Following the news (which was conducted by the UN Development Program as a result of research) that 92,300 citizens returned to Serbia from October 2020 to October 2021, most of them highly educated, we would like to get reminded on tax incentives for startups and others that are applied from 01.03.2022.

Most returnees were from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and United Kingdom. The main motive, as it has been stated by many, are better opportunities for life and business opportunities. This is confirmed by the organization " Returning Point" (Serbian: Tačka Povratka“), which monitors this curiosity, with an emphasis on the number of over 92,000 returnees as a result of research conducted by the UN Development Program.

Also, research by the Vienna Institute for International Relations shows that in the period from 2015 to 2019, Serbia had a positive influx of highly educated people into the country.

As the growing demand opens up and creates an increasing number of opportunities for highly educated people to pursue a career in Serbia, it is considered that it is no longer the only reason to return to desire, for example. family or friends, but that there are clear opportunities to pursue a business career.

As a particularly interesting fact, it is stated that most returnees are from 24 to 29 years old, a total of more than 40,000 people.

In the past two years, the Republic of Serbia has adopted various measures to support the return to Serbia. We have been writing about that in the past period and published it at the website of RSM Serbia. Herewith, we remind that from March 1 this year, tax relief applies to employees engaged in research and development, for whose salaries employers will pay as much as 70% lower taxes and contributions.

That exemption is not limited in time, and the relief comes from recent legal changes.

The state of Serbia has taken on the burden of contributions from the Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO): this is an extremely important relief. In that way, employers are enabled to give higher salaries to employees during, for example. two to three years. The changes will also help the business of the startup sector, because tax reliefs are still valid for the founders of such companies, for salaries of up to 150,000 dinars gross 1 amount. Instead of just for those who founded a startup by the end of the year, the timeline is abolished, so it becomes a general incentive.

This tax measure, as well as an additional measure related to the reduction of income for taxation with the annual personal income tax for all persons under 40 years of age, is a good basis to continue the trend of attracting young people to return to their country. The annual personal income tax is paid by everyone who earns more than three times the average salary in the country: this relief is valid from this year.