The registration procedure is initiated by submitting an accurately completed integrated application for registration of sole trader and registration with the integrated taxpayers’ register.

An application for registration may be submitted by:

• The founder
• An agent with written power of attorney signed by the founder and certified by the competent certifying body (municipality or court). If the founder grants the power of attorney to an attorney, it does not have to be certified by the municipality or court.

Applications may be submitted:

• In person to SBRA’s head office in Belgrade
• To any of SBRA’s organizational units
• In municipalities which have signed a cooperation contract with the Agency
• By registered mail (if the application is submitted by mail, the filing date and time is the date and time of receipt by the Agency).

Applications for registration may be collected at the Agency’s head office or organizational units and municipality offices, or downloaded for free from the Agency’s website. (If you wish to purchase paper application forms in the Business Registers Agency, its branch offices or from municipal authorities, you need to pay the RSD 120.00 fee for the application for registration form (request).

Obtaining a copy of entry (excerpt) from the Register of Business Entities

To obtain a copy of entry from the Business Register of the Business Registers Agency, you need to submit the following documents:

• completed application form for a copy of entry (can be purchased at the Agency or downloaded from the SBRA website)
• proof that you have paid the RSD 600 fee to the SBRA account.

Any natural person can file an application for copy of entry, which is issued in the Agency promptly

Decision and certificates of registration may be collected by:

• A natural person – sole trader who is provided with a power of attorney certified by a competent certifying body (court or municipality)
• An attorney authorized by the founder (in this case the power of attorney need not be certified by the certifying body – court or municipality)
• A member of the household (parents, spouse and children) with a power of attorney which must be provided with the signature of the founder, as well as a copy of ID to prove that the founder and household member share the same place of residence
• A manager registered as the authorized person in SBRA’s Register.

To register as sole trader, you need to file the following documents:

• integrated application for registration of sole trader and registration with the integrated taxpayers’ register, in which you have entered the relevant data
• photocopy of the identity card or passport of the founder-sole trader (or of every partner, if you are registering a partnership)
• proof that you have paid the RSD 1,000.00 fee to the account of the Business Registers Agency
• if you wish to register as sole trader carrying on an activity that requires prior approval of competent authorities as a precondition for registration, you need to submit to the SBRA also the original or authenticated copy of the certificate issued by the competent authority.

Online application for the registration of entrepreneurs (sole traders)

As of 12 May 2008, entrepreneurs may submit an online application for registration.  To avail themselves of this service they are required to:

• Register a user account in the Services section - Online application for entrepreneurs
• Register in the system and submit an application to register as entrepreneurs.

If the online application has been successfully completed, a certificate of receipt of the application will be sent to the user’s e-mail address.

Within 5 days from the online application date, the entrepreneur is required to submit the following to the Agency, either in person or by mail:

• A certificate signed by the applicant
• The original documentation required for registration
• Proof of payment of the registration fee.

If prospective sole traders comply with the registration requirements, SBRA shall forward to the Tax Administration the data required to grant and assign a fiscal code and to enter the sole trader in the integrated taxpayers’ register. If the requirements for granting a fiscal code have been met, the fiscal code will be registered and entered in the certificate of registration of the sole trader. If the sole trader has not met the requirements for obtaining a fiscal code, he or she shall be registered with SBRA, but referred to the Tax Administration to obtain a fiscal code.

By virtue of its authority, SBRA forwards to the competent Pension and Disability Fund the insurance application for the sole trader and registers the sole trader as payer of insurance with the Republic Health Insurance Fund (RHIF). If the sole trader does not comply with the requirements for registration as a payer of contributions with RHIF, he or she shall be registered with SBRA and referred to the RHIF with regard to his or her registration as payer of contributions.

When choosing a company name, the founder-sole trader must first verify on the SBRA website that another sole trader with the same or similar company name has not been registered on the territory of the municipality where the sole trader will be registered. Company name is not a mandatory part of a business name.

Full business name of a sole trader includes the following features:

• full name of the founder-sole trader
• designation (“sole trader”-“preduzetnik” or “pr”, “partnership”-“ortakluk” or “or”)
• business activity
• company name of the sole trader (not a mandatory element of a business name)
• town and street address of the registered office.

Example: PETAR PETROVIĆ PREDUZETNIK (SOLE TRADER), RETAIL SHOP, PIROT, BREZINA 10.

Types of business that require prior approval in order to be registered:

• businesses in the healthcare sector (physicians’ offices, pharmacies, clinics) – a certificate of compliance for the relevant activity issued by a health inspector of the Ministry of Health
• veterinarian offices and pharmacies – a certificate issued by an inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management
• agricultural stores – a certificate issued by an inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management
• taxi business – if local self-government authorities have issued a resolution ordering that owners of taxi business need to comply with additional requirements on top of those stipulated by the law, the owner of a taxi business needs to submit the documents requested by the resolution along with the application for registration of business. Whether an owner of a taxi business needs to file additional documents depends on the municipality in which the registered office of the taxi business will be.
• trade in weapons, parts and ammunition – certificate issued by the Ministry of the Interior
• providing services of general interest and utilities – agreement with the competent municipal agency granting the sole trader the right to carry on the specific activity
• insurance brokerage – the condition for registration is a certificate of compliance issued by the National Bank of Serbia
• bankruptcy administrators – the condition for registration is a license issued by the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency
• expert witnesses – the condition for registration is certificate of entry in the Register of Standing Expert Witnesses
• employment agency – certificate granted by the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development
• psychiatric counseling service – certificate granted by the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Policy.

The sole trader chooses the principal business activity, in line with the Business Classification Law and the Registry of Categorization Units. Beside the principal business activity, a sole trader may carry on other lawful activities, in line with the Law on Companies. Based on the classification, a list of abbreviated names of business activities is made for the purpose of electronic data processing. This practically means that a five-digit trade code has to be entered and the code specification (description) may not be changed. This, however, is not in any way an impediment for the sole trader to carry on only part of the activities listed under the registered principal activity. 

When applying for registration, a sole trader need not file a compliance certificate issued by the competent inspection authorities regarding the premises in which the business is carried on, unless the sole trader engages in production, trade, distribution, processing and warehousing of hazardous materials. This certificate is also mandatory for other types of business whose governing laws stipulate specific requirements and which must obtain a certificate of compliance in order to be registered. The required compliance is verified by the competent agency in the course of a regular inspection.

A business may be organized as a sole proprietorship, when the founder-sole trader is one natural person, or a partnership, in which case a maximum of 10 natural persons may be registered as founders-partners.

When filing the application for registration, the founder-sole trader has the option to specify as the commencement date the day when the Registrar issues the certificate of registration, or the sole trader may be registered without a specified commencement date.

From the date of commencement of activities, the sole trader becomes liable for payment of any levies to the government (taxes, contributions and other levies).

If the registration of enterprise did not include the commencement date, the sole trader is obligated to report the commencement date to the Register at a later notice, with a subsequent application for registration of change of commencement date registration.

The date when the certificate of registration was granted shall be entered as the commencement date.

A sole trader must be registered within 5 days.

Documents required to register a change:

• application for registration of change regarding a sole trader, with the type and substance of the change clearly specified on the addendum filed together with the application
• proof that the registration of change fee has been paid to the Business Registers Agency account No. 840-29771845-59, reference number 86-04…(include the registered number of the sole trader). The fee for timely filed applications for registration of change is RSD 600.00, the fee for two or more timely filed applications for registration of change in a single application form is RSD 600.00 plus RSD 300.00 for each new change, while the application fee for registration of change of legal form of an enterprise is RSD 4,000.00.

Changes regarding sole traders that need to be registered:

• personal details of the founder-sole trader, supervisor or partner (name, surname, unique master identification number or passport number for aliens)
• takeover of the business by members of the sole trader’s household, in the event of death of the sole trader
• registered office, company name, principal business activity, business name, the term for which the sole trader registered
• entry or change of the supervisor or partner authorized to represent the partnership
• information about premises other than the registered office
• bank account number, contact details
• entry or removal of annotation of data relevant for legal transactions
• temporary shutdown of business.

Changes that are not subject to registration:

• expansion of business
• temporary shutdown of business in premises other than the registered office
• change of the sole trader’s status (whether the business is registered as the principal or supplementary activity or is carried on by a retired person)
• field work (by moving from one location to another).

To register a change of legal form, you need to submit the following documents to the Agency:

• application for striking the sole trader off the Register
• application for registration of a company
• all the documents required by the law for formation of the company into which the legal form of the enterprise is to be converted
• proof that the RSD 4,000.00 fee has been paid to the Agency’s account, as well as the RSD1,750.00 fee for obtaining a company registration number. The fees are paid to the budgetary account of the Republic of Serbia. The account number is 840-742221843-57, model of payment is 97, and in the reference number, you need to enter the relevant code from the list of municipalities
• resolution on converting the legal form of the enterprise into a company.

To register appointment of a supervisor, you need to file with SBRA:

• authorization by which the founder has appointed the supervisor
• photocopy of the identity card of the supervisor.

To register takeover of enterprise in the event of death of the founder, the following documents are required:

• copy of entry in the Register of Deaths
• statement on takeover of the enterprise, within 30 days from the day the founder died. The business may be taken over by members of the founder’s household: spouse, parents or children.

To register change of the vehicle registration numbers for owners of a taxi business on the territory of the City of Belgrade, you need to file:

• application for change of data regarding sole trader
• proof that you have paid the RSD 600.000 fee for registration of the change
• proof that you own or use the vehicle in line with a financial leasing agreement (photocopy of the vehicle registration certificate)
• proof that the vehicle complies with requirements of article 10 of the Resolution on Taxi Transportation of the City of Belgrade (Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade, No. 29/2005). The compliance is verified by a commission, on the basis of the Rulebook on Inspection of Adequacy and Classification of Vehicles and the referral issued by the organizational unit (photocopy of valid aesthetic inspection card or the original or photocopy of the commission’s report).

Documents required to register strike-off:

• application for striking off.
• proof that the RSD360.00 fee has been paid to the account of the Business Registers Agency.

When filing the application for striking off, the sole trader may state the date of filing the application for striking off as the earliest dissolution date, while the latest dissolution date can be the fifth day from the day on which the application is filed.

If the sole trader fails to provide a date in the application, the day the strike-off is granted shall be taken as the date of dissolution.

In the event of death of the founder, a member of the household of the deceased founder files the application for striking off the register and a copy of entry in the Register of Deaths. If less than 30 days have passed between the date when the sole trader died and the date when the application for striking off was filed, a statement given by all the members of the deceased sole trader’s household giving their consent to have the sole trader struck off the Register needs to be submitted as well.

The day of the founder’s death shall be registered as the date of dissolution of the business.