Serbia: bank accounts, company registration, and legal residence by investment

Serbia is an economically and politically stable Balkan state with qualified personnel, duty-free access to the markets with 1.1 billion potential clients, comparatively low cost of living, and small business maintenance costs.

It has signed double taxation avoidance agreements with a great number of countries and it maintains friendly relationships both with the countries lying to the west and those lying to the east of it. These factors make the opportunities to open bank accounts and register companies in Serbia quite attractive. Not less attractive is the possibility to acquire legal residence in the country in exchange for investment into its economy.

The dividend and the corporate tax rates are 15% each in Serbia. However, it is possible to obtain tax benefits in the country and reduce the effective tax rates. Besides, the agreements on avoidance of double taxation can also play a role in lowering the tax burden.

Citizens of a large number of countries can enter Serbia without visas and stay there for 30 to 90 days without having to go through any formalities.

International investors will find a number of interesting opportunities in Serbia the most attractive of them being the opportunity to set up a foreign bank account in the country. The deposits are insured for 50,000 euros and the automatic exchange of fiscal information is not practiced in Serbia thus far. Experts expect that the country is going to become even more attractive for foreign investors soon as the Government is offering some new inviting conditions.

In the Serbia section of Internationalwealth.info portal, we discuss various products and services available in this country. These include bank accounts, legal residence by investment, tax residency in Serbia, and the possibility to use the country as a tax haven of the XXI century. Besides, we describe various business-related conferences that are held in Serbia.

I. All products and services that have Serbian components

In this section, you can find information about the products and services available in Serbia including their costs. The following topics are covered here: taxes in Serbia; legal residency in the country by investment into real estate or business projects; bank accounts in Serbia; company registration in Serbia. You are welcome to apply for a free consultation on our Serbian products and services, which will help you appreciate their real value.

II. Business in Serbia: Serbia as a modern business, financial, and banking center

How can you purchase a firm in Serbia? How much does it cost? What is required to register a company in the country? What benefits can the Serbian-registered business bring? What business areas look especially promising in Serbia? What are the specifics of doing business there? Who can establish a sole proprietorship in Serbia? What tax benefits can a sole proprietor enjoy? These and other questions are answered in this section.

III. Serbia as a tax haven of the XXI century

This section is about Serbian taxes. We discuss both the taxes levied on local residents and on non-resident business people in the country. We discuss the company profit tax in Serbia, the property tax, and other fiscal duties associated with doing business in Serbia, owning property, or having a bank account there.

IV. Non-resident bank accounts in Serbia

Are you thinking of setting up a foreign bank account in Serbia? You have come to the right place! This section describes the banking opportunities in Serbia. You can open an account on a personal visit to the country or without leaving the comfort of your home. However, we strongly advise you to visit the country as local banks prefer to work in person. You can also hire a resident director to do this job for you. Serbia boasts a reliable banking system and offers deposit insurance and access to the European market. IMPORTANT: personal bank accounts in Serbia cannot be opened remotely – your physical presence in the country is obligatory.

V. Legal and tax residency in Serbia

Serbia grants legal residence permits to those foreign investors who purchase real property in the country at a certain price of invest into establishing a business company there. In this section, we discuss the advantages of investing into real estate in Serbia thus acquiring legal residence in the country. We also talk about obtaining tax residency there. Here you can learn about the process of relocating to Serbia. We also explain why you cannot obtain Serbian citizenship by investment and why you cannot ‘buy’ the Serbian passport.

VI. Life in Serbia

The topic of this section is life in Serbia. Here we talk about the living standards in the country, the relocation process, the prices for food and consumer goods there, and so on. Many articles in this section are based on the reports made by expats to Serbia from different countries.

VII. Real estate in Serbia

This section covers the topic of acquiring Serbian residence via purchasing some real estate there. Before you buy a house or an apartment in the country, we recommend that you visit Belgrade and other cities in Serbia and get a ‘feeling’ of the country. Before you go there as a tourist, however, we suggest that you should read the articles in this section. Here we discuss the real estate prices and the locations: you can learn how much a house in the rural area will cost, how much a luxury apartment in Belgrade will come up to, and so on. We also mention some pitfalls that foreign investors may encounter in Serbia when buying property there in order to obtain a legal residence permit.

VIII. Conferences in Serbia

In an attempt to attract more foreign investors to the country, various Serbian organizations regularly hold conferences and meetings covering different offshore industry-, investment-, and business-related topics. Here you can find information about such conferences and other similar events held in Serbia or elsewhere.

IX. Serbian news

In this section, we cover the news that can be of interest to those planning to relocate to Serbia and those considering starting a business there.