How Much Does a Paušalac Pay 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, br. 84/2004 … 6/2026 – usklađeni din. izn. i 80/2026), the Uredba o paušalnom oporezivanju (br. 94/2019 … 115/2025), the Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara (br. 95/2018 … 35/2026) and the Zakon o finansiranju lokalne samouprave (ZFLS, br. 62/2006 … 115/2025), gazette references checked October 31, 2026.

How much does a paušalac pay in Serbia? There is no single amount, and any page that gives you one without your rešenje (the annual tax decision) is guessing. What exists is a list of components; below, each one comes with the article of law that sets it.

Short answer. A paušalac (a flat-rate sole proprietor) pays four monthly amounts fixed by the rešenje: 10% income tax and 35.05% social contributions, together 45.05% of the assessed income (ZPDG čl. 38; ZDOSO čl. 44 st. 1, rates in force in 2026), due within 15 days after each month ends (ZPDG čl. 110 t. 1). On top come the eko taksa if your activity is on the list, possible local fees, and bank and accountant costs. Preduzmi, which we build as paušalci, tracks the four monthly payments.

What does a paušalac pay every month?

Every month a paušalac pays four amounts: income tax, PIO, health insurance and unemployment insurance, all calculated from one assessed income figure stated in the rešenje. Your invoices do not change them.

The base for all four is the same number. For a preduzetnik (a sole proprietor) taxed on a flat-rate basis, the contribution base is the paušalno utvrđen prihod under the income tax law (ZDOSO čl. 22 st. 3), the same figure that carries the 10% tax. Thus, one figure on the rešenje drives the whole month.

What does this mean in practice? A month without a single invoice costs exactly the same as a month with ten. The amounts are owed because the business is registered, not because it earned something.

The deadline is 15 days after the end of the month the payment covers. ZPDG čl. 110 t. 1 puts it as "15 dana po isteku svakog meseca - na paušalno utvrđen prihod od samostalne delatnosti" (15 days after each month ends, on the flat-rate assessed self-employment income). The contributions follow the same date, because ZDOSO čl. 60 st. 1 refers to the deadline of the income tax law. The payment for October is due by 15 November, and so on. A late payment accrues interest from the day after the due date (ZPPPA čl. 75 st. 2); how late-payment interest is calculated is covered separately.

There is one more rule for January. Until the rešenje for the current year arrives, the income tax is paid at the level set by the previous year's rešenje (ZPDG čl. 109 st. 2). That provision is worded for the tax; for the contributions in those weeks, check with the Poreska uprava or a tax consultant.

Each of the four goes to its own treasury account with the reference number from your rešenje. Accounts, the payment code and the reference model are in the guide to paying your paušal taxes; Preduzmi's payment dialog shows the slip fields and an NBS IPS QR code for scanning in mobile banking, and you check every field and confirm the payment in your own bank.

Where does the monthly amount come from?

The monthly amount comes from the rešenje, which the Poreska uprava issues each year and can deliver through its portal, ePorezi (ZPPPA čl. 36). It states the assessed income and the four monthly obligations; how to read the rešenje field by field has its own guide.

The assessed income comes from a formula in the Uredba o paušalnom oporezivanju (the government decree on flat-rate taxation):

Starting base = average monthly salary in the municipality over the last 12 months × number of employees there × your activity coefficient ÷ population of the municipality (Uredba čl. 4 st. 2).

The ten central Belgrade municipalities count as one unit (čl. 4 st. 3), and for 15 activity codes, 6201 and 6202 among them, Republic-level figures replace the municipal ones (čl. 4 st. 4). Correction coefficients (seat zone for listed codes, time since registration, age, disability, long parental absence, old crafts) then multiply the starting base, and their combined product cannot fall below 0.5 (Uredba čl. 5 st. 1–2). A rise of more than 10% caused by the change in how the paušal tax is calculated comes in 10% steps a year through 2027, unless it follows a change of activity code, municipality or place of registration (Uredba čl. 6).

Let us consider an example with fictional figures, not a calculation for any real activity code. Suppose the formula gives a starting base of 200,000 RSD a month, and the only correction is the year-of-registration coefficient of 0.5. The assessed income is then 100,000 RSD, and the four payments are:

• income tax 10%: 10,000 RSD
• PIO 24%: 24,000 RSD
• health 10.3%: 10,300 RSD
• unemployment 0.75%: 750 RSD
• total 45.05%: 45,050 RSD

The inputs, not the arithmetic, make the figure yours. The list of 15 codes and the coefficient tables are in how the paušal tax base is calculated.

Preduzmi reads the four monthly amounts, the treasury accounts and the BOP (the payment reference number) from an uploaded rešenje into your tax obligations, for you to check against the document; a mid-year change gets a 'valid from' month, so earlier months keep the old amounts.

What is paid once a year or quarterly?

Besides the monthly four, a paušalac may owe the eko taksa, a local environmental fee, if the activity is on the list, and possibly other local fees set by the municipality. Firmarina, the sign fee, does not apply to a paušalac outside a short list of sectors, for the reason described below.

Eko taksa

The naknada za zaštitu i unapređivanje životne sredine (eko taksa for short) applies if your activity is on the list of activities that affect the environment (Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara čl. 134 st. 1 t. 1). It is assessed by your municipality's own revenue authority, not by the Poreska uprava (čl. 137 st. 1), and not for the calendar year in which the business is registered (čl. 137 st. 2). The list, the amounts, the filing and the quarterly payments are in the eko taksa guide.

Firmarina and other local fees

A preduzetnik with annual revenue up to 50,000,000 RSD does not pay firmarina, the local communal fee for displaying a business name on business premises (ZFLS čl. 15a st. 1, checked October 31, 2026). The exemption does not cover a list of sectors: banking, property and personal insurance, production of and trade in oil and fuel, production and wholesale of tobacco products, cement production, postal, mobile and telephone services, electricity, and gambling and nightlife. Above 50,000,000 RSD, outside those sectors, the annual fee is capped at two average salaries (čl. 15a st. 2).

For a paušalac, who loses the regime once turnover in the previous year exceeds 6,000,000 RSD (ZPDG čl. 40 st. 2 t. 4, as of 2026), the 50,000,000 RSD line is far away. However, firmarina is not the only local communal fee. ZFLS čl. 15 lists what a municipality may charge (for example, for keeping a motor vehicle), and each municipality decides by its own act. Check your municipality's decision rather than a national list.

What changes if you are also employed?

If you are employed and run the business alongside it (a dopunska delatnost), your obligations can differ from those of a full-time paušalac; check your rešenje or ask a tax consultant. The ZDOSO rules for people insured on several grounds start at čl. 12, and we do not retell them here.

Preduzmi's business profile has a dopunska delatnost setting. Check the obligations the app shows against your own rešenje.

What else does running a paušal business cost?

Running a paušal business also costs a bank account and, if you choose one, an accountant. Neither is set by tax law, so neither has a statutory figure.

The bank. A business account comes with the bank's own tariff: account maintenance, domestic and international transfers, currency conversion. Fees differ between banks and change over time, so compare the current tariff of your own bank. One detail matters for tracking: a fee charged on a tax payment is not a tax payment. Preduzmi matches tax payments in your imported bank statement by BOP and treasury account, but first it books as an expense any transaction with payment code 221 or a description starting with 'Provizija banke' or 'Naknada za kori' (as in 'Naknada za koristenje paketa'). Such a line is never counted as tax paid, even when the bank export gives it the code and treasury account of the tax payment it belongs to.

The accountant. Whether you need one is a separate question; we set out what the law requires and what an accountant adds in do you need an accountant as a paušalac. Prices are a matter between you and the accountant, and we do not quote them.

Time. The knjiga o ostvarenom prometu (the KPO book, the turnover register a paušalac keeps) has no fee, but it has to be kept. Preduzmi exports it as PDF or DOCX from your confirmed and paid income invoices; what goes into the KPO book is covered separately.

What remains after these payments is yours. Moving it from the business account to a personal one has its own mechanics: moving money from your paušal account to a personal one.

Why are the amounts you read online not yours?

Published monthly figures for paušalci ignore the inputs that make your assessment individual, so they cannot tell you what you will pay. One guide published in many languages gives a range of 30,000–60,000 RSD a month for IT freelancers in Belgrade, with no year and no article of law (seen October 31, 2026). Is it wrong? It is not checkable, which is worse.

There are four reasons a range like that is not yours:

1. Correction coefficients are personal. The registration ladder, age, disability, parental absence and, for some codes, the seat zone (Uredba čl. 5) change the base for two people with the same code in the same city.
2. For IT codes, the city is not an input. For 6201 and 6202, Republic-level figures replace the municipal ones (Uredba čl. 4 st. 4). A range labeled 'Belgrade' mixes in a variable the formula does not use for those codes.
3. The cap depends on your history. Where the change in the calculation method would raise the base by more than 10%, the increase comes in 10% steps through 2027 (Uredba čl. 6 st. 1), so this year's figure depends on last year's.
4. The inputs are updated. The formula uses the latest published salary, employment and population statistics (Uredba čl. 4 st. 1–2), so a figure without a year describes nobody's current rešenje.

The rates themselves are fixed by law: ZDOSO čl. 44 st. 1 gives 24 + 10.3 + 0.75 = 35.05% in contributions, and with the 10% tax that is 45.05%.

Where does the right figure come from? Two places: your rešenje, and the official calculator of the Poreska uprava at eporezi.purs.gov.rs. Everything else is an estimate of someone else's situation.

What does paušal not cover?

The monthly paušal covers your self-employment income only; the annual income tax and income of other types follow their own rules.

• Annual income tax. The paušalno utvrđen prihod counts toward the godišnji porez na dohodak građana (ZPDG čl. 87 st. 2 t. 2), which applies only when the year's income exceeds three times the average annual salary for that year (čl. 87 st. 1). Whether it reaches you depends on your total income for the year; the annual income tax guide has the threshold and the deadline.
• Other types of income. ZPDG lists the types of income it taxes, among them capital income, rental income, capital gains and other income, next to self-employment income (ZPDG čl. 3). Rent from a flat or dividends are not part of the paušal and are taxed under the rules for their own type.
• Status, not money. The paušal regime is available only while turnover in the previous year stays at or below 6,000,000 RSD (ZPDG čl. 40 st. 2 t. 4, as of 2026). The 6 million revenue limit explains what happens above it.

What do the contributions buy? Health coverage, pension accrual and some benefits; health, sick leave and pension rights lists them and their gaps.

When is Preduzmi the wrong tool?

Preduzmi is built for service-based paušalci; it is the wrong tool if you run a DOO, keep full books as a knjigaš (double-entry, ZPDG čl. 43 st. 2), or sell physical goods. Those structures have different tax rules and bookkeeping (and goods need inventory), which the app does not handle. Use an accountant or general accounting software instead.

It is also the wrong tool if you want someone else to file things for you. Preduzmi files nothing with the Poreska uprava, SEF or ePorezi; you pay and file yourself. For a disputed rešenje, a borderline classification or several kinds of income at once, talk to an accountant or a tax consultant. And if all you need is the four monthly amounts, the rešenje and your bank's payment form are enough.

Where it fits: the bank statement, the four tax payments and the KPO in one tool; what that leaves for an accountant is in do you need an accountant as a paušalac.

If you want to see the four payments from your own rešenje matched against your bank statement, start a free trial:

Frequently asked questions

How much does a paušalac pay per month in Serbia?

There is no single amount. A paušalac pays four monthly amounts set by the annual rešenje: 10% income tax under ZPDG čl. 38 and contributions of 24% for pension, 10.3% for health and 0.75% for unemployment under ZDOSO čl. 44 st. 1. Together they are 45.05% of the paušalno utvrđen prihod, the income the Poreska uprava assesses from the formula in the Uredba on flat-rate taxation. The assessed income depends on the activity code, correction coefficients and statistical inputs, so the amount differs between paušalci.

What does a paušalac pay besides tax and contributions?

Besides the four monthly payments, a paušalac whose activity is on the list under čl. 134 st. 1 t. 1 of the Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara pays the eko taksa, an annual local environmental fee paid in quarterly installments; it is not assessed for the calendar year of registration (čl. 137 st. 2). A municipality may also charge other local communal fees under ZFLS čl. 15. Bank account fees and the cost of an accountant, if one is hired, are business costs rather than taxes.

When are the monthly paušal payments due?

The four monthly payments are due within 15 days after the end of the month they cover, under ZPDG čl. 110 t. 1. The contributions share that deadline because ZDOSO čl. 60 st. 1 refers to the income tax law. Until the rešenje for the current year is issued, the income tax is paid at the level set by the previous year's rešenje, under ZPDG čl. 109 st. 2.

Does a paušalac pay firmarina in Serbia?

Under ZFLS čl. 15a st. 1, entrepreneurs with annual revenue up to 50,000,000 RSD do not pay the local communal fee for displaying a business name, except in listed sectors such as banking, insurance, oil and fuel, tobacco production and wholesale, cement, postal and telecom services, electricity, and gambling and nightlife. The right to flat-rate taxation ends when turnover in the previous year exceeds 6,000,000 RSD (ZPDG čl. 40 st. 2 t. 4, as of 2026), far below that threshold. Other local communal fees depend on the decision of each municipality.

Why is my paušal amount different from the figures online?

Published monthly figures cannot include the correction coefficients in Uredba čl. 5, which depend on, among other things, the time since registration, age, disability and parental absence. For codes such as 6201 and 6202, Republic-level figures replace municipal ones under Uredba čl. 4 st. 4, so a city-based range does not apply. A transitional rule in Uredba čl. 6 also spreads certain increases in 10% annual steps through 2027, so each figure depends on its own history. The authoritative figure is the one in your rešenje.

Sources

• Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana (ZPDG) — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 24/2001 … 6/2026 – usklađeni din. izn. i 80/2026. čl. 3, čl. 38, čl. 40 st. 2 t. 4, čl. 43 st. 2, čl. 87 st. 2 t. 2, čl. 109 st. 2, čl. 110 t. 1. 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. Checked 2026-10-31.
• Zakon o doprinosima za obavezno socijalno osiguranje (ZDOSO) — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 84/2004 … 6/2026 – usklađeni din. izn. i 80/2026. čl. 12, čl. 22 st. 3, čl. 44 st. 1, čl. 60 st. 1. The 80/2026 amendments apply from 1 January 2027 (some from 1 January 2028) and change only čl. 45, 45b, 45v and 65 (employment incentives and reliefs); the articles cited here are as in force in 2026. Checked 2026-10-31.
• Uredba o bližim uslovima, kriterijumima i elementima za paušalno oporezivanje obveznika poreza na prihode od samostalne delatnosti — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 94/2019, 96/2019 – ispr., 156/2020, 141/2022, 89/2023, 115/2025. čl. 4, čl. 5, čl. 6. Full text: paragraf.rs. Checked 2026-10-31.
• Zakon o naknadama za korišćenje javnih dobara — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 95/2018 … 109/2025, 118/2025 – usklađeni din. izn. i 35/2026. čl. 134 st. 1 t. 1, čl. 137 st. 1, st. 2 and st. 5. Checked 2026-10-31.
• Zakon o poreskom postupku i poreskoj administraciji (ZPPPA) — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 80/2002 … 109/2025 i 80/2026. čl. 36, čl. 75 st. 2. Checked 2026-10-31.
• Zakon o finansiranju lokalne samouprave (ZFLS) — "Sl. glasnik RS", br. 62/2006 … 115/2025. čl. 15, čl. 15a st. 1–2. Checked 2026-10-31.
• Kalkulator paušalnog poreza i doprinosa, Poreska uprava — the official calculator.