Which accounting services you need in Serbia after company set up?

After establishing a company in Serbia, the obligations which are related to accounting services start as soon as the company is registered in the Business registers agency. Your business obligations will depend on your legal form and they start from the date when the company is registered in the business register.

By issuing the Decision of accepting the application for establishing the company, all the tax and bookkeeping obligations start. Before you begin with your everyday business activities, you should pay attention to the accounting aspect of your business. To make it easier and save time for your regular commitments which will be performed daily, it is recommended that you should find a reliable associate.

In continuance, find out everything that you need and what obligations do you have toward the Tax administration after establishing the company. We will introduce to you the basic differences between the entrepreneur who keeps his records and a lump sum entrepreneur so that you could see the significance of accounting.

Also, we will present yous some tasks done by an accountant and show you the importance of hiring the company for accounting services in Serbia.

1. The taxpayer’s registration and getting the TIN

After the registration in the BRA, you are obliged to register as a taxpayer at the Tax administration. After that, the Tax administration provides you with the tax identification number (TIN), with the goal to identify all taxpayers.

TIN is the unique number of a legal entity, an entrepreneur or a legal person, provided by the Tax administration which is used for all public revenues in tax acts and the system of payment. It is given when establishing a company and it is different for every company.

TIN is the obligatory element of the company’s business and it is also a necessary element in business documentation and invoices. It is one of the most important elements on invoices for all the business subjects which are part of the VAT system.

For the entrepreneurs, the LLC and other legal forms, TIN consists of 9 digits. For a physical person, TIN is a personal identity number.
Without TIN a company can not open a bank account, can not perform any business in a system of payment, can not submit tax application or pay tax obligations.

TIN can not be changed or during the existence of the legal entity, the tax identification number can not be changed. However, the Tax administration has every right to temporarily suspend it during the tax control of the company

Reasons for suspending TIN can be:

• Not paying taxes,
• Untimely submission of tax applications,
• If it is determined that there were certain difficulties when TIN was assigned,
• If there is a restriction in the disposal of money funds from the bank,
• Other reasons related to the Law.

TIN suspension can practically mean that there is no possibility for taxpayer’s identification and without it, the company can not do any business. Further, it can not issue any invoices, can not submit tax applications, perform transactions, give fiscal bills and similar.

2. How to choose the accounting company in Belgrade?

Many accounting companies offer their services. You can find smaller companies with only one employee, but you can also find bigger accounting companies with a bigger number of employees who offer additional services. Following the enlisted facts, our recommendation is to choose the company according to the proficiency of the founder and the employees.

The additional services offered by the accounting companies are legal and business advising, gathering and submitting the documentation for establishing the company, services for getting work permits for foreigners’ employment, making the transfer price studies and others.

You should take price into consideration, but it should not be the crucial factor. The prices can vary from type of service, the experience of employees and the company’s flexibility. So you should take in concern the other clients of the accounting company, the accountant’s level of expertise and knowledge.

If your business is specific and you need some complex services, it best for you to hire a company that has clients from your business area. The accounting companies which have experience in narrowly specialized areas can finish all the obligations and commitments faster and easier.

Who can provide accounting services in Serbia?

By the Accounting law, it is not possible to hire an accountant as a physical person through an employment contract. The bookkeeping can only be trusted to the company which has registered accounting services as its core activity. With legal entity or the entrepreneur that you hire for bookkeeping, you can sign the Contract of business cooperation.

Your business records can only be kept by an authorized accountant. This can be a person who is employed in your company or an authorized company for giving accounting services. In the past, the accountant had to have a license or to have a licensing exam passed to have the right to do specific jobs or making an annual financial statement. However, by the current Law, the accountant is not obliged to have a license.

3. The first tasks and services done by the accounting firm

You should clearly define all the tasks and services your accountant in Belgrade must-do for you. It is crucial for your future business relationship that the accounting service understands what you want from regular and additional services.

You should clearly define all the obligations and the contract of business cooperation in written form. This contract can contain all the regular and additional jobs this company will do for you. This is how you build a healthy and stable business relationship and you can avoid potential misunderstandings which can be based on bad communication.

3.1 Submitting the first tax application

The first task for your accountant is to help you gather the documentation that is submitted to the Tax administration after establishing the company. 15 days after the day of registration in the BRA you are obliged to submit the initial application for profit tax. (the tax application on legal entities profit) The tax application is filled and submitted by the accountant. The initial application can be submitted electronically on the Tax administration web-site. For this, you must have a qualified electronic signature. The accountant can present and submit tax applications instead of you or you can accredit a third person who has a digital signature.

3.2 Filling the tax application

In the initial application for-profit tax you have to list all the anticipated incomes, expenses and profit because the income tax will be accounted for based on the application. Through free calculation, you can anticipate and write incomes and expenses and the positive difference between incomes and expenses is treated as profit.

The tax of 15% is accounted for that profit (for the LLC) which is divided by the number of business months in the current year. That sum represents the height of monthly advances in payment paid every fifteenth in the month for the previous months.

3.3 Initial tax balance

Keeping business records starts with beginning inventory or by creating and opening the initial tax balance. In the beginning inventory, you enter the real state on the day of signing in the business register. Before opening the initial balance you must make a list of your whole property and obligations, to determine the state on the day when the company was registered.

3.4 Making the inventory list

Registering property alludes making the inventory list and enlisting all the material and non-material property of the founder of the day of the company’s registration.

After this, the initial state is enrolled in the inventory. On this list, the accountant enters all the business changes which happen during the company’s work.

3.5 Recording the business changes

The accountant is obliged to record all changes in your business and book them through an adequate accounting program. The legal entity or the company is obliged to submit the complete documentation with new changes in property or source of income.

That consists of specifications, transfer orders, cash orders, income and receivable accounts, account statements, contracts, decisions, and other documentation. It would be ideal that you give original business documents to your accountant at least once a week because the deadline for bookkeeping is three workdays.

You should be conscient and prompt when it comes to documents and its submission because in that case, you will know the exact financial state of your company. If you do that regularly and adequately it would make the accountant’s job much easier. In that way, you would not have problems to find out if somebody owes you if you owe to the suppliers, the number of your tax commitments, etc.

3.6 An annual financial statement

At the end of the business year, the accountant makes an annual financial statement where he sums up the results of your work through the business year. The annual financial statement is a set of financial reports that consists of a balance sheet, an income statement, and a statistical annex.

The balance sheet describes the property and commitment of the company. The income statement is a financial report where you can see income, expenses and final result (profit or loss), It is the best indicator of your financial result, which shows whether you have made a profit or a loss during the previous business year. The statistical annex is a report which contains statistical data.

The accountant is one of the business associates who can not be neglected, so you should not delay choosing the accounting company. Try to find a reliable agency before registering for the company in the BRA. It is very important to find the accounting company in time because it is of key significance for your business to whom you entrust your bookkeeping.

Every beginning is tough and you will have to invest additional effort and time to raise your business. A reliable accountant and an experienced accounting company are a good starting point and a big help to your company. HLB T&M Consulting accounting company stands at your disposal for all the questions and consultations.

4. The accounting services for the entrepreneurs

To see the basic difference between a lump sum entrepreneur and an entrepreneur who keeps his books, we will explain to you who is the lump sum entrepreneur.

The lump-sum entrepreneur is a taxed entrepreneur who is obliged to pay a fixed amount of flatly determined tax on income from the independent business every month. The height of the tax is determined by the Tax administration independence from the code of activity and the height of flat income.

They issue a decision where they determine the fixed amount of tax and contributions which must be paid every month by a business subject.

If you are registered as the lump sum entrepreneurs and you receive the Decision on the flatly determined tax amount, then you are not obliged to have an accountant. That is the main difference between them and the entrepreneur who keep their books. Yet, it is recommended not to exclude the accountant from your business because at any moment you might need help and tax consultant

The basic characteristics of the lump sum entrepreneurs are:

• They are not obliged to keep business records,
• Do not make the annual financial statement,
• The only keep the book of evidence of turnover (where they enter all the accounts,
• They do not keep the records about income bills and expenses,
• They can raise money from the business account and dispose of it freely,
• They do not pay the additional tax when raising cash because their income is taxes and the Decision is issued.

It is recommended that all the flat-rate taxpayers keep their business books and address to experts and ask accounting companies for help for every question and doubt they might have. There are tax advisors and accounting companies which provide the accounting services for flat-rate taxpayers.

Related to the suggested reforms, the state has announced the additional measures of flat-rate taxpayer’s control. One of the most important changes in the independence test which will check the relation between the flat-rate taxpayers and their clients.

Different from them, the entrepreneurs who keep their business records have a different accounting aspect. They can decide for personal income or self-taxation and in both cases are obliged to have double accounting. (The simple accounting can be done only by certain activities in accordance with the Law).

They make an annual financial statement and have to justify all the changes (expenses and income). After that, they can not freely dispose of money from their business accounts and they are obliged to justify it with expenses or to pay additional tax.

The entrepreneur who is just starting their business chooses very often to have smaller expenses and tax load. Instead of registering the flat-rate company, they choose the entrepreneur who is not taxed and keeps records and double accounting. Besides, the actual type of company’s organization can be the LLC. In both cases, you must hire an accountant or an accounting company.