In Montenegro, the highest gross salary recorded last month reached €147,700, earned in the hotel and similar accommodation sector, according to Sava Laketić, Director of the Tax Administration, in an interview with Forbes magazine.
Laketić mentioned that due to tax confidentiality, he couldn’t disclose more specifics about this salary.
Regarding the Tax Administration’s revenue collection of €952 million for the first seven months of this year—a rise of €172.6 million or 22% compared to the same period last year—Laketić attributed this significant increase to the heightened activities throughout the summer tourist season and throughout the year.
He explained that the improvement is largely due to the enhanced efforts of the tax inspection, which has been active in coastal cities from Herceg Novi to Ulcinj during the summer months, with equal coverage across all municipalities. This increase in revenue is also due to stricter enforcement and regular communication with taxpayers, as well as inflation, which has had a lesser, but still notable, impact on the overall 22% growth.
Laketić anticipates that this positive trend will continue through the end of the year.
Despite a high tax debt of €636 million, Laketić reported increased collections, noting a recent preliminary agreement to settle a debt of just over €5 million with a long-standing tax debtor.
The largest tax debtors include state-owned enterprises and foreign companies such as the Chinese CRBC, which worked on the first section of the Bar-Boljare highway from Podgorica to Kolašin.
The municipalities with significant tax arrears include Cetinje, Rožaje, Ulcinj, Bijelo Polje, and Berane.
Laketić announced plans to strengthen tax discipline further and to integrate a substantial number of businesses operating in the informal sector—such as accommodation providers, hairdressing, and beauty salons—into the formal economy.
