Serbia: Serbia-San Marino DTA enters into force

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

Serbia: Serbia-San Marino DTA enters into force

Sponsored by

Eurofast Serbia
AdobeStock_68581369_Serbia

Serbia and San Marino signed a double taxation agreement (DTA) on April 16 2018, thus effectively resulting in the removal of San Marino from the Serbian list of countries with a preferential tax regime. The Law on Confirmation of the DTA was adopted by the Serbian Assembly on September 25 2018 and San Marino is expected to start the application of the DTA as of January 2019.

The DTA introduces the following principles and rates:

  • A maximum 5% withholding tax rate for dividends paid by a company to its shareholder company directly owning at least 25% of the capital of the company paying the dividends;

  • A maximum 10% withholding tax rate for the payment of dividends to shareholders owning less than 25% of company's capital;

  • Interest and royalties are generally taxable in the country of residence of the receiving company; but if taxed in the country of residence of the paying company the tax may not exceed 10%.

  • In cases when more than 50% of the value of the company (for the 365 days preceding a sale) is derived from real estate, the capital gains from the sale of shares over such a company may be taxable in the country of residence of the company being sold; and

  • In all other cases, the capital gains from sale of shares will be taxable in the seller's country of residence.

As a result of San Marino's removal from the preferential tax regime jurisdiction list, transactions between legal entities from Serbia and San Marino will no longer be subject to the 25% withholding tax rate.

We advise companies doing business with San Marino to carefully review existing practices and evaluate whether the new treaty will have an impact on their transactions. Our team is ready to answer your questions on how the agreement will simplify administrative procedures and tax burdens related to withholding tax and to provide custom guidance on ensuring compliance with the treaty.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The climbdowns pave the way for a side-by-side deal to be concluded this week, as per the US Treasury secretary’s expectation; in other news, Taft added a 10-partner tax team
A vote to be held in 2026 could create Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, a $3.6bn giant with 3,100 lawyers across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific
Foreign companies operating in Libya face source-based taxation even without a local presence. Multinationals must understand compliance obligations, withholding risks, and treaty relief to avoid costly surprises
Hotel La Tour had argued that VAT should be recoverable as a result of proceeds being used for a taxable business activity
Tax professionals are still going to be needed, but AI will make it easier than starting from zero, EY’s global tax disputes leader Luis Coronado tells ITR
AI and assisting clients with navigating global tax reform contributed to the uptick in turnover, the firm said
In a post on X, Scott Bessent urged dissenting countries to the US/OECD side-by-side arrangement to ‘join the consensus’ to get a deal over the line
A new transatlantic firm under the name of Winston Taylor is expected to go live in May 2026 with more than 1,400 lawyers and 20 offices
As ITR’s exclusive data uncovers in-house dissatisfaction with case management, advisers cite Italy’s arcane tax rules
The new guidance is not meant to reflect a substantial change to UK law, but the requirement that tax advice is ‘likely to be correct’ imposes unrealistic expectations
Gift this article