Invoicing clients abroad from Serbia

Language and currency

An invoice to a foreign client is usually issued in English, because the client has to understand it, and Serbian rules allow that. Amounts are in whatever currency you agreed on, most often euros or dollars.

For your own records the dinar amount is what counts: a foreign-currency invoice is converted at the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) middle rate on the trading date (the day of supply), which is usually the day of issue. Some accountants want the dinar equivalent printed on the invoice as well. If yours does, add it to the note.

Payment details: IBAN and SWIFT

A foreign client pays into your foreign-currency account, so the invoice should show:

• the IBAN of that account, which in Serbia starts with RS35 and has 22 characters;
• your bank’s SWIFT (BIC) code;
• the bank’s name and address.

A foreign client doesn’t use the domestic account number or the payment reference (poziv na broj), so you can leave them out.

The buyer's details

Instead of a Serbian Tax Identification Number (TIN) you write the buyer’s tax number from their own country, if they have one. For EU companies that is the VAT number (for example DE123456789), which the client needs for their own VAT accounting. The buyer’s address includes the country.

The VAT note

When you provide a service to a foreign company, the place of supply is the buyer’s country, so no Serbian VAT is charged. The note depends on whether you are in the VAT system:

• A flat-rate entrepreneur outside the VAT system usually writes the same note as on domestic invoices, such as „PDV nije obračunat u skladu sa članom 33 Zakona o PDV-u”. On an English invoice it’s customary to add the translation: “VAT not charged pursuant to Article 33 of the Serbian VAT Act.”
• A VAT-registered business cites Article 12(4) of the VAT Act, under which the place of supply of the service is where the buyer is.

Selling goods abroad (exports) comes with customs rules and different notes; that one is for your accountant.

How foreign-currency invoices count toward the limits

Invoices to foreign clients count toward the 6 million dinar flat-rate limit, converted to dinars. They don’t count toward the 8 million VAT registration threshold, because the supply isn’t in Serbia. Both limits are explained in Invoicing as a flat-rate entrepreneur.

SEF and foreign clients

Invoices to buyers abroad don’t go through the e-invoicing system (SEF), whether or not you are in the VAT system. You send them as a PDF, by email.

How this looks in Fakturio

You issue the invoice in EUR, USD, GBP, CHF or RSD and print it in Serbian or English, and the email that goes with it is in the same language. You enter IBAN and SWIFT once, with your company details.