How to Pay Tax in Montenegro

State public revenues (personal income tax and contributions, VAT, corporate tax, excise, Tax Administration fines) are collected by the Tax Administration on the group-820 recording accounts. Local public revenues (surtax on income tax, property tax, sojourn tax, local fees and charges) are collected by municipalities on their own accounts under Art. 3 of the Order. Real-estate transfer tax has, since 2024, been assessed and collected by the competent local-government tax office of the municipality where the property is located, paid to that municipality's own account — not to the old state account 820-13111-10 listed in the Order. In Podgorica this is the Uprava lokalnih javnih prihoda, account 510-30280200-37 (per the PR-OPPN form, citing Art. 2 of the Real-Estate Transfer Tax Law and Art. 7 of the Law on Financing Local Self-Government); for property in another municipality, get the exact account from that municipality's tax office. Accounts are prescribed by the Ministry of Finance (Art. 50 para. 4 of the Tax Administration Law) in the Order on the method of paying public revenues.

Key accounts for individuals: 820-30000-74 — Single account for personal income tax and mandatory social contributions (everything under GPP-FL, IOPPD, tax on rent, capital and capital gains, entrepreneurs' advances, contributions); 820-15111-24 — VAT; 820-15112-21 — VAT on services of foreign persons; 820-19200-76 — Tax Administration fines. Municipal accounts for surtax and property tax are in the table below (e.g. Podgorica surtax 510-30280090-76, property tax 510-30280140-23). If you pay under a decision or a payment slip generated in IRMS, use the data on that document.

For revenues collected by the Tax Administration on group-820 accounts the payer enters (Art. 4 of the Order): in “Poziv na broj zaduženja” (debit reference) — the period the tax obligation refers to (month and year), and for payroll tax and contributions also the number of employees; in “Transakcioni račun primaoca” — the account from the Order; in “Model” — code 18 (validation number for public revenues under the Tax Administration); in “Poziv na broj odobrenja” (credit reference) — the taxpayer's PIB regardless of who pays (legal entities 8 characters) or JMB (individuals 13 characters), a hyphen and the 3-character municipality code from Annex 1. The municipality code follows the legal entity’s registered office or the individual’s residence for payments to the single income-tax-and-contributions account, the property location for transfer tax, and the taxpayer's seat for VAT/excise/corporate tax. Example for a Podgorica resident paying GPP-FL tax: account 820-30000-74, model 18, credit reference “JMB-municipality code”, debit reference — the month and year the obligation refers to, e.g. for April 2026: “04/2026”.

Payment is, as a rule, made through payment-service providers to the payment accounts, and the payment date is the day the payment is received on the relevant account (Art. 50 paras. 2–3 of the Tax Administration Law) — pay at least a day early. Deadlines (Tax Administration calendar): GPP-FL — by 30 April, tax paid together with the return; IOPPD — by the 15th for the previous month, tax and contributions on each payment; entrepreneurs' advances (actual income) — by month-end for the previous month (1/12); lump-sum payers — by month-end for the previous month (1/12 of the decision); VAT — by the 15th; real-estate transfer tax — together with the PR-OPPN return (15 days from acquisition); used-vehicle transfer tax (PPR-MV) — 15 days; obligations under a tax decision fall due 10 days after delivery unless a tax law says otherwise; property tax — 30 June and 31 October. A payment is booked first against tax, then interest (Art. 51 para. 3).

Default interest accrues daily on unpaid or underpaid tax from the day after the due date (Art. 95 para. 1). Rate = the base default rate (the European Central Bank's main refinancing rate in force on the first day of the calendar half-year) plus three percentage points; set half-yearly (1 Jan – 30 Jun, 1 Jul – 31 Dec) and published by the Tax Administration on its website on the first working day of the half-year and in the Official Gazette (Art. 95 paras. 2–5). No interest is charged on interest (para. 7). If payment is deferred, interest still runs for the deferral period (para. 6). The same rate applies to interest the Tax Administration owes you on overpaid tax (Art. 96).

You see what you owe in the Tax Administration portal https://irms.tax.gov.me, in the taxpayer’s account card (analitička kartica) — the record of charges and payments. Login is always personal and works in two ways: “Digitalni sertifikat na lokalnom tokenu” (a qualified certificate for a qualified electronic signature, issued by a qualified trust service provider) or “Crnogorski Telekom — eTrust” (an account at telekom.me/etrust, confirmed in the eTrust mobile app). There is no username and password — without one of those two you cannot access the account at all. For your own debt you stay in your own portfolio. For a company’s debt there is no separate “company account”: a natural person logs in with their own certificate, then clicks the user name (bottom-left corner) → “Poreski obveznici” to open the list of all taxpayers for whom they are registered as legal representative or hold an access authorisation, picks the company (“Da li ste sigurni da želite promijeniti obveznika?” → Yes) and from then on acts in that taxpayer’s capacity. The name of the taxpayer you are acting as is always shown in the bottom-left corner — check it before you read the card. An accountant or anyone else is granted the right “Pregled analitičke kartice” through the case “Evidencija ovlašćenih lica” (permanently or for a fixed period), alongside the rights to file returns and requests and to access eSanduče.

If you paid to the wrong account or more than you owe, start the case Upravljanje predmetima → Novi zahtjev → “Povraćaj i preusmjer pogrešno ili više uplaćenih sredstava”: choose the reason (wrongly paid or overpaid), the bank account for the refund from the drop-down, enter the requested refund and/or redirect amount (transaction types Preusmjer, Cesija-preusmjer, Preusmjer na drugi PIB — amount, revenue code, description), save, submit and sign with your certificate. The decision and notices arrive in eSanduče. Overpaid tax earns interest (Art. 96), and the Tax Administration must process the refund within 5 working days of receiving the request (Art. 97 para. 4). A request to refund overpaid pension contributions (form ZPDO) is filed by the end of the calendar year following the year of payment — refund within 30 days of the decision (Tax calendar).