How to make an invoice in Serbia, and what it must show

What an invoice must show

The list comes from Article 42 of the Serbian VAT Act and applies to VAT-registered businesses. If you are not in the VAT system, for example as a flat-rate entrepreneur, the invoice carries the same details without the VAT amounts, plus a note saying VAT was not charged. That is also what clients and their accountants expect to see.

1. Your details: name, address and Tax Identification Number (TIN). The registration number and your bank account number are usually added too.
2. Place and date of issue of the invoice.
3. Invoice number, in sequence.
4. The buyer’s details: name, address and TIN. A private individual has no TIN, so their name and address are enough.
5. Line items: the type and quantity of goods, or the type and scope of the service, with prices.
6. Date of supply (datum prometa): the day the goods were delivered or the service was completed. If an advance was received, its amount too.
7. VAT base, rate and amount, if you are in the VAT system.
8. A VAT note when you don’t charge VAT, citing the rule you rely on.

VAT-registered businesses that account for VAT on a cash basis (when payment is received) say so on the invoice as well.

A stamp and signature are not required

An invoice doesn’t need a stamp or a signature to be valid, and it doesn’t need to be printed. A PDF sent by email is enough. Some clients still ask for a signature or a stamp, so many people add one, but that is a matter of agreement, not law.

The invoice number

Every invoice has its own number, and invoices are numbered in sequence. Numbering usually restarts at 1 each year, in the form 1/2026 or 2026-001. Don’t skip numbers and don’t use the same number twice. If an invoice you issued is wrong, your accountant will tell you whether to cancel it or correct it, but its number never goes to another invoice.

Date of issue, date of supply and due date

The date of issue is the day you make the invoice. The date of supply is the day the work was done or the goods delivered. The two don’t have to match: a service finished on 30 September can be invoiced on 2 October, as in the example above.

The due date is not a required detail, but without it neither you nor the client knows when the invoice is late. The most common terms are 8, 15 and 30 days. For payment in dinars, add your bank account number and a payment reference (poziv na broj). The simplest choice is to use the invoice number as the reference, so every payment matches its invoice straight away.

The note when you don't charge VAT

If you are not in the VAT system, the invoice must say why no VAT was charged. One of these two sentences is used most often:

• „PDV nije obračunat u skladu sa članom 33 Zakona o PDV-u.” (VAT not charged under Article 33 of the VAT Act.)
• „Obveznik nije u sistemu PDV-a.” (The issuer is not in the VAT system.)

The first cites the rule for small taxpayers; the second simply states the fact. Pick the one your accountant recommends and use it on every invoice. For clients abroad the note is different, as explained in Invoicing clients abroad.

Does the invoice have to go through SEF?

It depends on who issues it and to whom.

• A VAT-registered business invoicing another company in Serbia must issue an electronic invoice through the e-invoicing system (Sistem elektronskih faktura, SEF).
• Flat-rate entrepreneurs and anyone else outside the VAT system don’t have to use SEF for invoices to companies.
• Anyone invoicing the public sector (a ministry, a municipality, a school, a public enterprise) must register with SEF and send the invoice through it. Once registered, you stay a SEF user at least until the end of the following year.
• Invoices to buyers abroad and to private individuals don’t go through SEF.

The most common mistakes

• The buyer’s TIN is missing or copied wrong.
• There is no date of supply, so nobody can tell which month the work belongs to.
• An invoice number is skipped or repeated.
• An issuer outside the VAT system left out the VAT note.
• The invoice went to a company whose bank account is blocked. The invoice is valid, but getting paid is uncertain, so it pays to check the buyer’s status before the job.

How this looks in Fakturio

The form has a field for everything above: date of supply, place of issue, TIN and registration number, bank account, payment reference and the VAT note. When you type the buyer’s TIN, their name, address and account are filled in from the National Bank’s account register, and if the account is blocked you see a warning before you issue the invoice. The next invoice number suggests itself and restarts at 1 each year, and the preview beside the form is exactly the PDF your client receives.