From 1 January to 15 March, the Serbian Business Registers Agency registered 7,358 temporary terminations of entrepreneurial activity of sole proprietors, while 6,290 temporary terminations were registered from 16 March to 13 April.
“Immediately after the announcement of the Economic Measures Programme, aimed at mitigating the negative effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting the Serbian economy, the Agency started registering a smaller number of temporary terminations of business activities, while a number of sole proprietors reported the continuation of the conduct of their entrepreneurial activities”, says Mr. Milan Lučić, Director of the Serbian Business Registers Agency, emphasizing that the economic measures of the state will help the most vulnerable parts of the economy to overcome the first consequences of the crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Since the introduction of the state of emergency caused by the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the number of sole proprietors who have filed for the registration of temporary termination of the conduct of entrepreneurial activities has increased sharply. These are the sole proprietors who have been most affected by the state of emergency, which made it difficult or impossible for them to continue their businesses, such as: hairdressing and other beauty treatments; business and other management consultancy activities; other education (kindergartens; child day-care activities); production and distribution of cinematographic and other audiovisual works; dental practice activities; taxi operation; engineering activities and related technical consultancy; restaurants and mobile food service activities; and retail sale of clothing.
The Economic Measures Programme, whose implementation falls within the competence of the Ministry of Finance, will also support those sole proprietors, who, due to the introduction of the state of emergency, have reported to the SBRA the temporary termination of the conduct of entrepreneurial activities. The Regulation on Fiscal Benefits and Direct Contributions to Private Sector Business Entities and Financial Assistance to Citizens in Order to Mitigate the Economic Consequences of the COVID-19 Disease (Official Gazette of the RS, number 54, dated 10 April 2020) specifies the eligible persons and conditions under which the fiscal benefits and direct contributions may be used, VAT treatment of the sale of goods and services without compensation for health purposes, as well as payment of one-off financial aid to all citizens of legal age of the Republic of Serbia out of the Budget.
The increase in the number of registered temporary terminations of entrepreneurial activities of sole proprietors was recorded in the Register of Business Entities even before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, but it is assumed that this was due to the amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax and the “independence test”, since the sole proprietors who registered the so-called. “computer activities” were the prevailing applicants who filed for the temporary termination of the conduct of entrepreneurial activities.
A number of sole proprietors from this group applied for the removal from the Business Entities Register - Sole Proprietors, and registered a company under the same name and business activity code under which they used to perform the entrepreneurial activity. The share of these sole proprietors in the total number of registered temporary terminations of the conduct of business activities has decreased since the introduction of the state of emergency.
So, from 1 January to 15 March, 5,474 temporary terminations of entrepreneurial activities of sole proprietors operating in the field of “computer business activities” were registered, while from 16 March to 13 April, only 580 temporary terminations of the conduct of the “computer business activities” were registered.