Montenegro: Tax treatment of severance payments and vouchers

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Montenegro: Tax treatment of severance payments and vouchers

zivkovic.jpg

Jelena Zivkovic

The Montenegrin Law on Personal Income Tax defines income subject to personal income tax to include salaries, income related to immovable property and immovable property rights, income related to capital as well as capital gains. All of these types of income are taxed at the rate of 9%. From a corporate perspective, of interest to companies are certain cases such as severance payments which have a specific tax treatment.

The legislation defines that severance payments related to retirement as well as related to a termination of employment in redundancy procedures, which do not exceed €1,000 ($1,400) are exempt from social contribution deductions and personal income tax. In other scenarios of severance payments, such as mutual settlements for employment termination, the severance payment is taxed at the rate of 9% but such payments are nevertheless exempted from social contributions payments, irrespective of amount.

A similar logic applies when a company is granting vouchers, goods or discounts to its employees. All of these are considered as personal income in a tax sense and are subject to taxation. Just like with severance payments, mandatory social contributions are not applicable to this type of personal income.

According to the Law on Personal Income Tax, the company (employer) is responsible for the calculation and payment of the tax as well as mandatory social contributions. Even though certain countries allow physical person to calculate and pay their own tax liability, the Montenegrin legislation obligates the legal entity to calculate and pay all taxes and contributions on behalf of its employees, including local taxes.

Jelena Zivkovic (jelena.zivkovic@eurofast.eu)

Eurofast Global, Podgorica Office

Tel: +382 20 228 490

Website: www.eurofast.eu

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The proposal seeks to regulate compulsory TP documentation in line with the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and simplify filing requirements
Despite the decline in profitability, the firm’s tax advisory business delivered a 3.4% revenue growth
Firms are making use of inventories and ample profit margins to avoid or absorb the initial impact of higher tariffs, an OECD report said
While UN proposals to shift airline taxation from a residence-based system to a source-state one are not set in stone, ex-British Airways CEO Willie Walsh warns they would increase costs and complexity
Von Wobeser y Sierra’s head of tax shares best practices for resolving tax controversy and touts his firm’s founding partner as an exemplar of legal practice
ITR concludes its analysis of World Tax’s rankings for 2026 by highlighting the firms that stood out most on a global scale
Experts from law firm Kennedys outline the key tax disputes trends set to define 2026, ranging from increased enforcement to continued tariff drama and AI usage
They also warned against an ‘unnecessary duplication of efforts’ in UN tax convention negotiations; in other news, White & Case has hired Freshfields’ former French tax head
Awards
Submit your nominations to this year's WIBL EMEA Awards by 16 February 2026
Defending loss situations in TP is not about denying the existence of losses but about showing, through proactive measures, that the losses reflect genuine commercial realities
Gift this article