Serbia

Tax residency

Under Article 7 of the Personal Income Tax Law (Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana), an individual is considered resident in Serbia if any of the following criteria is satisfied:

• Permanent place of residence (prebivalište): an individual has a permanent place of residence in Serbia, meaning a settled place of residence with an intention to live there permanently. Residence records and lasting connections are relevant. Ownership of a property alone does not establish this criterion.
• Centre of business and vital interests: the individual's personal and economic connections place their centre of interests in Serbia. Relevant circumstances include family life, the actual home, employment and business activities, assessed together. Factual residence criterion can apply even with fewer than 183 days of presence.
• 183-day rule: the individual stays in Serbia for at least 183 days, continuously or across separate visits, within a period of 12 consecutive calendar months that begins or ends in the calendar tax year being assessed. The period may therefore include days from the preceding or following calendar year.
• A separate statutory rule treats individuals posted from Serbia to Serbian diplomatic or consular missions, or to work for Serbia in international organisations, as residents during the relevant posting.
• Split-year treatment: a person who was non-resident in the preceding year is treated as non-resident before their first entry in the arrival year, provided neither factual residence criterion applied during that earlier part of the year. If, on first entry, the person knows that a factual or physical-presence criterion will be satisfied, Article 7 expressly applies residence from that entry, potentially before the 183rd day. A lack of such advance knowledge does not itself establish non-residence. The general tests and part-year provisions still apply.
• Following a final departure, non-resident treatment from the day after departure requires non-residence in the following year and the absence of both factual residence grounds throughout the remainder of the departure year. A temporary absence does not itself establish a final departure.

Day counting

• Permanent place of residence and centre of business and vital interests: no minimum day-count threshold applies. These criteria can establish residence independently of the day total.
• 183-day rule: assess qualifying 12-month periods and aggregate separate visits. Any part of a calendar day counts, including arrival and departure days. The statutory exception concerns a part of a day spent in transit through Serbia. Days wholly abroad do not count. Article 7 provides no general exclusion for study or medical treatment.
• Serbian official postings abroad: no minimum physical-presence threshold applies to the separate posting rule.
• The 12-month period is used to check the day criterion for a calendar tax year. It is not fixed permanently by the arrival date, and its expiry does not itself end residence. A qualifying period crossing two calendar years may satisfy the day criterion for both, while the part-year rules determine treatment before arrival and after final departure.

Tax consequences

Residents are generally taxed on worldwide income, non-residents on Serbian-source income. Where the statutory part-year rules apply, worldwide taxation generally concerns the resident period, while Serbian-source income may remain taxable during the non-resident period.

Migration / residence

Foreign nationals may require an appropriate visa, temporary residence permit or single residence-and-work permit. Temporary residence and single permits may be granted for up to three years. Permanent immigration residence is generally available after three years of qualifying continuous residence, subject to statutory conditions.

A temporary residence permit does not automatically establish tax residence, although the associated home, work and family circumstances may satisfy a factual criterion.

Orientation references

• Personal Income Tax Law, particularly Articles 7, 8, 12, 15v and 87.
• Ministry of Finance, opinion of 10 August 2023, printed pages 70-74; opinion of 28 November 2023, printed pages 61-65; opinion of 17 December 2025, printed pages 43-45.
• Welcome to Serbia, temporary residence and single permits and permanent residence.