Moving Money from Business to Personal 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) and the NBS Odluka on dinar payment orders ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 55/2015 … 82/2024), checked 2026-10-31. The other laws are listed under Sources.

Money on the business account of a Serbian paušalac (a flat-rate taxed entrepreneur) is not a company's money, so 'paying yourself' works differently than in a DOO. How do you move money from the business account to your personal account, and what does the law ask of you when you do?

Can a paušalac move money to a personal account?

Yes. A paušalac can move money from the business account to a personal account whenever they want, and ZPDG sets no rule on how often or how much. The reason is simple: a preduzetnik is not a separate legal person.

The Zakon o privrednim društvima defines a preduzetnik as a natural person who carries on an activity to earn income and is registered as such (čl. 83), and makes them liable for business obligations with all of their property, a liability that survives deletion from the register (čl. 85 st. 1–2). So the poslovni račun (business account) and your lični račun (personal account) belong to the same person, and moving money between them is not a payment to someone else. This is the main difference from a DOO, and it is why advice written for companies (dividends, a director's salary) does not transfer to a paušalac.

One exception exists. If the account is blocked for prinudna naplata (forced collection, for example of an unpaid tax), the blocked funds cannot be used for any other payment, including a transfer to yourself (Zakon o platnom prometu čl. 48 st. 7).

Is there a salary or a tax on the transfer?

No. An active paušalac does not pay themselves a salary, and the law sets no separate tax on moving money to a personal account. Both answers come from ZPDG.

Why there is no 'salary'

ZPDG čl. 33a st. 1, in the text in force in 2026, lists who may opt for a lična zarada (personal salary): "Preduzetnik i preduzetnik poljoprivrednik". By the definition in čl. 32 st. 2, the 'preduzetnik' is the one taxed on oporeziva dobit (taxable profit), while the one taxed on assessed income is the preduzetnik paušalac, who is not on the list. Čl. 33a st. 2 defines the lična zarada as the amount the taxpayer pays out and records in the business books as monthly personal income, plus the related obligations.

From 1 January 2027 the list is longer. The amending law published in "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 80/2026 (čl. 5) rewrites st. 1 to add a preduzetnik paušalac who, because the paušal right has ended, has to keep business books under čl. 42 st. 5 and 6. An active paušalac is still not on it. The consolidated text on paragraf.rs already shows this 2027 wording without marking its later start date.

A paušalac with the paušal right keeps no such books. ZPDG čl. 43 st. 4 says it directly: "Preduzetnici paušalci dužni su da vode samo poslovnu knjigu o ostvarenom prometu". There is nowhere to record a salary, and no salary to record. At least one English-language guide describes a 'simplified personal salary' for paušalci, which does not match čl. 33a. What a paušalac does pay every month is the paušal tax and contributions from the rešenje, a different obligation (see what a paušalac pays in a year).

Why the transfer itself is not taxed

For a paušalac, taxable income is the paušalno utvrđen prihod (assessed income), not profit and not withdrawals (ZPDG čl. 33 st. 1). A rešenje of the Poreska uprava (Tax Administration) sets that figure using the criteria in čl. 41 (čl. 33 st. 3), and the amount you move to your personal account is not one of them. Transfer everything or nothing, and the monthly obligation stays the same.

We found no provision in ZPDG that taxes or limits a paušalac's transfer to themselves. The nearest, čl. 51, obliges every taxpayer under čl. 32, however taxed, to make all payments through a current account at a bank and keep the funds there, including cash received. It says nothing about how much of your own money you move out. The rule that treats taking business assets for private needs as business income (čl. 37b st. 1) is addressed to taxpayers on stvarni prihod (actual income), not to paušalci.

One caveat. We do not call the paušal tax 'final': ZPDG does not use that word for it, and the assessed income still counts toward the godišnji porez na dohodak građana (annual income tax, ZPDG čl. 87 st. 2 t. 2). Whether that tax reaches you depends on your total income for the year, not on your transfers. The annual income tax guide covers the threshold.

Can a paušalac withdraw cash, and which payment code fits?

Yes. Besides a transfer with a nalog za prenos (transfer order), a paušalac can withdraw cash with a nalog za isplatu (withdrawal order) or a card issued for the business account. For a transfer to your own personal account, the NBS list of payment codes has no code designed for this case. The closest descriptions are 263 'Ostali transferi' and 290 'Druge transakcije'; a cash withdrawal from a preduzetnik's account is 166 'Isplata gotovine'. Check the code with your bank before you rely on it.

The šifra plaćanja (payment code) is defined in the NBS Odluka on dinar payment orders ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 55/2015 … 82/2024; full title under Sources). It has three digits: first the form of payment, then two digits for the basis of payment (Prilog 2 t. 6). In Prilog 3, a first digit 1 means gotovinski (cash paid into or out of an account) and 2 means bezgotovinski (a transfer from one account to another).

Online guides name 263 for this case. That is also our reading of Prilog 3, but it is a reading, not a rule: the NBS does not designate one code for a paušalac's transfer to themselves, and your bank may have its own guidance.

The transfer uses a nalog za prenos (transfer order), which the Odluka defines for moving funds from one current account to another (t. 5). The purpose field is free text: the Odluka asks that it describe the basis of the transfer (Prilog 2 t. 5) and prescribes no fixed wording.

The cash withdrawal uses a nalog za isplatu (withdrawal order), which the Odluka defines for paying cash out of a current account (t. 4), and the code starts with 1. A withdrawal with a payment card issued for the business account follows the bank's own card terms.

If the money sits on the devizni račun (foreign-currency account) because a foreign client paid in euros, the dinar codes above are not the whole story. See foreign-currency inflows for a paušalac.

What do you have to record when money leaves the account?

Nothing in the KPO. A transfer to your personal account is not turnover, so it is not entered in the knjiga o ostvarenom prometu (KPO book). ZPDG čl. 43 st. 4 obliges a paušalac to keep only that book, and under čl. 7 of the Pravilnik o poslovnim knjigama ("Sl. glasnik RS", br. 140/2004 i 44/2018 – dr. zakon) it records revenue from products sold and services performed, not money moving between your own accounts.

The KPO has no expense side, so an outgoing transfer does not appear in it, while the bank statement shows every movement. That is one reason the two totals differ. The guide to keeping the KPO book explains what does go in, and KPO versus bank statement reconciliation explains the gap line by line.

The law prescribes nothing more for a paušalac's outgoing transfers: no separate register, no decision, no notice to the Poreska uprava. In practice, a readable purpose field makes transfers to yourself easy to tell apart from business payments on the statement.

Before you move money:

1. Check that the account is not blocked (Zakon o platnom prometu čl. 48 st. 7).
2. Leave room for the monthly obligations from your rešenje. They do not depend on what you withdraw, but they still have to be paid.
3. Pick the order type: nalog za prenos for a transfer, nalog za isplatu (or the business card) for cash.
4. Pick the code with your bank: 263 or 290 for a transfer, 166 for cash, never 240.
5. Write a plain purpose that describes the transfer.
6. Leave the KPO alone. The transfer is not revenue.

What about money that goes the other way?

Money you move from your personal account into the business account is not revenue either, and it does not go into the KPO. The same applies to a loan or a refund from a supplier; the guide to non-revenue credits on the bank statement covers them.

How is it different in a DOO?

In a DOO the money belongs to the company, not to you, so the owner cannot simply move it to a personal account as a paušalac does. The usual way to take profit out is a dividend or profit share, and ZPDG treats both that and the owner's taking from the company's assets for private needs and personal consumption as capital income (čl. 61 st. 1 t. 2 and t. 4), taxed at 15% (čl. 64, consolidated text through "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 80/2026).

That contrast is why DOO advice reads so differently. Weighing the two regimes is a decision to make with an accountant, not on a payment order.

When is Preduzmi the wrong tool for this?

Preduzmi does not recognize a transfer to yourself. It files an outgoing transfer to your personal account, and a cash withdrawal, as Expense. If the distinction matters in a report, you change the category by hand or keep that record elsewhere. What the app does today, checked in the code on 2026-10-31:

• Outgoing transfers to yourself become Expense. Any outgoing payment that does not match a tax obligation's reference or treasury account falls back to Expense. Apart from tax payments, there are two special cases. Bank fees, recognized by payment code 221 or by a description that starts with 'Provizija banke' or 'Naknada za kori…', also become Expense. Currency exchange (code 286, or a description that starts with 'Isplata dinarske protivvrednosti') has its own category. There is no 'owner withdrawal' category.
• Money you move in from your personal account becomes Income. Any positive amount that is not a currency exchange and does not match a tax obligation is categorized as Income, and the secondary limit check computed from bank transactions counts it until you re-categorize it. The main limit bar, built against the 6,000,000 RSD paušal limit (ZPDG čl. 40 st. 2 t. 4, as of 2026), and the KPO are computed from invoices, so they are not affected. The guide to the revenue limits explains that threshold.
• You can edit the category of any transaction in its edit dialog.
• The KPO comes from confirmed and paid income invoices, never from bank lines, so a transfer to yourself never reaches the book.

Where Preduzmi helps is keeping the statement and the book side by side. Advice on a specific transfer, a regime change or a blocked account is a question for an accountant; do you need an accountant as a paušalac covers when that is the case.

If you want your statements and invoices in one place, with the KPO built from invoices and not from transfers:

Frequently asked questions

Can a paušalac in Serbia transfer money from the business account to a personal account?

Yes. A preduzetnik is a natural person under čl. 83 of the Zakon o privrednim društvima, so the business account and the personal account belong to the same person, and an ordinary transfer order moves money between them. The Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana sets no rule on how often or how much. The exception is a blocked account: under čl. 48 st. 7 of the Zakon o platnom prometu, funds blocked for forced collection cannot be used for other payments.

Does a paušalac in Serbia pay themselves a salary?

No. In the text in force in 2026, Article 33a of the Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana allows a lična zarada only for a preduzetnik taxed on profit and a preduzetnik poljoprivrednik. From 1 January 2027 an amendment adds a preduzetnik paušalac who has lost the paušal right and must keep business books, but still not an active one. An active paušalac keeps only the KPO book under čl. 43 st. 4 and simply transfers money to a personal account. The monthly paušal tax and contributions are a different obligation, set by the rešenje.

Is a transfer from a paušal business account to a personal account taxed in Serbia?

No separate tax applies to the transfer. A paušalac's taxable income is the paušalno utvrđen prihod set by the Poreska uprava's rešenje under čl. 33 of the Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana, and the amount withdrawn is not one of its inputs. The assessed income can still count toward the annual income tax under čl. 87, which depends on total income, not on transfers.

Which payment code does a Serbian paušalac use for a transfer to a personal account?

The NBS list of payment codes has no code designed for this case. The closest descriptions in Prilog 3 of the NBS Odluka on dinar payment orders are 263, Ostali transferi, and 290, Druge transakcije. A cash withdrawal from a preduzetnik's account uses 166, Isplata gotovine. Code 240 covers lična zarada, which an active paušalac does not have, so it does not fit. Confirm the code with your bank.

Does a transfer to a personal account go into the KPO book?

No. Under čl. 7 of the Pravilnik o poslovnim knjigama, the KPO book records revenue from products sold and services performed, and a transfer between the paušalac's own accounts is not revenue. Money moved the other way, from a personal account into the business account, is not revenue either. Both appear on the bank statement but never in the book, which is one reason the two totals differ.

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). Čl. 32 st. 2, čl. 33 st. 1 and 3, čl. 33a st. 1–2 (st. 1 cited in the wording in force in 2026), čl. 37b st. 1, čl. 40 st. 2 t. 4, čl. 41, čl. 43 st. 4, čl. 51, čl. 61 st. 1 t. 2 and t. 4, čl. 64, čl. 87 st. 2 t. 2. 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.
• Zakon o izmenama i dopunama Zakona o porezu na dohodak građana — Narodna skupština, "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 80/2026 (checked 2026-10-31). Čl. 5 (new čl. 33a st. 1) and čl. 6 (applies from 1 January 2027).
• Odluka o obliku, sadržini i načinu korišćenja obrazaca platnih naloga za izvršenje platnih transakcija u dinarima — Narodna banka Srbije, "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 55/2015, 78/2015, 82/2017, 65/2018, 78/2018, 22/2019, 125/2020 i 82/2024 (checked 2026-10-31). T. 4 and t. 5, Prilog 2 t. 5 and t. 6, and Prilog 3 (codes 40, 53, 63, 66, 89, 90).
• Pravilnik o poslovnim knjigama i iskazivanju finansijskog rezultata po sistemu prostog knjigovodstva — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 140/2004 i 44/2018 – dr. zakon (checked 2026-10-31). Čl. 7.
• Zakon o privrednim društvima — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 36/2011, 99/2011, 83/2014 – dr. zakon, 5/2015, 44/2018, 95/2018, 91/2019, 109/2021 i 19/2025 (checked 2026-10-31). Čl. 83 and čl. 85.
• Zakon o platnom prometu — "Sl. list SRJ", br. 3/2002 i 5/2003 i "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 43/2004, 62/2006, 111/2009 – dr. zakon, 31/2011 i 139/2014 – dr. zakon (checked 2026-10-31). Čl. 48 st. 7.