Budgeting App for Expats in Croatia

Croatia has been in the EU since 1 July 2013, and joined both the euro area and Schengen on 1 January 2023¹.

Borderless Budget connects to major Croatian banks including Zagrebačka banka, Privredna banka Zagreb, Erste&Steiermärkische Bank, and OTP banka through secure bank connections, and your accounts in the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein connect too.

Major banks for expats

• Zagrebačka banka
• Privredna banka Zagreb
• Erste&Steiermärkische Bank
• OTP banka

Cash vs. card culture

Croatia switched to the euro on 1 January 2023¹, so rent, wages, bills and shop prices are all in euros. A euro card or account covers daily life without a second currency to manage locally.

Track a couple of months of real spending before you set targets. If you earn in dollars or pounds, the euro rate decides how far your salary goes each month.

With the euro as the local currency, the only exchange rate in your Croatian budget is the one between the euro and what you earn. If that's dollars or pounds, the same rent can cost noticeably more or less from one quarter to the next. Tracking it in one place shows the real trend.

Transferring money to Croatia

• If you already hold euros, compare your home bank's fees for euro transfers with a multi-currency account like Wise or Revolut.
• If you're paid in dollars or pounds, convert in larger monthly batches rather than small ad hoc transfers, and compare your bank's rate with a specialist service first.
• Keep enough euros on hand at the start of each month so rent never depends on that day's exchange rate.

Borderless Budget tracks all of your accounts, your home-country bank, your Croatian bank, and services like Wise or Revolut, in a single dashboard. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects where things actually stand.

• Croatian income tax has two progressive rates, set each year by local government within a range from 15% to 33%. In the City of Zagreb, the lower rate can be 15% to 23% and the higher rate 25% to 33%⁵.
• The tax year is the calendar year. The Tax Administration carries out a special procedure for the annual assessment of income tax liability, and the annual tax return filing deadline is the end of February for the previous year⁶.
• Employees pay 20% in pension contributions on top of income tax, so budget from your net pay, not your gross³.
• The US taxes its citizens on worldwide income from all sources, wherever they live⁷.

1. Budget your Croatian life in euros. If you earn in dollars or pounds, the exchange rate is the only currency step to watch.
2. If you commute by train into Zagreb, compare the ZET pass with the ZET + HŽ pass before you buy².
3. Ask whether a flat's rent includes building charges and utilities, and put them on their own budget line.
4. Keep your home-country bills, like subscriptions, loans and phone plans, in their own currency so you can see what Croatia actually costs you.

Connect your Croatian and home-country banks

Link your Zagrebačka banka, Privredna banka Zagreb, Erste&Steiermärkische Bank, or other Croatian bank alongside your home-country bank. Transactions from all accounts sync automatically into one dashboard.

Budget in EUR and your home currency

Your budget is set in your home currency, and Borderless Budget automatically converts every transaction, whether it's in euro or your home currency. You can toggle any transaction to see the original currency amount. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects reality.

Automatic categorization

Transactions from Croatian merchants are automatically categorized. Categorization improves as you use the app, learning your patterns across both currencies, so you spend less time sorting transactions and more time living your life in Croatia.

See the impact of exchange rates

When exchange rates shift, your combined budget view updates automatically. You'll see exactly how currency movements affect your overall spending, no surprises, no guesswork.