Starting up
Starting a business in Czechia: your obligations in a nutshell
· 3 min read
Trade licence, tax office, social security, health insurance, data box. The complete checklist for the first 30 days of doing business in the Czech Republic.
Step 1: choose the legal form
Most people start as OSVČ (a self-employed person with a trade licence). It is cheap, fast and can be set up in a day. An s.r.o. costs more to run but limits your liability to the company assets and looks better to corporate clients — it is the usual choice above roughly 1.5 million CZK of annual profit or when several founders are involved.
Step 2: the trade licence (živnostenský list)
Filed at any Trade Licensing Office or online. Most activities fall under the free trade (volná živnost), which requires no proof of qualification. EU citizens need an ID and a clean criminal record; non-EU founders also need a residence permit and a Czech criminal record extract.
Step 3: register with three institutions
Tax office (within 15 days of starting), the Czech Social Security Administration and your health insurance company (both within 8 days). The trade office can forward these registrations for you at the moment you apply for the licence — use it, it saves three separate visits.
Step 4: advance payments
In your first year as a freelancer you pay the minimum monthly advances for social security and health insurance; from the second year they are recalculated from your actual profit. Missing a health insurance advance generates penalty interest automatically, so set up standing orders on day one.
Step 5: the data box
Every company and every licensed freelancer has a data box created automatically. It is the official channel for the tax office, and everything delivered into it is considered read after 10 days whether you open it or not. Check it or have your accountant check it.
Step 6: think about VAT before you need to
You must register as a VAT payer once your turnover exceeds 2,000,000 CZK in 12 consecutive months. Separately, you may become an identified person the moment you buy an advertising or software service from abroad — see the dedicated article.
Step 7: keep records from the first invoice
Even a simple spreadsheet plus scanned documents is enough at the start, as long as it is complete. Reconstructing a year of missing receipts in March is the single most expensive thing a new entrepreneur can do to themselves.
Need help with this in practice?
We go through your situation in a free consultation in English and tell you exactly what has to be registered, filed and paid.