Amendments to the Rulebook on VAT and the Rulebook on Electronic Invoicing
On August 2, 2024, the Ministry of Finance adopted the Rulebook on Amendments to the Rulebook on VAT and the Rulebook on Amendments to the Rulebook on Electronic Invoicing. The Rulebooks were published in the Official Gazette of the RS No. 65/24, dated August 2, 2024, and entered into force on August 10, with the majority of provisions being applied from September 1, 2024.
Amendments to the Rulebook on Value Added Tax
The Rulebook will be applied from September 1, 2024, except for the provisions related to the presentation of data in the Form „POPDV“ – Overview of VAT calculations for the tax period, which will be applied starting from tax periods after August 31, 2024.
The most important amendments to the Regulations are:
1. Amendments of the conditions for reducing the calculated VAT in case of subsequent reduction of the base and reduction of advances
Compiling an internal invoice is prescribed as one of the conditions for reducing the calculated VAT in the subsequent reduction of the base for turnover where the recipient is a tax debtor. The aforementioned also applies in the case when the advance ceases to be considered an advance for the sale of goods and services in full or at least partially.
2. Amendments of the conditions for obtaining tax exemption, which refers to the issuing of invoices and certification by the competent customs authority
In order for the taxpayer to be able to exercise the right to tax exemption, it is necessary to have an invoice issued and certified by the competent customs authority as of the 10th day of the calendar month following the tax period in
which the turnover was made. The specified deadline shall not be moved, if the 10th day of the month is a non-working day.
3. Amendments in connection with the issuance of an advance and final invoice when an advance payment was received and turnover was made in the same tax period
The provision according to which the VAT payer is not obliged to issue an advance invoice if in the same tax period an advance payment is received and sales of goods and services for which he received an advance payment is carried out, has been deleted.
4. Supplementing the content of the document on the change of base
A mandatory element of the document on the change of the base has been added – the date of the increase of the fee, i.e. the base, if the increase did not occur on the day of issuing the document on the increase.
5. New rules on issuing invoices
A VAT payer can issue one invoice for multiple sales of goods and services performed to one person on the same day, that is, if the tax liability arose for all sales on the same day. Likewise, it is foreseen that a separate invoice shall be issued for the turnover of buildings, economically divisible units within buildings and ownership shares in those goods. That invoice can contain data on the turnover of one or more goods, regardless of the obligation to calculate VAT, the applicable VAT rate and regardless of who the tax debtor is.
6. Changes related to issuing invoices/e-invoices for multiple individual deliveries of goods and services (so-called successive deliveries)
It is prescribed for all VAT payers to issue invoices for successive deliveries at least once during the tax period.
It is foreseen that e-invoice for multiple individual deliveries of goods and services, can be issued within 8 days from the end of the tax period.
7. Changes related to creating an internal invoice
New elements that the internal invoice should contain are prescribed, as well as a deadline of 8 days from the end of the tax period in which the recipient as a tax debtor must prepare an internal invoice.
There is an obligation to issue a special internal invoice for the sale of buildings, economically divisible units within buildings and ownership shares in those goods.
8. Changes in the general and special VAT records of taxpayers
New elements of the general records are foreseen, which refer to data on: 1) the amount of VAT that can or cannot be deducted as input tax, as well as 2) corrections of the input tax deduction – increase or decrease. The data that the taxpayer must provide as part of special records, which refer to equipment and facilities for the performance of activities, that is, to investments in facilities and equipment for the performance of activities, have been specified. Furthermore, there is an obligation to keep special records on the cancellation of documents.
9. New rules for reporting data in „POPDV“-Form
In field 3.6 of the “POPDV”-Form, the obligation to report data on the reduction of the base amount, i.e. VAT, based on the cancellation of invoices for the sale of goods and services, is excluded, as well as in the case of cancellation of invoices when the base is reduced when the VAT payer – supplier of goods, i.e. the service provider is not a tax debtor.
In part 8 of the “POPDV”-Form, it is provided that the information on the base amount for the purchased goods is reported without deduction for part of the advance which refers to the base, and the information on the amount of calculated VAT as the difference between the amount of calculated VAT for the completed turnover and the amount of calculated VAT based on the advance.
Amendments to the Rulebook on electronic invoicing
The Rulebook shall be applied from September 1, 2024, except for the provisions related to the electronic recording of input tax, which shall be applied for tax periods starting after August 31, 2024, (tax period: September 2024 for monthly VAT payers).
There are many amendments, and they were carried out in a significant part as a consequence of harmonization with proposed improvements to the new functionalities of the System of Electronic Invoices (“SEF”), as well as changes in the Internal Technical Instructions, valid from August 1, 2024.
The most significan changes are:
1. A new obligation to record input tax has been prescribed
Recording input tax shall be done for the first time by monthly taxpayers until October 10, 2024 for the tax period of September 2024, and quarterly until January 10, 2025, for the tax period of October-December 2024.
Electronic recording of input tax shall be done collectively for the tax period, by entering data into „SEF“ within 10 (ten) days from the end of the period. It is possible to correct the records from the 10th to the 15th of the month for the previous month if there are changes that affect the electronic recording of the input tax. The data refer to procurement of goods and services for which VAT has been calculated, received goods and services from foreign persons, VAT paid on import of goods and paid VAT compensation to farmers, and are recorded collectively. In the case of data related to the procurement of goods and services from VAT payers, they are recorded by type of invoice, namely: electronic invoices, fiscal invoices and other invoices. Data related to the procurement of goods and services from a foreign person are recorded from individual VAT records made on the basis of internal invoices, namely: internal invoices – foreign person and internal invoices – VAT payer. Certain data will be entered automatically in the input tax records, e.g. data from incoming e-invoices and from individual records, at the end of the tax period, from the 1st to the 10th of the following month. During automatic entry, data is recorded with the balance on the day preceding the day of automatic entry. The electronic recording of input tax will be subject to additional harmonization (with regulations in the field of fiscalization and customs), with the aim of ensuring the automatic transfer of all necessary data for recording input tax.
2. Changes in Individual and Aggregate VAT records
The elements of Individual and Aggregate VAT records in „SEF“ have been specified. Individual records are broken down into data related to procurement and data related to deliveries. It is possible to download Individual and Aggregate VAT records from „SEF“.
3. Disclosure of data in case of change of base and cancellation of invoices (or other documents)
The method of recording reductions and increases in VAT, both in aggregate and in individual records, has been specified. If there was a reduction in the fee that was recorded in the Individual VAT record with the selection basis of reduction, in the Aggregate VAT record for the tax period in which the reduction occurred, the amount for which the base was reduced is recorded, and for the tax period in which the conditions for the tax debtor to reduce the calculated VAT are met, the amount by which the calculated VAT is reduced is recorded. If there was an increase in the fee that was recorded in the Individual VAT record with the selectin basis of increase, in the Aggregate VAT record for the tax period in which the increase occurred, the amount by which the base was increased and the amount by which the VAT was increased are recorded . When canceling an electronic invoice and other similar documents, data on the reduction or increase of the base and VAT for the corresponding tax period are reported in the Aggregate VAT record, in accordance with the VAT regulations.
4. Determining the status of the subject and tax period
The option “Status of the subject” has been added so that the user can determine the status of the subject (entity), i.e. whether he is liable for VAT. If case of VAT payer, the option to select a tax period (calendar month or calendar quarter) has been added. This is enabled so “SEF”-users can update data if there is a change in entity status or a change in tax period.
5. Changes regarding electronic invoicing
New tax categories have been added for all electronic invoices:
S20 – standard calculation of VAT at the rate of 20%
S10 – standard calculation of VAT at the rate of 10%
AE20 – reverse calculation of VAT at the special rate of 20% and
AE10 – reverse calculation of VAT at the rate of 10%
New codes have been added to the bae of the VAT exemption. In order to separate turnover for the first transfer of disposal on newly built construction buildings, a special classification at the item level was introduced. In the electronic invoices that are issued for the turnover of buildings (regardless of whether it is the first transfer or not), data on other transactions cannot be shown.
Amendments and corrections to the „SEF” (Version 3.8)
In addition to the amendments to the Rulebook on electronic invoicing, the functionalities of “SEF” have also been changed, in accordance with the changes in the Internal Technical Instructions published on the website of the Ministry of Finance (www.efaktura.gov.rs) dated August 1, 2024.
The most significant changes are:
- Changes in document type names,
- Section „Date of VAT calculation” has been renamed to „Arising of VAT liability” with new options,
- It is enabled to generate an extended external view of the eclectronic invoice (in PDF format),
- New units of measure have been implemented,
- The possibilty of entering the delivery note number when creating the invoice has been implemented,
- The change of status name „Approved“ to „Accepted“ has been made and
- Manual change of company name / entities is enabled.
We are at your disposal for additional advice.