Offsetting Capital Losses in Serbia: How to Pay Less Tax on Trading Gains
Not every position closed in profit? The good news: Serbian capital gains tax does not only look at gains. Capital losses can be offset against gains, directly reducing the tax you pay. The bad news: offsetting does not happen automatically, it has to be claimed and documented through your filing.
What a capital loss is
A capital loss arises when you sell a right, stake, security or digital asset below its purchase price. Same calculation as a gain, just with a negative result: sale price minus documented purchase price.
How offsetting works
- A loss from selling one asset can be offset against a gain from selling another, under statutory conditions.
- If the loss exceeds the gain, the difference is not immediately lost: the law allows offsetting against future gains over the following five years, starting from the year the loss was realized.
- The offset is claimed through the PPDG-3R return: a loss that was never reported is hard to use later.
Example
You sold shares at a 4,000 EUR gain and crypto at a 1,500 EUR loss. Instead of paying tax on 4,000, with a properly documented offset the 15% tax applies to 2,500 EUR. Savings: 225 EUR, simply because the filing was done right.
What to watch out for
- Documentation for both sides. Both the gain and the loss must be documented: broker or exchange statements, contracts, account records.
- Deadlines still apply. The return is filed within 30 days of the end of the half-year in which the sale occurred; offsetting does not postpone filing.
- Different asset types. Shares, stakes, real estate and crypto all fall under the same capital gains system; whether a specific offset is available is something we verify case by case.
Let us calculate your savings
If you had both gains and losses in recent years, it is worth checking what can be offset: we do this as part of our capital gains tax filing service. Book a conversation and bring your transaction reports, the rest is our job.
