At its session of April 16, 2020, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted a Decree on shifting the deadlines for holding the regular session of the Assembly of a company and submitting annual and consolidated financial statements of companies, cooperatives other legal entities and entrepreneurs, as well as deadlines for submission of applications for income tax and self-employment income taxes, the validity of licensed auditors' licenses and licenses for assessing the value of real estate that expire during the SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 emergency (hereinafter: Decree). Decree has been published in the Official Gazette of RS No. 57/20, dated 16 April 2020.

Decree comesto legal force as per day of publishing in the Official Gazette of RS: on the same day.

Decree defines the shift of deadlines during the state of emergency, namely deadlines for:

- holding a regular session of the assembly of a company,
- submission of annual and consolidated financial statements of companies, cooperatives, other legal entities and entrepreneurs for 2019,
- filing of corporate tax and self-employment income tax returns; and
- validity of licenses of certified auditors and licenses for real estate valuation.

The deadline for holding the regular session of the General Meeting of Shareholders as per Article 364 of the Company Law shall be postponed to 90 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency.

The deadline for submission of annual reports, respectively annual financial statements with the auditor's report of all taxpayers whose reporting is regulated by the Capital Market Act, ie the Law on Investment Funds or the Law on Open Investment Funds with a Public Offering, is shifted to 60 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency.

The deadlines from the (old) Accounting Act are shifting according to the following calendar:

- the deadline for submission of regular annual financial statements is shifted to 90 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency;
- the deadline for submission of the consolidated financial statements is shifted to 120 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency;
- the deadline for submission of the financial statements is shifted to 30 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency, provided that the deadline for the submission of the financial statements expires during the state of emergency.

The deadline referred to in paragraph 1, item 1) of Decree shall apply accordingly to legal entities having a business year other than the calendar one, provided that the deadline for submission of the financial statements of those legal entities expires during a state of emergency.

The deadlines for filing the corporate income tax return are as follows:

- corporate tax payers with a tax period equal to the calendar year - within the deadline for submission of the annual financial statement, which means within 90 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency;
- corporate tax payers with a different tax period than the calendar year - within the deadline for submission of the annual financial report.

Decree also stipulates that the deadline for submission of the tax return for the income tax from the entrepreneurial activity of the entrepreneur be shifted to the period of 90 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency. It is here to notice that the Government adopted this Decree late, as the deadline for submitting the entrepreneur's tax return expired on April 15, the day before Decree has been passed. So to speak, if it was intended to delay this deadline, Decree should have been adopted a few days earlier.

The time limits as per Article 7 of the Audit Law that expire during a state of emergency shall be deemed to have expired upon expiry of 30 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency. Until the expiration of 30 days from the date of termination of the state of emergency, all licenses issued for carrying out the audit shall be valid.

The time limits referred to in Article 11 of the Law on Real Estate Appraisers which expire during a state of emergency and 30 days from the date of termination of a state of emergency shall be considered expired upon expiration of 60 days from the date of termination of a state of emergency.