Business Travel and Expenses for Flat-Rate Entrepreneurs

You’re travelling to a conference, to a client in another city, or to a trade fair abroad, and you wonder: can I „write off“ those expenses against tax, and am I entitled to a per diem? For a flat-rate entrepreneur the answer is different than for companies that keep books, and this is exactly where most of the confusion arises. In this article we explain what about your travel actually affects your flat-rate tax, and what doesn’t.

A flat-rate entrepreneur does not deduct expenses — not even for travel

The most important thing to understand: a flat-rate entrepreneur does not reduce the tax base by expenses. Your tax and contributions are determined by a ruling of the Tax Administration as a fixed monthly amount, regardless of how much you spent on fuel, flights, hotels, or per diems. Unlike an entrepreneur who keeps books (where profit = revenue − expenses), in your case expenses do not enter the tax calculation.

The practical consequence: you don’t have to collect and keep receipts from a business trip for tax purposes. A flat-rate entrepreneur keeps only the KPO book (Book of Turnover Achieved), i.e. a record of income, and not a record of expenses.

What „per diems“ actually are and why you shouldn’t rely on them

Per diems and tax-exempt reimbursements of business-travel expenses are an institution belonging to the employer–employee relationship. These are amounts an employer may pay to an employee without paying tax. For the period up to the end of 2025, those tax-exempt amounts are:

• Per diem for a domestic business trip — up to 3.241 dinars per day (tax-exempt).
• Per diem for a business trip abroad — up to 90 euros per day (tax-exempt); the limit used to be 50 euros.
• Accommodation costs — recognised in full against submitted receipts.

Key point: this logic applies when an employer reimburses an employee. A flat-rate entrepreneur does not pay themselves a „per diem“ as a tax category, because there is no calculation of expenses. If you come across a table of per diems somewhere, know that those figures are not something that reduces your flat-rate tax.

How a flat-rate entrepreneur pays for travel in practice

Since you don’t have to justify expenses, you can use the money from your business account freely. This means you can pay for flights, hotels, and the rest in several ways, none of which changes your tax liability:

• Directly by card/transfer order from the business (entrepreneur’s) account.
• By transferring the money to your personal account and then paying privately.
• By withdrawing cash, within the limits set by the bank.

For transfers from the business to the personal account, payment code 241 or 289 is usually used. The daily limit for a transfer/withdrawal that you are not required to justify is most often 150.000 dinars per day, but the exact limit and conditions depend on the bank (at ATMs the limit is generally lower). For larger amounts or foreign currency, the bank may request additional documentation.

A flat-rate entrepreneur pays no additional tax on withdrawing and using that money, because the tax is already „covered“ by the fixed monthly ruling. This is one of the biggest practical advantages of the flat-rate status compared to double-entry bookkeeping.

What is relevant for a flat-rate entrepreneur

Although expenses don’t enter the tax calculation, there are a few things about travel you really need to watch out for:

• It’s income, not expenses, that keeps you in the flat-rate regime. The limit for retaining flat-rate status is 6.000.000 dinars of turnover per year, and at 8.000.000 dinars over the last 12 months you enter the PDV system.
• If you invoice a client for „rebilled“ travel costs (e.g. flights or accommodation), that amount is your income and enters the KPO book and the turnover limit.
• For trips abroad and foreign-currency transactions, the bank may request documentation (e.g. a travel order) for foreign-exchange, not tax, reasons.
• Receipts from a trip can be useful for your internal records and your relationship with the client, but not as a tax expense.

Key takeaways

• A flat-rate entrepreneur does not deduct expenses — travel does not reduce the flat-rate tax.
• Per diems (3.241 dinars domestically, up to 90 euros abroad for 2025) are a category for the employer–employee relationship, not for your flat-rate tax.
• You pay for travel however is convenient for you; you don’t have to keep receipts for tax purposes.
• Watch your income and the limits (6 million dinars for flat-rate, 8 million for PDV), not your expenses.
• Rebilled travel costs are your income and enter the KPO book.

If you’re not sure how to record rebilled costs, or whether some transaction is „pushing“ you towards the limit — get in touch, we’ll gladly help.

Sources

• Uplatnica.rs — Flat-rate taxation in Serbia (2025)
• Pausal.rs — How I manage money as a flat-rate entrepreneur
• Paušalko — Withdrawing money from a flat-rate entrepreneur’s account: limits and rules
• Biznis.rs — All tax-exempt amounts for employers up to the end of 2025