Frequently asked questions

Bearing in mind that as a freelancer you were not employed in accordance with the Labor Law, and you did not pay unemployment contributions, you do not have the right to ask the National Employment Service for compensation based on unemployment insurance.

By paying contributions for pension and disability insurance, you acquire pension benefit, i.e. rights from mandatory pension and disability insurance.

If you are employed or mandatory pension and disability insurance payments are already made in your name on any other basis, the payments you additionally make as a freelancer increase your personal pension calculation coefficient, and therefore the amount of seniority or disability pension you will receive when the legal conditions are met, that is, when you reach the prescribed retirement conditions for old-age or disability pension.

According to the Law on Pension and Invalidity Insurance, the annual personal coefficient can amount to a maximum of five average annual earnings in the Republic of Serbia for a particular calendar year, so after the end of the calendar year, you will be entitled to a refund of your contributions for pension and invalidity insurance, which were paid on your behalf on any basis over that limit.

You register for social insurance, which includes registration for pension and disability and health insurance, through the Central Register of Mandatory Social Insurance (CROSO).

You can choose one of the two options of registration:

• Electronic registration through the CROSO portal https://portal.croso.gov.rs/criscr/faces/Login.jspx or
• Registration in a mandatory social insurance organization (Pension and Disability Insurance Fund or Health Insurance Fund)

Therefore, by registering on the Portal and reporting income for the purpose of self-taxation, you do not automatically register for social insurance – instead, you need to register for insurance in one of the two stated ways.

To access and use the portal of the Central Register of Mandatory Social Insurance (CROSO), you must have an active user account and the corresponding qualified electronic certificate.

Issuance of qualified electronic certificates is not within the competence of CROSO, but within the competence of one of the five registered certification bodies in the Republic of Serbia (Post of Serbia, Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Halkom and eSmart). This means that qualified electronic certificates cannot be obtained through CROSO, but directly from one of the registered certification bodies. Qualified electronic certificates are issued upon personal request.

Depending on the provider's offer and the nature of your business, you can use a qualified electronic certificate - a qualified electronic signature on a smart card, USB key or in the cloud, and it must be installed on the computer where you plan to use the certificate. 

More details can be found on the portal www.frilenseri.purs.gov.rs in the section Useful documents.

Detailed instructions for applying for insurance can be found on the portal www.frilenseri.purs.gov.rs in the section Useful documents.

For the performance of contracted work, the insurance start date is: the date of conclusion of the contract or the date specified in the contract as the start date of performing the contracted work, if the work is not performed during the duration of insurance on another basis. If the contracted work is performed during the period of insurance on another basis, the first subsequent day upon the termination of insurance based on employment, independent activities or farming activities. 

In case when the freelancer does not have a signed contract with the payer, Republic Fund for Health Insurance asked the Ministry of Health for an opinion - while drafting the Law on Health Insurance, does the service contract, as well as other contracts with the agreed compensation for the performed work, only refer to contract between a legal entity or an entrepreneur and a natural person, or between natural persons as well, because a written form of service contract is not required for a contract concluded between natural persons.

In the event that the freelancer has a written contract and previous peroid of mandatory health insurance (at least three months continuously or six months with interruptions in the last 18 months before the start date of exercising rights from mandatory health insurance for which a contribution has been paid), the insurance document is certified for a period of six months from the submission of application for mandatory health insurance.

If a freelancer does not have previous record of mandatory health insurance coverage, the insurance certificate has to be certified every three months which can be used only for providing emergency medical assistance, until acquiring the record of health insurance coverage.

If the due contribution is not paid, the insurance document will not be certified. With an unverified insurance document, the insured person is only entitled to: emergency medical assistance, targeted preventive examinations – screenings according to appropriate national programs, mandatory immunization according to the regulations governing the health protection of the population against infectious diseases and palliative care.

If you have additional contracts and payments in the meantime, your health insurance will be automatically extended as long as you pay the obligations based on contributions.

Mandatory health insurance of insured freelancers is valid until the termination day of contracted work, i.e. the day before acquring other preferential basis of health insurance.

Pension and disability insurance is calculated from the moment of acquiring the status of insured freelancer (that is, registering for insurance) and depends on the amount of contributions paid for pension and disability insurance.

If you have multiple generated items of income during the quarter, you submit an application to the Central Registry only based on the first contract you conclude, and it serves as a basis to acquire the right to insurance. This applies regardless of whether the payer is domestic or foreign.