Taxes in Czechia for foreigners: residency, returns and deadlines

Whether Czechia taxes all your income or only what you earn here depends on whether you're a tax resident. If you're an employee with one job, your employer does most of the work once you sign a declaration. If you have other income, such as a business, rent or a second job, you usually file a tax return each spring. This page sets out the rules; for your own case, a tax adviser (daňový poradce) can say what applies.

Am I a tax resident in Czechia?

You are if you have a home in Czechia or usually stay here. Usually staying means 183 days or more in a calendar year, in one stay or several, and every day you start here counts.¹ A home means a flat you can use for the long term with the intention of staying, not a place booked for a short trip.¹

What follows from it:

• Residents pay Czech tax on income from anywhere in the world.²
• Non-residents pay Czech tax only on income from Czech sources, such as work done here or rent from a flat here.²
• Students and patients: if you're here only to study or for medical treatment, staying past 183 days doesn't make you a resident on its own.²

If another country also treats you as its resident, the double tax treaty between the two countries settles which one taxes what.³

Do I have to file a tax return?

You do if your income for the year, before expenses, is over 50,000 Kč, or if you have a tax loss, but not if you're an employee whose employer can settle your tax for you.⁴ For the 2026 tax year, you don't have to file if:

• your only regular income is pay from one employer, or from several one after another;
• you signed the taxpayer's declaration at each of them for that year; and
• your other income, such as rent or freelance work, is no more than 20,000 Kč.⁴

A non-resident who wants credits beyond the basic one, the child credit or other deductions has to file a return to get them.⁴ Someone in the flat-rate regime (paušální režim) usually files nothing, as long as their tax equals the flat tax.⁵ Contributions when self-employed explains that regime.

From the 2027 tax year, the limits rise: a return is needed above 100,000 Kč of income, and employees can have up to 40,000 Kč of other income without filing.⁶

How do the declaration and the annual settlement work?

The taxpayer's declaration (prohlášení poplatníka) is the form that lets your employer take the monthly credits off your tax. You sign it within 30 days of starting a job, then by 15 February each year, and only with one employer at a time.⁷ With a second job at the same time, the second employer takes tax off without the credits, and you'll usually have to file a return.⁴

The credits that matter most:

• Basic credit (sleva na poplatníka): 30,840 Kč a year, for everyone, residents and non-residents alike.⁸
• Other credits, such as for a spouse or a disability: a non-resident gets them only if they live in the EU or EEA and at least 90 % of their income comes from Czechia.⁸
• Child credit (daňové zvýhodnění): 15,204 Kč a year for the first child, 22,320 Kč for the second and 27,840 Kč for each further child, if the child lives with you in the EU or EEA. A non-resident gets it only as a tax resident of an EU or EEA country with at least 90 % of their income from Czechia.⁹

After the year ends, your employer can work out your tax for the whole year in the annual settlement (roční zúčtování). Ask your last employer of the year by 15 February, and bring a confirmation of pay and tax from each earlier employer by the same date. The employer settles by 31 March and pays back any overpayment over 50 Kč with your March pay at the latest. If you file a return yourself, there's no settlement.¹⁰

When and how do I file the return?

The deadline depends on how you file:¹¹

1. On paper or at the tax office: within 3 months of the year's end.
2. Online: within 4 months, if you file electronically after the 3 months have passed.
3. Through a tax adviser or a lawyer: within 6 months, if they file it after the 3 months have passed.

A deadline that falls on a weekend or holiday moves to the next working day.¹¹ For 2025 income, that made the dates 1 April, 4 May and 1 July 2026.¹² For 2026 income, they're 1 April, 3 May and 1 July 2027.¹¹

The tax is due by the same deadline as the return. If you file by the first date, even online, you pay by that date too.¹² Interest runs on tax paid late, and a return filed more than 5 working days late costs a fine of 0.05 % of the tax for each day, up to 5 %, unless the fine would be under 1,000 Kč.¹²

You file with the tax office for your address, which for a foreigner is the address of your reported stay.¹³ The Financial Administration's MOJE daně portal takes returns online.¹² If you have a business data box (datová schránka), which every sole trader is given, you must file online.^{13 14}

How do double tax treaties work?

Czechia has double tax treaties with many countries, and the Ministry of Finance lists the ones in force.³ If you're a Czech resident with income from abroad, you declare it in your Czech return, and the treaty with that country decides how double tax is removed: either the foreign income is left out of Czech tax, or the tax you paid abroad is set against your Czech tax.¹⁵

Which method applies, and which country may tax which income, is in the treaty itself. For work done for a foreign employer while living here, or for a pension from abroad, it's worth asking a tax adviser before you file.

What about rent from a flat?

Rent from a flat in Czechia is Czech income, so you pay Czech tax on it even if you live abroad.¹⁶ Rental yields in Czechia shows how it's taxed alongside the costs of letting, and Can foreigners buy property in Czechia? covers the taxes an owner pays.

Sources

1. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §2(4). ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §2(2) and (3). ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Ministry of Finance, double tax agreements in force. ↩ ↩²

4. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §38g(1) and (2), for the 2026 tax year. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §38g(7). ↩

6. Act 180/2026 Coll., amending §38g of the Income Tax Act, in force from 1 January 2027 for the 2027 tax year. ↩

7. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §38k(3) and (4). ↩ ↩²

8. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §35ba(1)(a) and (2), amounts for 2026. ↩ ↩²

9. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §35c(1) and (5), amounts for 2026. ↩

10. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §38ch(1), (3), (4) and (5). ↩ ↩²

11. Tax Code (Act 280/2009 Coll.), §33(4), §135(3) and §136(1) and (2). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

12. Financial Administration, press release on 2025 income tax returns, 24 March 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

13. Tax Code (Act 280/2009 Coll.), §13(1)(a) and §72(6). ↩ ↩²

14. Electronic Acts Act (Act 300/2008 Coll.), §4(1). ↩

15. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §38f(1), (2) and (6). ↩

16. Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §2(3) and §22(1)(e). ↩