The Government of Serbia has adopted a new Regulation on incentives for employers, which refer to new subsidies for the employment of foreigners in Serbia.

These employment tax credits represent a completely new subsidy for hiring foreign workers.

Domestic as well as foreign employers who have a company in Serbia are entitled to these benefits for foreigners. One of the conditions for a newly employed foreign worker is the amount of salary. His basic monthly salary must be more than 300,000 dinars.

The incentives are in accordance with the new Regulation on the criteria for awarding incentives to employers who employ newly settled persons in the Republic of Serbia. The regulation entered into force on June 18, 2022, and it defines all the conditions both for newly settled persons and for employers who want to use these benefits for hiring new workers.

Incentives that employers can achieve relate to the reduction of payroll taxes, as well as pension contributions. They cover (pay for):

70% of the calculated and paid salary tax for one or more employed newly settled persons,
100% of calculated and paid contributions for mandatory pension and disability insurance (PIO).
Incentives are paid for payments made for an employed newly settled person in a maximum period of 60 months, starting from July 1, 2022 and ending on December 31, 2028.

Conditions for foreign workers for which employers can exercise the right to new subsidies:

that they have not stayed in Serbia for more than 180 days in the period of 24 months before the conclusion of the employment contract with the employer;
that the employee is a natural person with whom the employer concluded a full-time permanent employment contract;
that the employed person earns a monthly salary of at least 300,000 dinars, in the gross amount.
In addition to foreigners, newly settled persons also include returnees from abroad, as well as persons who received education or professional training outside the borders of the Republic of Serbia. Also, they can be employed persons who meet the stated conditions and who have been continuously employed by the employer in the period between the date of submission of the application and December 31 of the year in which the application was submitted.

An employer who is entitled to incentives must meet an important criterion. It is about the number of employed workers for an indefinite period of time, and that number must be the same or higher on the day of application compared to the number of employees on the date when the Regulation entered into force

That is, new incentives for foreigners are realized by an employer whose number of permanent full-time employees on the date of application submission is the same or greater than the number of permanent full-time employees on June 18, 2022, only increased by the number of persons for whom submits an application. That is the date of entry into force of the Regulation.

The clarified criterion refers to already registered entrepreneurs (registered before June 18, 2022.)

On the other hand, there are also employers who were registered after this date. In that case, for employers registered after June 18, 2022, it is considered that they did not employ permanent full-time workers on the date of entry into force of the Regulation.

Who is not entitled to new subsidies for employment of foreigners:


Not all employers have the right to use it, as well as not all employees who are considered newly settled taxpayers. Below follows in more detail.

Employers are not entitled to incentives:

if they pay dividends or realized profits in the period from the submission of the first application for the award of incentives and ending with the end of the calendar year in which they receive the last payment for those incentives;
if they are beneficiaries of state aid and have an obligation to hire new workers (except for taxpayers who have fulfilled this obligation as of July 1, 2022);
if they use benefits for reducing the tax base and contribution to wages by 70% for an employed newly settled person or if they used them (benefits for returnees from the diaspora).
Employed newly settled persons who are not entitled to new incentives, i.e. subsidies:

workers with whom the employer concluded a labor contract for a certain period of time;
workers who have established a part-time employment relationship with the employer.