Two Serbian systems are often mixed up, and an ERP has to handle them differently. SEF (Sistem elektronskih faktura) is the national platform for invoices between companies and with the public sector. Fiscalization covers receipts for retail sales to consumers. This guide explains what each one requires, the dates that matter, and what it means for a company running Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
SEF: electronic invoices between companies
SEF is run by the Ministry of Finance under the Law on Electronic Invoicing (Zakon o elektronskom fakturisanju, "Službeni glasnik RS" no. 44/2021, amended several times since, most recently by no. 80/2026). It became mandatory in three steps:
| Date | What became mandatory |
|---|---|
| 1 May 2022 | Public sector receives and stores e-invoices; invoices to the public sector (B2G) must go through SEF |
| 1 July 2022 | Public sector issues e-invoices to companies; all companies must be able to receive e-invoices |
| 1 January 2023 | Companies issue e-invoices to other companies (B2B) |
Since 2023, an invoice between two VAT-registered companies in Serbia is, in practice, an electronic document in SEF, not a PDF by email. The recipient accepts or rejects each incoming invoice in SEF within the deadline set by the law. An invoice left unanswered is eventually treated as accepted or rejected, depending on whether the recipient is in the public or the private sector, so incoming invoices need a process rather than an inbox.
Electronic VAT records
SEF also carries VAT reporting:
- VAT calculation records (evidentiranje obračuna PDV) have been kept in SEF since 1 January 2023, as individual or summary records, currently due by the 12th day of the month after the tax period.
- Input VAT records (evidencija prethodnog poreza) apply to tax periods starting after 31 August 2024, with the same deadline.
Changes in 2026 and 2027
- From tax periods starting after 31 March 2026, retail sales paid with a corporate card need an e-invoice through SEF, and so do retail sales to a public-sector body that asks for one. SEF has also gained a document-storage role.
- Amendments published in September 2026 add further records to SEF from 2027, including records of purchases from farmers outside the VAT system and customs declaration data.
- Electronic delivery notes (e-otpremnice) have their own law. They have applied since 1 January 2026 to the public sector, suppliers delivering to it and movements of excise goods, and they are scheduled to extend to deliveries between private companies on 1 October 2027.
What SEF integration means for an ERP
A company can use SEF through its web portal, but at any real invoice volume the ERP talks to SEF directly through its API. An integration has to handle more than "send the invoice":
- Authentication with an API key generated in the SEF portal, and a separate demo environment for testing.
- The document format: UBL 2.1 XML with the Serbian customization identifier, built from posted sales invoices and credit notes, including advance invoices.
- Asynchronous processing. Sending returns an ID straight away, and the final status arrives later, by callback notification or by polling. The ERP has to track that status on each invoice.
- Incoming invoices: download purchase invoices, match them to purchase documents, and accept or reject them in time.
- Corrections: cancelling (otkazivanje) and reversing (storniranje) invoices already sent.
- Public-sector invoices registered in the Central Invoice Register (CRF).
- VAT records sent to SEF from VAT entries in the ERP.
- Downtime. SEF has regular maintenance windows, so sending has to retry rather than fail.
Fines under the e-invoicing law for legal entities range from 200,000 to 2,000,000 dinars, with separate fines for the responsible person, which is reason enough to treat this as a core ERP process.
Fiscalization: retail receipts
Fiscalization is a separate system, run by the Tax Administration (Poreska uprava) under the Law on Fiscalization. The current model started on 1 November 2021, with a transition period until 30 April 2022, and it has been mandatory for everyone in scope since 1 May 2022. It covers retail sales, and advances received for them.
Each fiscal receipt passes through three components:
- ESIR: the point-of-sale software that creates the receipt.
- PFR: the processor that fiscalizes it, either local (L-PFR, which can work offline) or server-based (V-PFR).
- A security element issued by the Tax Administration, a smart card or a digital certificate, which signs every receipt. The printed receipt carries a QR code that anyone can verify.
When Business Central needs fiscalization
A company that only invoices other companies needs SEF, not fiscalization. Business Central needs a fiscalization integration when it records retail sales itself: a shop or point of sale, a webshop order that Business Central invoices to a consumer, or cash sales. In those cases every sale has to pass through an ESIR and a PFR, and the fiscal receipt number has to come back into Business Central.
Business Central has no Microsoft localization for Serbia
Microsoft lists Serbia as a "localized by partner" country for Business Central online: the service is available in Serbia, on the worldwide (W1) base application, with the Serbian (Latin) platform translation. Serbian legal requirements, including SEF, VAT records, local reports and fiscalization, are not part of Microsoft's product. They come from a partner localization.
When you evaluate a Serbian localization, ask whether it:
- sends and receives e-invoices through the SEF API, including credit notes, advances and public-sector (CRF) invoices;
- tracks SEF status on each document and retries during SEF downtime;
- handles acceptance and rejection of incoming invoices within the deadline;
- produces the electronic VAT records from Business Central's VAT entries;
- is being updated for the 2026 and 2027 changes, including e-delivery notes;
- integrates with fiscalization, if you sell to consumers;
- keeps up with Microsoft's two major Business Central releases a year.
We build and maintain Serbian localization for Business Central, including SEF e-invoicing and fiscalization.
Sources
- Ministry of Finance: SEF portal and news
- SEF: Questions and answers (rollout dates) and API documentation
- Paragraf: Consolidated Law on Electronic Invoicing
- Ministry of Finance: Law on Fiscalization
- Tax Administration: Fiscalization system help
- Microsoft Learn: Business Central country and regional availability
Written by
Stefan Šošić
Co-founder & CEO, BCILITY · Microsoft MVP
Stefan co-founded BCILITY and is a Microsoft MVP. He writes about Business Central development, AL performance, telemetry and AppSource on his own blog.
