How IRMS Obstructed Business Activity in Montenegro

The Integrated Revenue Management System (IRMS), announced by the Tax Administration of Montenegro as a key step toward a modern and efficient tax administration, was supposed to become operational on January 12, 2026. However, instead of simplifying business operations and accelerating procedures, Montenegro entered a period of complete institutional and technical collapse of its tax system on that very date.

Namely, since December 30, 2025 when the Tax Administration stopped accepting applications and filings in paper form, business community has been effectively paralyzed. The IRMS website is unavailable, extremely slow, or operational only sporadically for an hour or two before shutting down again. The segment of the system related to the Central Registry of Business Entities, which covers company formation and corporate status changes, is entirely non-functional. The system that was meant to improve the business environment has, in fact, brought it to a standstill.

A particularly serious issue is the complete absence of any transitional arrangement. In all serious administrative reforms, especially those involving digitalization, it is standard practice for the old and new systems to operate in parallel during a transition period. In Montenegro, the opposite occurred: the old system was shut down “overnight,” while the new one never truly became operational.

Equally concerning is the silence of the institutions. The Director of the Tax Administration has not addressed the public, nor have the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, or the Notary Chamber. Instead of official explanations and clear deadlines, the business community has been hearing the same vague assurance for weeks: “everything will be ready next week.” That “next week,” however, never seems to arrive.

This is not a technical issue. It is an institutional failure with direct economic consequences. It is impossible to explain to foreign investors that a country which publicly promotes itself as investment-friendly is simultaneously unable to register a single new company.

The question that now arises is both simple and legitimate: who will bear responsibility for the damage inflicted on businesses, citizens, and the state? It is time for the competent authorities to address the public, explain what is happening, introduce urgent transitional solutions, and assume responsibility. Otherwise, the cost of this so-called “reform” will not be paid by software, but by the people and companies who depend on their work to survive.

“Adžić & Knežević” Law Firm