Employers can pay up to 450 KM per worker monthly tax-free, but not all workers need to receive the same amount

(Patria) - At today's session of the ESV, a regulation was agreed upon on the payment of aid to workers in the amount of a maximum of 450 KM per worker per month without contributions and income tax, with the aim of mitigating the consequences of the minimum wage increase to 1,000 KM.

The government has stipulated that an employer can pay workers up to 450 KM, and the amount may also be lower.

The employer is obliged to adopt an internal act regulating who is entitled to the aid, in what amount, and the conditions for payment of the aid to the worker. This provision takes into account the demands of employers who, in earlier regulations on the payment of aid to all workers in the same amount, believed that the employer should be the one to determine the amount of aid depending on each worker's contribution in a given company.

The employer is obliged to submit a report on the payment of aid to the Tax Administration by the 7th of the month for the previous month.

"Upon receipt of the said report, the Tax Administration will carry out supervision of the fulfillment of the conditions for the payment of aid prescribed by this regulation," the regulation states.

The Tax Administration is obliged to submit aggregate data to the Ministry of Finance by the end of the month for the previous month.

The regulation ceases to be valid no later than July 31, 2025, after the adoption of regulations on reducing the contribution rate borne by the employer. If these regulations are not adopted, the application of the regulation will be extended.

Regarding the conditions, employers must prove that they regularly pay salaries and contributions for employees in accordance with applicable regulations and that they have no outstanding obligations. The employer cannot reduce the worker's salary calculated for the month of November 2024.

In the explanation of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is stated that for the implementation of this regulation, it is necessary to secure funds in the Budget of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina if the government decides to pay this type of aid to public sector employees, about which the government will make a separate decision.

It should be recalled that the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has already ensured salary increases by raising the base for calculating salaries in the public sector of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to 480 KM, and the salary of Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić alone will be higher by 550 KM.