Digital nomads, foreigners who perform work tasks electronically from Montenegro for their employer abroad, will not pay income tax in Montenegro, but only if it is greater than three times the average gross income in Montenegro from the previous year.
This is stated, among other things, in the proposed amendments to the Personal Income Tax Act, as part of the "Europe Now" project, which should encourage the arrival of digital nomads in Montenegro, but also affect the development of information technologies.
Also, by the same Law, the citizens of Montenegro are exempted from income tax for the income they earn on the basis of scientific research and innovation activities, as an incentive for the development of research and innovation.
Gross earnings in Montenegro, according to the data of the Monstat Statistics Authority, amount to 796 euros, so foreigners who want to use these tax benefits should have a salary of 2.400 euros.
The working group for the creation of the Program for Attracting Digital Nomads previously announced that according to international research, digital nomads spend more than a third (36 percent) of their monthly earnings on accommodation, food and transportation, and this income usually stays within the destination where they stay. That is, if he had an income of at least 2.400 euros, he would spend at least 860 euros in Montenegro. This means that digital nomads would be like tourists with a long stay in Montenegro and significant spending of money.
According to the Program for Attracting Digital Nomads, the obligation of the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare was to prepare a proposal to amend the Law on Personal Income Tax. The government adopted the proposed amendments to this law on Friday and they were submitted to the parliamentary procedure, together with the budget for the next year and the other ten laws important for the "Europe Now" program.
According to the activity plan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will work next year on changes to the Law on Foreigners in order to regulate the status of digital nomads and their stay in Montenegro, and with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on changing the accompanying by-laws.
As previously presented from this working group, digital nomads in Estonia, for example, can live and stay in this country for up to a year with a digital nomad visa (DNV). Their policy is to avoid double taxation, ie. taxation in Estonia and in the country where the digital nomad is registered.
Georgia has decided not to charge a visa for digital nomads and freelancers who stay in the country for less than 183 days a year. In Georgia, it is a big relief that they pay income tax after spending 183 days during the year in the country of only one percent and if they earn less than 155.000 dollars.
Croatia officially started the procedure for DNV in January and thus became the seventh country in the world whose legislation allowed digital nomads to work in the country. In just a few months, they accepted about 1.000 applications from 25 countries. Any foreigner who proves that he is a digital nomad is exempt from taxes and tax reporting for the activity on the basis of which he received the visa.
In Serbia, digital nomads are exempt from paying income tax on the condition that they spend no more than 90 days on the territory of Serbia in a period of 12 months starting or ending in the corresponding tax year.
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