How VAT is calculated
When your prices are without VAT, the VAT is the base times the rate. When your prices already include VAT, the VAT inside them is the price times the rate, divided by 100 plus the rate.
A common mistake is to take 20% of a price that already includes VAT. For 12,000 dinars that gives 2,400, while the VAT inside is 2,000, because VAT is calculated on the price without VAT.
Rounding
Amounts are in dinars with two decimals. The tool rounds each line, quantity times unit price, to two decimals. Then it adds up the lines with the same rate and calculates the VAT once per rate on that sum, again rounded to two decimals, with half a para rounded up. Some invoicing programs calculate the VAT on every line and add it up instead, which can differ by a para or two on a long invoice. Use the method your invoicing program or accountant uses.
VAT rates in Serbia
The general rate is 20% (Article 23, paragraph 1 of the VAT law). The reduced rate of 10% (Article 23, paragraph 2) applies only to goods and services on a closed list, for example bread and bakery products, milk and dairy products, flour, sugar, edible oils, honey, fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and eggs, medicines, textbooks, books, daily newspapers and periodicals, firewood and pellets, natural gas and heat for heating, accommodation, tickets for cinemas, theatres, concerts, fairs, sports events and museums, drinking water supplied by pipe, municipal waste and passenger transport.
The list in the law is longer and more precise than this summary. Before you put 10% on an invoice, read the article or ask your accountant.
When you have to register for VAT
- Threshold. If your total turnover in the previous 12 months was above 8,000,000 dinars, you have to register for VAT (Article 33, paragraph 1 and Article 38, paragraph 1).
- Deadline. The registration (evidenciona prijava) has to be filed within 5 days from the day you reached that turnover (Article 38, paragraph 1).
- Period. The previous 12 months are counted on a rolling basis, not by calendar year. The law does not spell out exactly how the days are counted, so check it with the Tax Administration or your accountant.
- What counts. Total turnover means taxable supplies and exempt supplies with the right to deduct input VAT, without sales of equipment and business premises (Article 33, paragraph 6). Supplies made abroad are not in that definition, but have a concrete case, such as services for foreign clients, confirmed by an accountant.
- New business. If you expect to stay under 8,000,000 dinars in the next 12 months, you are not obliged to charge VAT (Article 33, paragraph 1).
- Voluntary registration. Under the rules in force until 31 December 2026 it binds you for at least two years. From 1 January 2027 (amendment 80/2026) the minimum is the current and the following calendar year, and the same minimum applies after mandatory registration.
The amendments 109/2025 and 80/2026 do not change the rates or the 8,000,000 dinar threshold.
FAQ
How do I take VAT out of a price?
Divide the price by 1.2 for 20% or by 1.1 for 10% to get the base. The difference is the VAT. For example, 12,000 dinars with 20% VAT is a base of 10,000 dinars and 2,000 dinars of VAT. In the calculator choose With VAT, take VAT out.
Do I have to charge VAT?
VAT payers charge it on their invoices. Registration is mandatory above 8,000,000 dinars of turnover in the previous 12 months, and below that you can register voluntarily. If you are not sure where you stand, ask your accountant.
Can I use the result for my VAT return?
Use it to check your arithmetic and prices. Returns and records follow rules that this page does not cover, so leave them to your accountant or your invoicing program.
Sources: VAT law (Zakon o porezu na dodatu vrednost), consolidated text with amendments up to 80/2026 on paragraf.rs, a private legal database that already shows some wording that applies only from 1 January 2027, and the amendment 80/2026 as adopted by the National Assembly. Checked in October 2026.
This calculator helps with arithmetic. It is not tax or legal advice. For your invoices and VAT returns, ask your accountant or the Tax Administration.
The tool only uses what you enter. Nothing is sent or stored.