods.

The IT freelancer problem

The independence test disproportionately affects IT professionals because of a common working pattern: one long-term foreign client, daily standups, the client's Jira and Slack, sometimes a client-provided laptop, and an indefinite engagement that has been rolling for 2+ years.

If this sounds like you, here's a realistic self-assessment:

In this scenario, 5-6 criteria fail. The test would not go well.

How to improve this position

You don't need to pass all 9 — just keep failures below 5. The most actionable improvements:

1. Get a second client (fixes criterion 1 if you can shift 30%+ of revenue)
2. Restructure your contract as a project-based engagement with defined scope and timeline (fixes criterion 8)
3. Add warranty/liability clauses (fixes criterion 9)
4. Stop using the client's PTO system — notify about absences instead (fixes criterion 3)
5. Decline client-organized training where possible (fixes criterion 5)

Items 2-5 can often be implemented by renegotiating your contract — something many clients are willing to do if you explain the legal context.

Key takeaways

1. 9 criteria, fail on 5+ = reclassification. The test evaluates your relationship with each client independently.
2. Revenue concentration is the #1 risk factor. More than 70% from one client automatically fails criterion 1 and signals risk on other criteria.
3. Contracts matter enormously. Project-based scope, no exclusivity, no working-hour requirements, warranty clauses — these contractual elements directly address multiple criteria.
4. The test looks at substance, not just form. A contract that says "independent contractor" but describes an employment relationship won't pass.
5. Diversifying clients is the single most effective protection. Even small additional clients that shift revenue distribution below 70% make a significant difference.
6. When in doubt, consult a tax advisor. The independence test has nuances (especially for foreign clients where enforcement mechanisms differ), and a professional assessment of your specific situation is worth the investment.