At a workshop held at the Tax Administration, the results of the Analysis of the Compliance of the Serbian VAT Law with the VAT Directive of the European Union (Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the Common Value Added Tax System) were presented. Attendees included employees of the Tax Administration, the Fiscal System Sector of the Ministry of Finance, and representatives of the EU Delegation in Serbia. The event was supported by the European Union, with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) providing assistance in preparing the analysis as part of its broader support to the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Administration in public finance reform.
The analysis involved creating correlation tables, assessing compliance at the level of individual provisions of the VAT Directive, and awarding an overall compliance rating. It concluded that Serbia's VAT regulations are partially aligned with the EU VAT Directive.
Jovana Stojanović, an expert in VAT regulation and the author of the analysis, highlighted the significant impact of recent amendments to Serbia's VAT Law on compliance levels. However, she identified the treatment of intra-EU transactions as the most challenging area for achieving full alignment.
“These provisions, introduced in the EU to ensure better VAT control and collection, are entirely new for Serbia. When VAT was first introduced here, it was a completely unfamiliar concept, yet we adapted successfully in a relatively short time. With the support Serbia will receive, further harmonization should not present major difficulties for the economy or institutions,” Stojanović said.
The workshop not only presented the analysis findings but also highlighted key provisions of the EU VAT Directive and the differences compared to Serbia’s current regulations. Examples of European Court of Justice rulings were discussed to illustrate the practical implications and importance of specific norms.
The event also addressed recent changes in VAT within the EU aimed at modernization and digitization under the "VAT in the Digital Age" (ViDA) initiative, underscoring the evolving nature of VAT regulations and the importance of keeping pace with these advancements.
This workshop is part of the "EU for Public Finance Management in Serbia", funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP, in partnership with the Center for Excellence in Finance (CEF) and the Ministry of Finance of Slovakia.