E-commerce in Serbia – Fiscalization

Modern conditions and life pace have greatly changed almost all spheres of work and business. The Internet speed in recent years has brought numerous advantages in the mobility of all resources, and legislative, legal and tax systems are the ones that have to adapt to economic flows. For this purpose, we are all aware of frequent innovations, revision and amendments to existing legal acts and the introduction of new ones. One of the significant innovations that happened during this year also refers to the significant innovations in the process of fiscalization.

Before the latest changes, which came into effect, on May 1 of this year, online or internet sales of goods and services were exempted from the fiscalization system with the condition that the delivery was made through an intermediary. As of May 1, 2022, companies and entrepreneurs engaged in internet sales are obliged to issue a fiscal invoice for each sale. This obligation also applies when delivering through an intermediary, and it does not depend on whether the merchant is VAT registered, how he charges for sales, etc.

So every sale to a natural person must be entered through the fiscal device. This also applies to the sale of goods and services to foreign natural persons.

In practice, this means that all business entities that have online stores, regardless of whether their goods and services are purchased by resident or non-resident natural person, must record turnover through a fiscal device. This also applies if the payment is made through one of the payment institutions (for example, PayPal).

Fiscalization rules that apply to the shipment of goods abroad (export) also apply to the provision of services to foreign natural persons. If we are talking about foreign language courses, psychological sessions, business or any other counseling and other online services to foreign physical persons, it is necessary to record these sales on fiscal devices. In cases where someone deals with the provision of services online, invoices can be issued and sent in electronic form, so this means that there is no obligation of printing.

In cases where the goods are for the purposes of export customs clearance, an accompanying document along with the fiscal invoice can be created. It can contain all the data necessary for smooth export customs clearance and shipping. These accompanying documents should usually contain the number of the fiscal account along with which they are issued, and must not contain information about the basis for VAT and VAT, if it has been calculated, but only the total amount to be paid.

E-commerce is not exempt from the obligation to issue advance payment invoices based on the export of goods. In accordance with the Law on fiscalization, an advance invoice must be issued on the fiscal device for each payment that occurred before the completed transaction. All business entities have this obligation even when payment and turnover are in the same month. What should be kept in mind is the fact that this dynamic is not in line with the VAT Law, where the obligation to issue an advance invoice exists only when the taxpayer receives compensation before the turnover, and the turnover is not completed by the end of the tax period in which he received the compensation.

                Through the fiscal device, every payment received before the sale must be recorded, not only those for which the sale will not take place until the end of the VAT period.

For example, if an online payment was received on a certain day of the month, from the point of view of the VAT Law, there is no need to issue an advance invoice, if the sale will be until the end of September, but the advance invoice must be entered on the fiscal device. The goods and services shipment abroad and the advance received on that basis are exempt from VAT, but the turnover must be recorded through the fiscal cash register. The compensation for the delivered goods and the amount of the advance received in foreign currency on the fiscal accounts are always expressed in dinars. For conversion purposes, the middle exchange rate of the National Bank of Serbia on the day of the transaction, i.e. on the day of receiving the advance payment from the customer, is used.

What is important to note is that the Fiscalization Law does not deal with defining the turnover date, so in practice the solutions given in the VAT Law are used. When it comes to the sale of goods, the transaction date is the day of the shipment of the goods to the client, if the supplier is responsible for the delivery of the goods. The rules for services are more complex. For a time-limited service, the turnover date is the last day of service provision (when the service provision is final). When it comes to periodic invoicing, i.e. when it comes to partial services, the transaction date is the last day of the period (month, quarter, year).

Let us remind you that online stores that are in the VAT system, for goods shipped abroad, should have an export declaration that contains a confirmation that the goods came from the territory of the Republic of Serbia, in order to have the right to exemption from VAT for a given export. For the advance received, it is sufficient for the company to issue an advance invoice in order to exercise the right to exemption from VAT (not to calculate VAT on the advance received).