Getting a trade licence in Czechia as a foreigner

To work for yourself in Czechia as a sole trader (OSVČ), you usually need a trade licence (živnostenský list). You get it by notifying a trade at a trade office (živnostenský úřad), which costs 1,000 Kč and, for most freelance work, needs no proof of qualification. What comes first depends on your citizenship: EU citizens can register and start, while non-EU nationals register first and then use the trade office's extract to get their visa or permit.

Which kind of trade do I need?

It depends on the work. A free trade (volná živnost) needs no proof of qualification, only the general conditions: full legal capacity and a clean criminal record.¹ The law lists its fields, which include software and IT consulting, consulting, and translation and interpreting.¹

Other trades ask for proof that you can do the work:

• Vocational trades (řemeslné živnosti), such as carpentry, bricklaying, catering or beauty services, need proof of training or experience in the field.²
• Bound trades (vázané živnosti), such as accounting or massage, need the specific qualification the law sets for each one.²

You can hold several trades at once. Notifying several trades at once costs 1,000 Kč in total; a trade added later costs 500 Kč.³

What do non-EU nationals need first?

A non-EU national who needs a permit to stay must show a visa for over 90 days or a long-term residence permit.⁴ The trade office doesn't make you wait for it, though: it checks everything else and gives you an extract from the trade register, which you use to apply for a business visa or permit.⁵ Visas and residence permits covers that application.

Your right to trade starts on the day you show the trade office your visa or permit. Show it within 3 working days of reporting your address in Czechia, and no later than 6 months after you got the extract, or the trade office decides that you didn't get the licence.⁵

Three more points for non-EU nationals:

• Criminal record: unless you have permanent residence here, bring an extract from your own country.⁶
• Translations: foreign documents need a Czech translation by a sworn court interpreter, and signatures and stamps on them must be verified.⁷
• Your licence lasts as long as your permit: bring a new permit to the trade office before the old one runs out, or the licence ends.⁸

If you have international protection in Czechia, you can trade on the same terms as a Czech citizen.⁹

Where do I apply, and what does it cost?

You can notify a trade at any trade office in Czechia, not only the one for your address.¹⁰ A Czech POINT counter can also take your notice and send it to the trade office you choose.¹⁰

Some trade offices are Points of Single Contact (jednotná kontaktní místa). They tell you what a business needs to start, and give that information in Czech or in English.¹¹

What to bring:⁶

1. Your passport, and your visa or permit if you already have it.
2. A criminal record extract no older than 3 months. EU citizens bring one from their own country or their last country of residence; non-EU nationals without permanent residence bring one from their own country.
3. Proof that you can use your business address, if it isn't your permanent residence here, such as your lease or the owner's written consent.
4. Proof of qualification, for a vocational or bound trade.
5. The fee: 1,000 Kč for your first notice.³

If everything is in order, the trade office enters you in the register within 5 working days and gives you an extract.¹² For most people, the right to trade starts on the day they notify the trade.¹³

What do I register after the trade licence?

The trade office uses one form, the single registration form (jednotný registrační formulář), that can carry your other notices too. On it, you can report the start of your business to social security, apply for sickness insurance and tell your health insurer, and the trade office passes them all on within 5 working days.¹⁴ It also sends your details to the tax office, so you don't register for income tax separately.¹⁴

The deadlines if you do it yourself:

• Social security (ČSSZ): within 15 days of starting.¹⁵
• Your health insurer: within 8 days, if you're in Czech public health insurance. Non-EU nationals without permanent residence usually are only if they also have a job with a Czech employer.¹⁶ Health insurance explains.
• VAT: if your turnover in Czechia passes 2,000,000 Kč in a calendar year, apply to register within 10 working days. You're a VAT payer from the next 1 January, or from the next day if your turnover passes 2,536,500 Kč in the same year.¹⁷

As a sole trader you also get a data box (datová schránka), and from then on you file your tax return online.¹⁸ Contributions when self-employed covers what you pay for pension and health insurance, and the flat-rate tax (paušální daň), which rolls tax and both contributions into one monthly payment. Taxes for foreigners covers the tax return.

Sources

1. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §6(1), §25 and annex 4. ↩ ↩²

2. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §19, §21 to §24 and annexes 1 and 2. ↩ ↩²

3. Administrative Fees Act (Act 634/2004 Coll.), annex, item 24(a), (b) and (j) and note 1. ↩ ↩²

4. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §5(5). ↩

5. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §47(7) and (8). ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §46(1)(a), (b), (d), (e), (f) and (h). ↩ ↩²

7. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §5(3) and (4). ↩

8. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §47(2)(e) and §57(2). ↩ ↩²

9. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §5(6). ↩

10. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §71(1) and §72. ↩ ↩²

11. Free Movement of Services Act (Act 222/2009 Coll.), §13 and §14. ↩

12. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §47(1). ↩ ↩²

13. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §10(1)(a). ↩ ↩²

14. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §45a(1), (3) and (5). ↩ ↩²

15. Social Security Organisation Act (Act 582/1991 Coll.), §48(1)(a) and (4). ↩

16. Public Health Insurance Act (Act 48/1997 Coll.), §2(1) and §10(3). ↩

17. VAT Act (Act 235/2004 Coll.), §6(1) and (2)(b) and §94(1), for 2026. ↩

18. Electronic Acts Act (Act 300/2008 Coll.), §4(1), and Tax Code (Act 280/2009 Coll.), §72(6). ↩

19. Labour Code (Act 262/2006 Coll.), §2(1) and §3. ↩

20. Employment Act (Act 435/2004 Coll.), §5(e), §139(1)(c) and (3)(c) and §140(1)(c) and (4)(f). ↩

21. Trade Licensing Act (Act 455/1991 Coll.), §3(3)(ah), and Income Tax Act (Act 586/1992 Coll.), §9. ↩