BRNABIC: After New Year, 80% tax deduction for companies which invest in innovations

All governments in the Western Balkans have a great responsibility to transform investment-based economies into innovation- and startup-based economies.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said this at the Europe Startup Summit in Sofia.

– The legal framework is important. The digitalization of the government and the administration is important and stimulating for startups – Brnabic said and pointed out the importance of new incentives.

In that context, she said that Serbia was working on amending the tax framework and that, if those amendments and the budget are adopted, there would be an 80% deduction on income tax for companies that invest in innovations.

– We hope that we will attract companies. The concept of open data is very stimulating for startups and we have adopted the law on electronic registration – the Serbian prime minister said.

She, however, warned that the culture of entrepreneurship was not present anywhere in the Balkans.

– Young people want to work in the public sector, as they believe that it's a safe option, or in big companies, and very few school children want to be entrepreneurs, as is the case in Israel. That's why entrepreneurship has been included in the curriculum – Ana Brnabic added.

She also said that businesses would be exempt from taxes in the first year of operations.

She also said that “the government doesn't always know best” and that it needed to be careful and not interfere with the operations in that sector, but to follow it and help.

The eKapija portal has already written about tax incentives for innovations. The plan is to have 80% of revenues made from intellectual property be freed from taxation.