[stale]

It's not a new tax it's existing legislation that was not enforced. By law they (the government) have a right to review your income in foreign currency for the past 5 years. So now freelancers are being taxed for those 5 years and are expected to pay, potentially thousands of dollars, in a short time period. Most of them knew this way of working was in the gray area at best and that the law is just not being enforced.

There was always an option of opening a small business, paying relatively small amount of taxes and doing it legally. This way you get medical insurance, and at least some pension. Of course this is not a good option for people that freelance as a side gig since taxes could range between 100 and 400 euros depending on what type of freelance jobs you did and where you live.

[afrcnc]

This looks like the Serbian government's mistake and not something that workers did. Mindboggling the government is now acting like a thug even if it's the one to blame.

[necovek]

To say that it was not enforced is just a one way to look at it. The obligation, per law, lay with the tax payer (income earner), and government could do random audits (which they are now doing, except they are not very random).

The 5 year of backtaxes comes from the statute of limitations on tax obligations being up to 5 years, but in theory, if someone owning taxes does not explicitly call out the law about the expiration of debt, they are liable for any tax debt even longer than that.