Serbia

New technical guidelines Serbia has published an updated version of its technical guidelines with respect to The Technical Guideline for the Administrative and Technical Overview of Functionalities (ESIR or L-PFR).  The new updated version has been categorised as 1.15 and is accessible on the Official Serbian Tax Authority website.  

Sistem e-Faktura (SEF) e-invoicing documentation update Serbia’s drive to review and enhance its e-invoicing practices continues, further to Serbia’s recent e-invoicing upgrade to a newer version.  The Serbian Ministry of Finance has now updated and released the following documents: 

• Rulebook on electronic invoicing https://www.efaktura.gov.rs/vest/1911/donet-pravilnik-o-elektronskom-fakturisanju.php 
• Internal Technical Manual (16.06.23) https://www.efaktura.gov.rs/tekst/360/interno-tehnicko-uputstvo.php 
• Instructions for using XML files (05.06.2023) https://www.efaktura.gov.rs/tekst/324/uputstvo-za-koriscenje-xml-datoteka.php 

The Rulebook on e-invoicing takes effect as from 1 July 2023.  You can read more about e-invoicing in Serbia on our dedicated country-specific page here. 

E-invoicing system upgrade Our recent post commented on the progress of e-invoicing in Serbia, where the publication of a draft law in the country imposed further e-invoicing obligations in the country. E-invoicing systems frequently undergo modifications for multiple reasons- to enhance the customer user journey, or for increased automation amongst others – and the Serbian e-invoicing system is no exception, now accommodating an upgrade to a newer version. The newer version has considered previous technical errors, which have been remedied with the new version. Select changes to VAT recording have also been corrected.    Information relating to the upgrades can be accessed via the following link:   https://www.efaktura.gov.rs/extfile/sr/1775/SEF%20detalji%20ispravke%203.2.3%20verzija%20od%2024032023.pdf   More generally, you can refer to further information on e-invoicing in Serbia on our country-specific page here.  

Amendments to VAT Rulebook and electronic recording of VAT in the system of electronic invoices (SEF) Serbia introduced some revisions to the VAT Rulebook in the Official Gazette in February 2023, which are effective from 1 March 2023.  In addition, as of 1 January 2023, all VAT debtors which are VAT payers, as well as voluntary users of the system of electronic invoices (SEF), are obliged to electronically record VAT calculations in SEF.  The amendments to the VAT Rulebook relate to the extension of the deadline for issuance of e-invoices for so-called 'successive supplies' (multiple individual supplies of goods or services made to one person in one tax period).  With specific exceptions, electronic recording of VAT calculations in SEF is performed for transactions where: 

• The reverse charge VAT applies;  
• when a VAT-able supply with compensation is made to a person who is a taxpayer for income from self-employment, and 
• to a person deemed a taxpayer in terms of the Corporate Income Tax Law, as well as in case of VAT-able free of charge supplies, VAT-able expenditures (write-offs), shortages, etc. 

Draft Law – Electronic Invoicing amendment Serbia has published a law which amends some aspects of the law on e-invoicing. The main changes involve the following:

• Scope: Certain entities will be excluded from e-invoicing draft law provisions- including taxpayers who are not liable for income tax from self-employment in the sense of the law governing personal income tax
• Obligation to issue an e-invoice: The obligation to issue an e-invoice will also exist for:
  • all requests for payment from public sector entity by a private sector entity
  • all requests for payment between public sector entities.
• Obligation to electronically record VAT calculation: The electronic recording of the VAT calculation is performed in summary, for all obligations, by showing data on the basis and calculated VAT, specifically per VAT rates, unless otherwise stated in the e-invoicing law. Specifically, electronic recording of VAT calculation is done individually, for each obligation, by showing data on the basis, VAT rate and calculated VAT in specific instances.

The Serbian Law on e-invoicing entered into force on 1 January 2023.

Commencement of B2B e-invoicing Serbia has mandated B2B e-invoicing as of 1 January 2023. The mandate in Serbia covers the creation, issuance and receipt of invoices, and will be facilitated via the Serbian e-invoicing platform, the Sistema E-Faktura. Tungsten has also been following recent B2B and B2B e-invoicing developments in Serbia. You can find our most recent post regarding the same here.

New e-invoicing documents published B2G e-invoicing is expected to go live in 2022, and B2B e-invoicing in 2023. Considering the upcoming e-invoicing mandate, the Serbian Ministry of Finance has published some new documents. These outline the final specifications of the application interface for the e-invoicing system. XML formats based on the UBL 2.1 standard will be available for the following documents:

• Advance payment invoices;
• Invoices related to VAT exempted transactions;
• Public procurement invoices;
• Credit notes related to a certain period in time;
• Credit notes for multiple invoices;
• Debit notes related to multiple invoices;
• Debit notes related to a certain period.

Changes to the content of e-invoices Last month we outlined Serbia’s plan to implement e-invoicing in phased approach across the country within the next 2 years. Alongside the introduction of e-invoicing, we can expect some changes to the content of the invoice itself. In late 2021, the Minister of Finance in Serbia adopted a ‘rulebook’, which stated the following: • If a VAT invoice is submitted in e-invoice form, the place of issuance of the invoice does not need to be included; • There is a new mandatory element for a Serbian invoice- the advance payment invoice for an advance payment invoice. This ‘rulebook’ aims to synchronise rules on the issuance and content of VAT invoices with new regulations being introduced in respect of e-invoicing.

E-invoicing deadline postponed

While Serbia has made its intention to expand the use of e-invoicing in the country clear, the Minister of Finance has acknowledged that there will be a need to adapt to the new system. Therefore, there will be a transition period until the end of April 2022.  This means that the obligation of the public sector to receive and keep electronic invoices and to issue invoices to another public entity will apply from 1 May 2022, rather than 1 January 2022.

We earlier communicated around several other timeframes relating to Serbian e-invoicing and we still expect this to stand:

• the obligation of the private sector entity to receive and keep the electronic invoice issued by the public sector entity, as well as the electronic invoices issued by the private sector entity, will apply from July 1, 2022;
• the obligations of issuing and keeping electronic invoices in transactions between private sector entities take effect from January 1, 2023

E-invoicing demo environment

The e-invoicing demo environment is now live and can be found via the following link on the government website.

Public platform & Rulebooks

Serbia is moving towards an e-invoicing mandate. This will be a phased approach, with the following envisaged dates:

• 1 January 2022: Public sector entity to receive and keep an electronic invoice and issue invoices to other public sector entity (G2G) & Private sector entity to issue an electronic invoice to a public sector entity (B2G);
• 1 July 2022: Public sector entity to issue an electronic invoice to a private sector entity (B2G) & Private sector entity to receive and keep an electronic invoice issued by a public and private sector entity;
• 1 January 2023: To issue and keep electronic invoices in transactions between private sector entities (B2B).

Law on electronic invoicing takes effect

The Law on electronic invoicing entered into force on 7 May 2021. There will be a phased introduction of e-invoicing with B2G invoicing due to take effect from 1 January 2022. Full implementation, including B2B invoicing, is expected from 1 January 2023. The new Law also introduces a requirement to electronically record VAT calculations within the electronic invoicing system. In addition, a new webpage was launched (https://www.efaktura.gov.rs/) by the Ministry of Finance. The webpage is specifically designed to cover updates concerning the e-invoicing project, implementation, and related topics. The testing environment of the e-invoicing system should in principle be made available to the users in July.

Publication of draft law on e-invoicing for B2B and B2G transactions

Serbia is making good progress with plans to move to mandatory e-invoicing and has published a draft version of the law on e-invoicing on the website of the Ministry of Finance. Note: it has not yet been passed by the National Assembly of Serbia.

The proposed law is looking to regulate:
• the issuance of electronic invoices for both B2B and B2G transactions;
• the national e-invoicing platform or system;
• the elements which e-invoices should contain; and
• e-archiving
The provisions of the law are supposed to come into effect from 1st July 2021 for B2G transactions.

For B2B transactions, reception and storage of e-invoices will be mandatory staring from 1 July 2022, and the issuance of invoices from 1 January 2023.