How to set up a fiscal cash register in Serbia: six steps, from your TIN to the first receipt

Anyone opening a shop, a cafe, a salon or a web shop for the first time asks "where do I register a fiscal cash register" and expects one form. That form does not exist. The Law on Fiscalization („Службени гласник РС“ no. 153/2020, 96/2021, 138/2022 and 80/2026) regulates three things that work together, and each is requested, issued or chosen separately. Once you know that, the procedure is short. When you do not, the usual story is that a register is bought first, and only then does it turn out that it lacks the part only the Tax Administration can issue.

Before you start: the TIN, ePorezi and who files the requests

The premises registration and the security element request are filed on the Tax Administration's ePorezi portal, in the section called Electronic Fiscalization. To get in you need the taxpayer's TIN (ПИБ, for a sole trader or a company) and a qualified electronic certificate belonging to a person authorised to file on the taxpayer's behalf. An accountant can do it if the legal representative has authorised them on the ПЕП form for the "fiscalization" scope; according to the Tax Administration, an authorisation for all e-services given before 30 October 2021 already covers it.

Before that you need to exist as a taxpayer, a sole trader or a company with a TIN; for most that means being entered in the Business Registers Agency.

Step 1: Register the business premises

Fiscalization is not kept per company but per business premises and business room: every location where you issue receipts has its own identifier, and the security element is tied to it. So the first step is to register that location with the Tax Administration, through the form on ePorezi (the application with data for generating the unique identifier of the business premises, usually known by its Serbian abbreviation ПГЈО).

The form takes the address, the type of premises, the name under which you will run it (that name is later printed on the receipt as the point of sale) and the activity code carried on there. A web shop is registered as business premises too, even though it has no shop window.

Step 2: Request the security element

The security element is a certificate the Tax Administration issues on your TIN and your business premises, and without it no receipt is fiscal. The Tax Administration advises ordering the element only once you know which fiscal device you will use. The Rulebook allows several forms, and the Tax Administration issues it as a smart card or as a file. Which one you request depends on the PFR you intend to use:

• a smart card, if you will use a local processor (L-PFR) on the premises;
• a file, if you will use the Tax Administration's virtual processor (V-PFR) over the internet.

Both are issued by the Tax Administration free of charge. The card is collected in person at a Tax Administration branch and works with a PIN; we cover that in its own article. With a V-PFR you receive the file and a PAC, a code you enter into the ESIR. The Rulebook gives the Tax Administration seven days from the request (article 6), and it is often quicker; do not leave it for the day before opening.

If you do not know which PFR you need, read L-PFR or V-PFR: how to choose before you file the request. The rule, as we understand the Law, is short: anyone selling on premises must have an L-PFR in every business premises (article 6 paragraph 4), and may use a V-PFR alongside it. Only a seller who sells exclusively over the internet, or sells only its own used movable assets, may use a V-PFR alone.

Step 3: Choose an ESIR and a PFR

The ESIR is the software or device into which the cashier enters items. The law allows a hardware or software solution, and the Tax Administration's technical guide lists a dedicated register, a program on a computer, a smart device app and installation over the internet as types, under one condition: it must be approved by the Tax Administration and entered in the Register of approved elements. The register is public and searchable on the Tax Administration's site. Before you buy or install anything, find the product in it, by manufacturer or by product name.

Otkucaj is in that register under the name Otkucaj, record number 1667, classification 3 (advanced ESIR). We say so because it is a fact you can check yourself, not because you are obliged to choose it; the same procedure applies to any approved ESIR.

The PFR is a choice between two, and you effectively made it in the previous step. The Tax Administration's V-PFR is free, but as we understand the Law a shop with premises cannot use it alone, except in the two cases named in the previous step: at least one L-PFR must also be working in every business premises. An L-PFR is a device or program on the premises that holds your card in a reader. Some ESIRs work with only one of the two, so check that as well.

Step 4: Configure the register and try it in the test environment

The Tax Administration runs a development (test) environment, intended mainly for ESIR and L-PFR suppliers, in which receipts have no fiscal validity, and many ESIRs have their own demo mode. So the first configuration does not have to be done on live turnover. Into the ESIR go the taxpayer and point of sale details, the PAC or the L-PFR address, items with prices and tax labels, cashiers and the printer.

Two things are worth checking already here. First: the tax rates and labels (Ђ, Е, А and the rest) are not typed by you; the PFR fetches them from the Tax Administration. If an ESIR asks you to type them by hand, something is wrong. Second: test printing on the paper you will actually use, because the receipt layout differs on a 58 mm roll, an 80 mm roll and A4.

If you want to see what this looks like before you even request the element, a new Otkucaj account starts in the test environment with a built-in demo simulator, so items, cashiers and printing can be set up earlier.

Step 5: The first receipt and its verification

Once you switch the ESIR to production with your own security element, issue the first real receipt and verify it immediately: scan the QR code or open the verification address, which leads to suf.purs.gov.rs, the Tax Administration's official service. On the receipt check that the TIN, business name, point of sale name and address are correct, and that the PFR receipt number and counter are present. What each line means is explained in What a Serbian fiscal receipt must contain.

If the verification does not find the receipt, do not carry on selling that way until you know why: a receipt issued in test or demo mode is not a fiscal receipt. A frequent cause is a PAC entered in the wrong environment, or an ESIR left in test mode.

Step 6: What happens after opening

• Changes are reported in advance. A new location is registered before you start issuing receipts there, and a closed location or a renamed point of sale at least 24 hours before the change (article 9 of the Law). The name and address are written into the security element, so according to the Tax Administration a new name or address also needs a new element.
• The security element has an expiry date. It is in the certificate; renewal is requested from the Tax Administration before it expires, not after.
• The daily report in the old sense no longer exists. Turnover data goes to the Tax Administration with every receipt, so "closing the register" at the end of the day is not a legal obligation. You still run reports for yourself and your accountant.
• Refunds and mistakes are corrected with a new receipt, never by deletion: Refunding a fiscal receipt.

The most common delays, in order of frequency

1. Element requested before the premises were registered.
2. A register bought that is not in the register of approved elements, or does not work with the PFR you have.
3. The PIN was not kept with the card; or the PIN was entered wrongly several times in a row, the card locked and a new one is needed.
4. The test environment PAC entered in production, or the other way round.
5. Printer set to the wrong paper width, so the QR code comes out smaller than the prescribed 40 mm.

Short version

• A register is three things: ESIR, PFR and security element. Each is obtained separately.
• Order: ePorezi, business premises, security element, an ESIR from the register, a trial in demo or test mode, the first receipt.
• The security element and the V-PFR are issued by the Tax Administration free of charge.
• Verify the first receipt on suf.purs.gov.rs before you carry on selling.