How to Pay Your Paušal Taxes: 4 Payments, 4 Accounts, and Reference Numbers

Last updated: March 2026. Reflects current payment procedures and account numbers.

Every month, as a Serbian paušalac, you must make four separate bank transfers to four different government treasury accounts. Get a reference number wrong, and your payment goes to the right institution but gets attributed to the wrong person — meaning you're simultaneously overpaying on one obligation and accumulating penalty interest on another, even though you paid the correct total. This happens more often than you'd think.

This guide walks you through the entire monthly payment process: which accounts to pay, how to construct the reference numbers, what the payment codes mean, how to use the ePorezi portal, and how to fix errors if they happen.

The four monthly payments

Your annual rešenje (tax decision) from the Poreska uprava specifies exactly four monthly obligations:

1. Porez na prihode od samostalnih delatnosti (Income Tax)

This is the lump-sum income tax — 10% of your assessed paušalni prihod (which is not your actual income, but a figure calculated by the Tax Authority based on your activity code, location, and other factors).

Typical monthly amount: Varies widely by activity code and municipality. For IT-related codes in Belgrade, commonly 3,000-8,000 RSD/month.

2. Doprinos za PIO (Pension Insurance)

Your pension and disability insurance contribution — 24% of the assessed base. This is always the largest of the four payments.

Typical monthly amount: Commonly 7,000-20,000 RSD/month depending on your assessed base.

3. Doprinos za zdravstveno osiguranje (Health Insurance)

Health insurance contribution — 10.30% of the assessed base. This gives you access to the public health system (RFZO).

Typical monthly amount: Commonly 3,000-8,000 RSD/month.

4. Doprinos za nezaposlenost (Unemployment Insurance)

Unemployment insurance contribution — 0.75% of the assessed base. The smallest payment.

Typical monthly amount: Commonly 200-600 RSD/month.

Exception: dopunska delatnost

If you're a paušalac running your business as a side activity (dopunska delatnost) while employed full-time elsewhere, you pay only items 1 and 2 (income tax and PIO). Your employer covers health and unemployment insurance through your salary.

Payment deadline

The first payment of the year is typically due in February (for January), assuming you received your new rešenje in January. If the rešenje arrives late, you may need to make retroactive payments for the missed month(s) — but no penalty interest accrues if the delay is on the Tax Authority's side.

Anatomy of a payment slip

Each payment requires a filled-out nalog za prenos (transfer order) or its electronic equivalent in your bank's online system. Here are the fields you need to understand:

Platilac (Payer)

Your full business name and address. Your bank usually pre-fills this.

Svrha plaćanja (Purpose of payment)

A description of what you're paying. Standard format: "Porez na prihode od sam. delatnosti za [mesec] [godina]" — or similar for each payment type. Some banks accept brief descriptions; others want the full name.

Primalac (Recipient)

The recipient is always the Republika Srbija (Republic of Serbia), with the specific treasury account number for each payment type.

Šifra plaćanja (Payment code)

• 253 — for non-cash payments (bank transfer, which is what you'll use)
• 153 — for cash payments at a bank counter

Always use 253 if paying through online banking.

Valuta (Currency)

Always RSD (Serbian dinars).

Iznos (Amount)

The exact monthly amount from your rešenje for this specific payment.

Račun primaoca (Recipient account)

The treasury account number. This is different for each of the four payments — see section below.

Model and Poziv na broj (Reference number)

This is where most errors happen. The payment reference consists of two parts:

Model: Always 97 for paušal tax payments.

Poziv na broj (BOP — Broj odobrenja za plaćanje): This is a unique code assigned to YOU in your rešenje. It identifies you as the payer. It changes every year when you receive a new rešenje.

The BOP typically follows the structure: [kontrolni broj]-[PIB]-[oznaka]. The exact format is printed on the sample payment slips (primer uplatnice) that come with your rešenje.

The four treasury accounts

Each payment goes to a different account. These account numbers are specified in your rešenje — use the ones from your rešenje, not hardcoded values from the internet, as they can theoretically vary.

The standard accounts (as of 2025/2026) for most paušalci are:

All accounts start with 840 — the prefix for Serbian Treasury (Uprava za trezor) accounts.

Step-by-step: making payments through online banking

Here's the practical process using a typical Serbian bank's online banking system (Raiffeisen, Intesa, Komercijalna, etc.):

Step 1: Log in and navigate to transfers

Open your bank's online banking portal. Navigate to domestic transfers (domaći nalog za prenos / nalog za uplatu javnih prihoda). Some banks have a specific "Uplata javnih prihoda" (Public revenue payment) form that's pre-structured for tax payments.

Step 2: Fill in payment 1 of 4

For the income tax payment:

• Račun primaoca: The treasury account from your rešenje (e.g., 840-711122-843-32)
• Šifra plaćanja: 253
• Model: 97
• Poziv na broj: Your BOP from the rešenje
• Iznos: The monthly income tax amount from your rešenje
• Svrha: "Porez na prihode od sam. del. za [month] [year]"

Step 3: Repeat for payments 2, 3, and 4

Each payment is a separate transfer — you cannot combine them. Change the recipient account, amount, and description for each one. The model (97) and poziv na broj (BOP) remain the same across all four payments.

Step 4: Verify and submit

Double-check each transfer before confirming. The most common errors:

• Wrong recipient account (mixing up the four treasury accounts)
• Last year's BOP instead of this year's
• Swapped amounts (putting the PIO amount on the health insurance payment)

Step 5: Save confirmations

Keep the payment confirmations (PDF or screenshot). They're your proof of payment if there's ever a discrepancy.

Pro tip: templates

Most Serbian online banking systems let you save transfer templates. Create four templates — one for each payment — with all the static fields pre-filled. Each month, you just open the template, verify the amount, and submit. This eliminates most manual errors.

Using ePorezi to verify payments

The ePorezi portal (eporezi.purs.gov.rs) is the Tax Authority's electronic system where you can:

• View your rešenja and BOP codes
• Check your payment history (stanje na kartici poreskog obveznika)
• See if any payments are overdue or misattributed
• Download sample payment slips with QR codes

To access ePorezi:

1. You need a kvalifikovani elektronski sertifikat (qualified electronic certificate) — available from MUP (for personal ID cards with chip) or commercial providers
2. Register at eporezi.purs.gov.rs using the certificate
3. Navigate to "Stanje na kartici" to see your tax account status

What happens if you make a payment error

Wrong BOP / reference number

If you used the wrong BOP, your payment arrives at the treasury but can't be matched to your tax account. It sits in a "neraspoređena uplata" (unallocated payment) state.

Fix: File a request (zahtev za preknjižavanje) at your local Poreska uprava office, providing the incorrect payment receipt and the correct BOP. The tax office will reallocate the payment. This typically takes 2-4 weeks.

Wrong treasury account

If you sent the PIO amount to the health insurance account (or any similar mix-up), the money is attributed to the wrong obligation.

Fix: Same procedure — file a preknjižavanje request. You'll need both the incorrect and correct account numbers and the payment receipt.

Missed payment entirely

If you miss the 15th deadline, penalty interest (zatezna kamata) begins accruing from the 16th. The current rate is tied to the NBS reference interest rate + 10 percentage points. Pay as soon as you realize the oversight — interest is calculated daily, so prompt action minimizes the cost.

There's no separate penalty for late payment (unlike some jurisdictions) — just the accumulated interest. However, persistent non-payment can trigger enforcement proceedings (prinudna naplata).

Payment to wrong person (wrong PIB in BOP)

This is the most problematic error. If your BOP contains a transposed digit that happens to match another taxpayer, your payment effectively paid someone else's taxes.

Fix: Requires a formal request at the Poreska uprava, possibly involving both taxpayers' records. This is slower and more complex. Prevention is the only good strategy — double-check the BOP.

Annual rhythm: when amounts change

Your monthly payment amounts are fixed for the year by the rešenje. They don't change month to month based on your actual income (that's the entire point of the paušal system).

New amounts are set each January when the Tax Authority issues updated rešenja. The new rešenje reflects:

• Updated municipal average wage (prosečna mesečna zarada)
• Your activity code coefficient
• Any changes in location, age, or business duration factors
• The annual cap on increases (currently limited to 10% growth year-over-year per the Uredba, extended through end of 2027)

When you receive a new rešenje in January, update your payment templates with the new amounts and BOP. The old amounts apply to December (paid in January); the new amounts apply starting with January (paid in February).

A monthly checklist

Here's a simple routine to follow each month:

By the 10th of each month:

• Open your four payment templates in online banking
• Verify amounts match current year's rešenje
• Verify BOP matches current year's rešenje
• Submit all four payments

By the 15th:

• Confirm all four payments show as completed in your bank history
• Save payment confirmations

Quarterly (optional but recommended):

• Check ePorezi "stanje na kartici" to verify all payments are correctly attributed
• Flag any discrepancies for resolution

Key takeaways

1. Four separate payments, four separate accounts. Income tax, PIO, health, unemployment — each goes to a different treasury account. Never combine them.
2. Model 97, always. The BOP (poziv na broj) from your rešenje is your unique payment identifier. It changes every year.
3. Deadline is the 15th of the following month. Late payment accrues daily interest but no separate penalty.
4. Save templates in your online banking. Pre-fill the static fields, update amounts and BOP in January, and reduce monthly effort to 5 minutes.
5. Check ePorezi periodically. It's the only way to confirm payments are correctly attributed on the Tax Authority's side.
6. If you make an error, file a preknjižavanje request promptly. Misattributed payments are fixable but take time — don't let them compound.
7. When in doubt, use the exact values from your rešenje. It's the authoritative document. Don't rely on amounts or account numbers from the internet or from last year.