The Republic of Serbia is a country located in Central and South-Eastern Europe, and the Balkan Peninsula. Serbia covers a total area of 88,499 square kilometers. It shares borders with Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. Serbia is landlocked, though it is able to access the Adriatic Sea through Montenegro and inland Europe and the Black Sea via the Danube. The strongest sectors of Serbia’s economy are energy, the automotive industry, machinery, mining, and agriculture.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Serbia.
On this page
Fast-track your talent onboarding while ensuring 100% compliance with local regulations. using an Employer of Record in Serbia
Calculate net salary post deductions and compare it with the salary in other countries instantly.
Receive process support by an experienced team of experts & pay your talent on time and in their local currency, ideal for companies looking to hire employees or contractors in Serbia
Easily onboard your remote talent in Serbia through our Employer of Record (EOR) solution. Our subsidiaries and network partners make this process fast and 100% compliant.
The Republic of Serbia is a country located in Central and South-Eastern Europe, and the Balkan Peninsula. Serbia covers a total area of 88,499 square kilometers. It shares borders with Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. Serbia is landlocked, though it is able to access the Adriatic Sea through Montenegro and inland Europe and the Black Sea via the Danube. The strongest sectors of Serbia’s economy are energy, the automotive industry, machinery, mining, and agriculture.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Serbia.
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026 and are critical for hiring in Serbia planning:
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026.
| January 1 - 2 | New Year's Holiday | |
| January 7 | Julian Orthodox Christmas | |
| February 15 - 17 | National Day Holiday | |
| April 10 | Good Friday (Orthodox) | Movable |
| April 13 | Orthodox Easter Monday | Movable |
| May 1 - 2 | May Day Holiday | |
| November 11 | Armistice Day |
The approximate time for sharing the contract with an employee in Serbia is 2 business days assuming no special requests or changes to our standard employment contract. Any such requests or changes would need to undergo internal and external review, directly leading to a time delay.
NOTE: This number is subject to change and is only an estimation of the Contract Sharing Time. The estimated Contract Sharing Time begins from the moment that WorkMotion has received all required information from both the client and the employee.
The Serbian social security system is comprised of:
The system is funded through employer and employee contributions.
The minimum monthly contribution basis is RSD 45,950 and the maximum monthly contribution basis is RSD 656,425 (annual 7,877,100). The basis amounts are effective from January 1, 2025.
| Benefit | Employer Contribution |
| Health Insurance | 5.15% |
| Retirement and Disability Insurance | 10% |
| Total | 16.15% |
The Serbian labor law defines statutory working time as 40 hours per week. The working week lasts five days, and the employer is entitled to define the daily schedule within clearly defined limits.
Overtime cannot last for more than eight hours per week. An employee may not work more than 12 hours a day, including overtime.
In Serbia, the maximum probation period is six months.
| Termination Cause | Notice Period |
| Cancellation by the employee | At least 15 days but not longer than 30 days |
| Cancellation by the employer | A minimum of 8 days, and maximum 30 days |
The Serbian labor law defines statutory working time as 40 hours per week. The working week lasts five days, and the employer is entitled to define the daily schedule within clearly defined limits.
Overtime cannot last for more than eight hours per week. An employee may not work more than 12 hours a day, including overtime.
In Serbia, the maximum probation period is six months.
| Termination Cause | Notice Period |
| Cancellation by the employee | At least 15 days but not longer than 30 days |
| Cancellation by the employer | A minimum of 8 days, and maximum 30 days |
An employee is entitled to leave from work with salary compensation (paid leave) for a total duration of five workdays in the course of a calendar year, in cases of:
The employee is also entitled to paid leave for another:
An employer may grant an employee unpaid leave. During unpaid leave, the employee’s employment rights and duties remain unless otherwise determined by law, bylaw, and employment contract.
However, the employer may terminate the employment contract for just cause if the employee does not return to work within 15 days from the expiry of the period of unpaid leave.
The Serbian social security system is comprised of:
The system is funded through employer and employee contributions.
The minimum monthly contribution basis is RSD 45,950 and the maximum monthly contribution basis is RSD 656,425 (annual 7,877,100). The basis amounts are effective from January 1, 2025.
| Benefit | Employer Contribution |
| Health Insurance | 5.15% |
| Retirement and Disability Insurance | 10% |
| Total | 16.15% |
WorkMotion acts as the legal employer in Serbia through its own entity.
We handle every step from contract generation to monthly payroll remittance, so your company can focus on the work, not the administration.
WorkMotion generates an employment contract aligned with Serbia’s Labour Law, covering:
Contracts must be concluded in writing before the employee starts work, and any provision that falls below the legal minimum is null and void under Serbian law.
WorkMotion’s locally reviewed contract templates reflect these requirements, including fixed-term and indefinite contract structures, and are issued in Serbian where required for the employee’s records.
Before the first payslip is processed, WorkMotion handles the necessary registrations with the Serbian Business Registers Agency, the Tax Administration, and the Central Registry of Compulsory Social Insurance (CROSO).
These registrations are a legal prerequisite for employing anyone in Serbia – and getting them wrong delays onboarding and creates compliance exposure from day one.
WorkMotion configures payroll in Serbian dinars (RSD) and applies the correct gross-to-net calculation for each employee.
This includes withholding personal income tax at the applicable rate, employer social security contributions (covering pension, health, and unemployment insurance), and employee-side contributions.
Monthly electronic tax returns — the PPP-PD forms — are filed on schedule. Payroll records are maintained for the legally required retention period.
WorkMotion enrolls each employee in Serbia’s mandatory social insurance programs:
Employees are also entitled to a minimum of 20 working days of paid annual leave per calendar year after six months of service, and sick leave provisions apply from day one.
Each month, WorkMotion calculates and remits employer and employee contributions withheld to the Serbian Tax Administration on schedule.
Employees receive compliant payslips detailing earnings, deductions, and net salary. Late filings carry real penalties under Serbian law. As a result, WorkMotion’s payroll team monitors deadlines and regulatory changes to keep every payroll cycle clean.
Serbian labour laws continually evolve — the minimum wage is reviewed annually, occupational health and safety regulations were significantly updated in 2023 and 2024, and the Law on Employment of Foreigners was amended in 2024 to introduce a unified permit process for foreign nationals.
WorkMotion monitors these changes and automatically updates employment terms, contribution rates, and statutory entitlements — so your company stays compliant without having to track every regulatory gazette.
For most companies hiring one to ten employees in Serbia, the comparison between EOR and entity setup comes down to speed, cost, and ongoing burden.
| WorkMotion EOR | Own Entity in Serbia | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup cost | No setup cost beyond the per-employee EOR fee | Estimated €5,000–€15,000+ in legal, notarial, and registration fees |
| Time to first hire | Days from signed contract to payroll enrollment | Typically, 4–12 weeks for full entity registration and tax enrollment |
| Ongoing legal exposure | WorkMotion holds legal employer liability; compliance is managed end-to-end | Your entity carries full employer liability — contracts, payroll accuracy, tax filings, labour inspections |
| Ongoing admin burden | Single monthly invoice; platform handles contracts, payroll, and benefits | Requires a local accountant, payroll provider, and HR/legal support in Serbia |
| Exit flexibility | Wind down a hire without dissolving a legal structure | Closing a Serbian entity involves formal deregistration procedures and potential severance obligations |
Using an employer of record (EOR) in Serbia is well-suited to companies that need to hire quickly, want to test the market before committing to a permanent structure, or are building a distributed team across multiple countries.
Entity setup is worth evaluating when you have 15 or more employees in Serbia and a long-term operational presence is part of the strategy — at that scale, the entity’s fixed costs begin to compare favourably with per-employee EOR fees.
Serbia is not a difficult country to hire in, but it has specific rules that catch foreign employers off guard. These are the ones that come up most often.
Serbia is not an at-will employment jurisdiction.
An employer can only terminate a contract on grounds explicitly defined in the Labour Law — performance issues, disciplinary breaches, redundancy, or other legally prescribed reasons.
The termination procedure must follow a formal process, and the legality of a dismissal depends on both the reason and the manner in which the procedure was conducted.
Employers used to at-will systems often underestimate this.
Probation periods in Serbia can last up to six months for indefinite-term contracts.
During probation, either party can terminate with five working days’ notice.
However, recent Serbian court decisions have reinforced that employers should still document performance assessments during the probation period — courts have increasingly scrutinized whether the employer genuinely evaluated the employee before terminating.
Serbian law caps fixed-term employment at 24 months in most circumstances.
Using a fixed-term contract as a default — without understanding when it can be extended and when it converts to indefinite employment — is a common compliance gap.
WorkMotion tracks contract durations and alerts clients before statutory limits are reached.
Serbia’s Labour Law recognizes remote and telework arrangements, but they must be formalized in a specific contract or addendum.
The addendum must detail:
Employers also carry occupational health and safety obligations for remote employees — including risk assessments for the employee’s work environment.
Companies that simply assume a standard employment contract covers remote work are exposed.
Personal income tax and social contributions must be reported and remitted monthly via electronic filings (PPP-PD forms).
Even small delays trigger penalties under Serbian law. Foreign employers managing payroll manually or through fragmented local vendors frequently miss deadlines during onboarding or when contribution rates change.
Serbia’s minimum wage is set by the Social-Economic Council and reviewed annually.
As of October 2025, the hourly minimum wage increased to RSD 337, up from RSD 308.
Employment contracts and payroll configurations that aren’t updated to reflect the new rate create immediate non-compliance. WorkMotion applies updated rates automatically at each review cycle.
B2B SaaS companies headquartered in Germany and the Netherlands are among the most active hirers in Serbia through WorkMotion.
Serbia’s ICT sector has grown rapidly — with over 115,000 IT specialists and ICT exports reaching a record €4.13 billion in 2024 — and the country’s CET time zone aligns directly with DACH and Benelux working hours.
These companies typically need to hire two to eight senior engineers or product specialists without setting up a Serbian subsidiary. WorkMotion’s own entity in Serbia means that contracts are issued directly, payroll runs on time, and the compliance burden stays entirely off the client’s plate.
UK companies expanding their engineering or product functions increasingly look to Serbia as a nearshore option — strong English proficiency, a mature tech ecosystem in Belgrade and Novi Sad, and a time zone that supports real-time collaboration.
For a UK scale-up with 50–200 employees that has never hired outside the UK before, the compliance requirements of Serbian employment law are unfamiliar territory.
WorkMotion handles the full employment relationship — contract, payroll, statutory benefits, and ongoing compliance — so the UK team can focus on onboarding the hire, not navigating Serbian labour regulations.
Remote-first companies — particularly in tech, e-commerce, and green tech — don’t restrict hiring to their home market.
When the best candidate for a senior product or engineering role is in Belgrade or Novi Sad, they need a way to hire that person compliantly without having to build local infrastructure.
WorkMotion’s EOR in Serbia makes that hire possible in days: a compliant contract generated, payroll configured in RSD, and statutory benefits enrolled.
The employee gets a proper employment relationship; the company gets the person they wanted.
WorkMotion handles everything that comes with hiring in Serbia.
Most hires are onboarded within days of the signed contract. There’s no entity to set up, no local payroll vendor to manage, and no gap in compliance coverage as Serbian labour laws evolve.
If you want to see the full employment cost before you commit, use the Employment Cost Calculator to get a country-specific breakdown for Serbia.
And, when you’re ready to move forward, book a demo, and our team will walk you through exactly how hiring in Serbia works through WorkMotion.
WorkMotion operates through its own entity in Serbia — meaning contracts are issued directly, payroll is remitted through WorkMotion’s own legal structure, and compliance accountability sits with WorkMotion rather than a subcontracted local partner.
This matters because third-party arrangements can introduce gaps in liability coverage and slow down onboarding when coordination between providers is required. With WorkMotion’s own entity in Serbia, there are no intermediaries between your hire and a compliant employment relationship.
Serbian labour laws permit non-compete clauses, but they must meet specific conditions to be enforceable: the restriction must be reasonable in scope and duration (generally up to two years post-employment), and the employer must pay compensation to the employee for the duration of the restriction.
Confidentiality obligations can be included in the employment contract without compensation requirements, but they must be clearly defined. WorkMotion’s locally reviewed contract templates for Serbia incorporate these provisions in line with current Labour Law requirements — so your company isn’t relying on a generic template that may not hold up under Serbian court scrutiny.
In Serbia, employer social security contributions are calculated on the employee’s gross salary and cover three mandatory insurance categories: pension and disability insurance (10%), health insurance (5.15%), and unemployment insurance (0.75%) — bringing total employer contributions to approximately 15.9% of gross salary.
Employee-side contributions add a further 19.9% withheld from gross pay, covering the same three categories.
Yes, foreign nationals can be employed in Serbia through an EOR in Serbia, but the process involves additional steps compared to hiring Serbian citizens.
Serbia’s Law on Employment of Foreigners was amended in 2024 to introduce a unified permit that combines the work permit and temporary residence permit into a single procedure, simplifying the process.
However, permit timelines and documentation requirements vary by nationality and role type, and the employer of record is the entity that applies for the permit on the employee’s behalf.
For most hires, WorkMotion completes onboarding in Serbia within days of the signed employment contract — covering contract issuance, registration with the Central Registry of Compulsory Social Insurance (CROSO), and payroll configuration in Serbian dinars.
The exact timeline depends on whether the hire is a Serbian citizen or a foreign national requiring a work permit, and whether all required employee documentation is submitted promptly.
Discover how WorkMotion helps you hire anywhere, stay compliant, and manage global teams with ease.
Trusted by
![idWjC-9cC6_logos 1 [Vectorized]](https://workmotion.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/idWjC-9cC6_logos-1-Vectorized.svg)
