Frequently asked questions
Answers to the most common questions about BiH salary calculations, the difference between the entities, contributions, income tax and the personal allowance.
Questions & answers
- Which entity applies to me?
- The one your employer is registered in. If you work in the Federation of BiH, pick FBiH; if you work in Republika Srpska, pick RS. If you work in the Brčko District, you follow whichever fund system — FBiH or RS — you are registered with, so pick that entity. This is the first choice the calculator asks for, because everything else depends on it.
- Why does BiH have two tax systems?
- Because income tax and social contributions are set at the entity level, not by a single federal law. The Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska each legislate their own rates, personal allowances and funds, so the same gross salary yields a different net depending on where you are employed. It is a constitutional structure, not an administrative quirk.
- What is the personal allowance (lični odbitak)?
- It is the part of your income that is not taxed. Tax is charged only on gross pay minus contributions minus this allowance. In FBiH the basic allowance is 300,00 KM per month and grows with your household through fixed coefficients (spouse, children, other dependants, disability). In RS the basic allowance is a larger, flat 1.000,00 KM per month, with a further amount per dependant. The bigger your allowance, the smaller the base your tax is charged on.
- Why is RS tax 8% and FBiH 10%?
- They are simply two different flat rates, each set by its own entity: 10% in the Federation and 8% in Republika Srpska (RS reduced its rate from a higher rate back in 2022). The lower RS rate does not tell the whole story, though — RS also grants a much larger basic allowance, so the two effects combine. Always compare the resulting net, not just the headline rate.
- What does the employer pay on top?
- It depends on the entity. In FBiH the employer pays an extra 5% of gross in contributions "on pay", on top of your salary — that is a cost to the employer, not a deduction from your net. In RS all 31% of contributions are contained inside the gross ("gross-gross"), so the employer adds nothing on top. The calculator shows the total employer cost as a separate line.
- Is the minimum wage the same in both entities?
- No. FBiH sets a single net minimum of 1.027 KM per month for 2026. RS instead uses a graduated net minimum that rises with the qualification a job requires, from unskilled work up to a university degree — five tiers in all. Both are stated as net amounts, and both differ from how your own salary is calculated.
- Is this calculator official?
- No. It is an informational tool and is not connected to any tax authority. Every rate and amount shown is taken from a named primary source. If a rule changed recently it may not be reflected here yet, and none of them has been through our final sign-off. Some items — the RS per-dependant allowance, the Solidarity Fund levy, the low-skill relief and the extra FBiH employer levies — are flagged separately alongside the result. For a real tax, payroll or contract amount, the cited source or your entity tax authority is the binding one.
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