Where to start
A sole-trader business in Serbia is registered with the APR, the business registration agency. Any application, including opening a business, is decided within five working days. Important for a foreigner: Serbian residence is not required to open one, and a business can be registered without any status. But status and business are linked the other way round: residence on the ground of a business works only with real activity.
The main warning
If you open an empty business with no turnover, residence on that ground will be granted but not extended, and permanent residence will not be given — even if you pay taxes monthly. There are no precise minimum turnover requirements in law, but the benchmark looked at in practice is around two thousand euros a month. If you cannot secure that turnover, it is more sensible to arrange status on another ground: talent, property, or children studying at a Serbian school. That also protects you from the cost of taxes and bookkeeping.
What to prepare and keep in mind
Before opening, decide on the activity code and the legal address — it can be arranged at your home address if the lease permits. A business bank account is also needed: check in advance whether the bank will open one in the currency you will be paid in, because dollar accounts are opened reluctantly in Serbia. And check separately whether your clients can pay you directly by transfer: if a company cannot send payment to the business account, that arrangement will not work, and it is better to change employer than to invent workarounds.
What must not be done
Do not try to receive money on cards issued in Russia or Armenia and then move it to Serbia and deposit it into the business account: fictitious activity and cash withdrawal carry liability, up to accusations of money laundering. The same caution applies to parallel import and re-export — accounts are not opened for such operations. The scheme must be transparent: real services or goods, payment from the client to the account, taxes to the budget.
What happens after opening
A week after registration you must obtain the tax decision: it is issued if the business is active and not frozen. The first tax is paid by the fifteenth of the month following the month of opening, and the amount is proportional to the number of active days. Then come monthly payments, which are better understood in advance, because they are due regardless of whether there was turnover that month or whether you have a bank account. If the decision shows only two taxes instead of four, part of the contributions is paid by your employer if you are employed by a Serbian company; after leaving you must file a recalculation and a new decision will appear.
What to do step by step
Choose the activity and its code. Settle the legal address. Check which bank will open a business account in the currency you need. Prepare the documents and file with the APR. Obtain the registration decision and the tax decision. Open the account and set up payment from clients. Arrange bookkeeping and payments — or hire an accountant if the activity is more complex than the lump-sum regime. And assess honestly whether the business will have real turnover: your status renewal depends on it.
Data checked on 11 October 2026: timescales, requirements and practice for sole traders follow current registration practice and community experience; check fees and bank requirements before filing.