In 2016, 8,429 companies were established, i.e. by 3% more than in 2015. Within the same period, 33,615 sole traders were established, i.e. by 0.5% more than in the previous year.
In case of 98.74% of companies, the integrated registration procedure with the Serbian Business Registers Agency and the Tax Administration (The Register of Taxpayer) was completed within 24 hours from the SBRA’s receipt of the application for registration of incorporation and the required documentation. In case of 1.26% of business entities, the procedure of registration of incorporation took more than 24 hours, mostly due to additional checks or formal deficiencies of the submitted documentation.
In case of 30,693 sole traders (99.22%), the procedure of registration of incorporation was completed in less than 24 hours, whereas in case of 0.8% of sole traders the procedure of registration of incorporation and obtaining of TIN lasted longer than one day.
A more detailed statistics shows that in case of 4,553 companies, i.e. 54.89% of the total number (8,429) of companies established in 2016, the integrated procedure of registration with the SBRA and the Tax Administration was completed on the very same day when the application of registration of incorporation and accompanying documentation were submitted to the SBRA. In case of 3,637 companies (43.85%), the registration certificate containing the TIN was issued next day, i.e. in less than 24 hours. In case of 105 companies (1.26%), the procedure of registration of incorporation was completed in more than 24 hours, while the registration procedure lasted longer than one working day in case of 70 companies (0.84%).
In 2016, 22,287 sole traders (72.08%) were registered with the SBRA on the same day when their applications for registration of incorporation were submitted, while in case of 8,406 sole traders (27.17%) the registration procedure and obtaining of TIN was completed on the next working day but within 24 hours. In case of 246 sole traders (0.80%) the procedure of registration was completed next day, but within 24 hours.
In the 2017 Doing Business Report of the World Bank Group, Serbia takes the 47th position with respect to the Starting a Business indicator.
Thanks to the business registration reform conducted in 2016, the procedure of registration with SBRA has been additionally simplified and the time thereof has been reduced. Based on this, Serbia’s Doing Business rank has improved by 18 positions compared to the previous year, i.e. from the 65th to the 47th position.
By improving the one-stop shop system of business registration, the electronic exchange of data between the SBRA and the Tax Administration has been accelerated, and the time required for the simultaneous implementation of the procedure of registration with the SBRA’s Business Entities Register and the Register of Taxpayers has been reduced to 24 hours.
The Serbian Business Registers Agency expects that the World Bank Group will recognize the said improvement in its next report.