National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Discusses the Proposal of Amendments to the Law on Value Added Tax

The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia convened on 02 October 2019 Second Session of the Second Ordinary Session of the National Assembly in 2019. The agenda of the session, among other things, includes the Bill amending the Law on Value Added Tax (the “Law“).

The Law defines the value vouchers, in order to regulate the tax treatment turnover of goods and services that have arisen on the basis of the transfer of value vouchers. With these changes, the value vouchers are classified, and in addition there is a clear distinction between different types of value vouchers. The Law also stipulates that for the traffic of goods performed on an aircraft or ship the place of traffic will be taken as a place where the ride started. The same rule is intended when providing food and drink services on aircrafts, ships and trains. However, if you are traveling in both directions, the Law considers the travel back to be separate drive. These particular changes were made in order to alanine the Law with the European union regulations. The Law stipulates that the total value of the goods for which a foreign traveler, who is transferring the goods abroad, can achieve a VAT refund decreased from 100 EUR in RSD equivalent, to 6,000.00 dinars with VAT. With these changes, the legislator wants to motivate foreign travelers to buy goods when they are staying in Serbia, that they then will transfer abroad. The Law now regulates in detail the possibility of correcting incorrectly calculated VAT, when the error is that calculated VAT is larger than the corresponding one, in which case the taxpayer is obliged to issue a new, corrected invoice. This amendment aims at achieving greater legal certainty. The Law will enter into force 8 days from its enactment, but it will start to apply on January 1, 2020.

The legislation saw the adoption of amendments to the law as the only solution to more adequately regulate this area. One of the main reasons for proposing these amendments is to comply with EU regulations governing this area. With these changes, the legislature wants to achieve greater benefits of favorable conditions for the advancement of the community general interest.