VAT and invoicing in Czechia (2026): rates, returns and EET 2.0

Czech VAT is not complicated, but it is detailed: two rates, strict 15-day deadlines for tax documents and a monthly control statement that cross-checks your invoices against your customers' and suppliers'. This guide explains what a small business in the Czech Republic needs to know in 2026: the rates, when to register, how and when to file, what an invoice must contain and what the return of electronic sales records (EET 2.0) means from 2027. Rates and dates are as of October 2026.

Czech VAT at a glance

The tax is daň z přidané hodnoty (DPH), governed by the VAT Act No. 235/2004 Coll. (zákon o dani z přidané hodnoty) and administered by the Financial Administration (Finanční správa) through the regional tax offices (finanční úřad), under the Ministry of Finance.

On 1 January 2024 the two former reduced rates of 15% and 10% were replaced by the single 12% rate. If your price lists or invoice templates are older than that, check them.

Who must register for VAT

Since 1 January 2025 the test uses the calendar year, not a rolling 12 months:

• CZK 2,000,000: if your turnover in Czechia exceeds CZK 2 million in a calendar year, you become a VAT payer (plátce) from 1 January of the following year.
• CZK 2,536,500: if your turnover exceeds this higher amount during the year, you become a VAT payer immediately, within the same year.
• Voluntary registration: you may register below the threshold, which lets you deduct input VAT. It often pays off if your customers are VAT payers themselves.
• Businesses established abroad: there is no threshold. They register as soon as they make a supply taxable in Czechia for which they are liable, unless the customer accounts for the VAT.

Once registered, you use your tax identification number (DIČ), which begins with CZ, on every tax document and in EU transactions.

VAT returns, payment and the control statement

• Quarterly periods: you may choose quarterly returns for a year if your Czech turnover in the previous calendar year did not exceed CZK 15,000,000, you are not a VAT group or an unreliable payer, and you notify the tax office by the end of January. A newly registered payer usually stays monthly in its first year and the year after.
• Electronic filing: all VAT filings must be submitted electronically, in the required structured format.
• The control statement lists your issued and received tax documents so the tax office can match them with your business partners' data. It does not replace the VAT return. Late filing costs CZK 1,000, and up to CZK 50,000 if you ignore the tax office's requests.

When the 25th falls on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day: in October 2026, for example, VAT for September is due on Monday 26 October.

Invoices: what Czech law requires

A VAT invoice is called a tax document (daňový doklad). § 29 of the VAT Act lists what it must contain:

1. 1the name and DIČ of the supplier
2. 2the name and DIČ of the customer
3. 3a sequential number (evidenční číslo)
4. 4the scope and subject of the supply
5. 5the issue date
6. 6the date of the supply (or of the advance payment) if it differs from the issue date
7. 7the unit price without VAT and any discount not included in it
8. 8the tax base, the VAT rate and the VAT amount in Czech crowns

Where they apply, the document must also show the legal basis of an exemption, the words “daň odvede zákazník” (the customer accounts for the tax) for a reverse-charge supply, or “vystaveno zákazníkem” for self-billing.

When to issue: within 15 days of the date the tax became due (§ 28). You must issue tax documents for supplies to businesses and to legal entities.

Simplified tax document: allowed when the total does not exceed CZK 10,000 (§ 30). It may leave out the customer's name and DIČ, the unit price, the tax base and the VAT amount (in which case it shows the total amount). It cannot be used for reverse-charge supplies or exempt intra-EU supplies of goods.

Corrections: when the tax base or the VAT changes (discounts, returns, price changes, errors), you issue a corrective tax document (opravný daňový doklad, § 45) within 15 days. It must refer to the number of the original document and state the reason for the correction. Never edit or delete a document you have already sent.

Foreign currency: you may invoice in euros or another currency, but the VAT amount must be in Czech crowns, converted at the exchange rate valid on the day the tax became due, normally the Czech National Bank's rate.

Electronic invoices are allowed when your customer agrees to receive them; you must keep their authenticity, integrity and legibility for the whole retention period.

Record keeping: keep tax documents for 10 years from the end of the tax period in which the supply took place (§ 35).

E-invoicing and EET 2.0: what is changing

E-invoicing: Czechia has no general obligation to issue structured e-invoices between businesses. A PDF or paper tax document remains valid. From 1 July 2030, under the EU's VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package, cross-border B2B sales inside the EU will move to e-invoicing and digital reporting.

Electronic sales records (EET): the original EET, which made shops and restaurants report each cash sale online, was abolished from 1 January 2023. It is coming back:

According to the Financial Administration, EET 2.0 records sales in real time, covers only payments made in person between the customer and the business, records a minimal set of data and no longer requires printed receipts. An EET OFF regime lets selected self-employed people in the flat-rate tax regime (paušální režim) stay out of reporting. Details such as who exactly is in scope and which sales are exempt are published on eet.gov.cz and in the Financial Administration's FAQs; check them before January.

If you take payments in person, you will need a way to send them to EET 2.0, such as the Financial Administration's own application or a cash register solution that supports it. Clientlly does not connect to EET.

Worked example in Czech crowns

A small marketing agency in Brno, a monthly VAT payer, invoices one client in September:

In the same month it buys software licences for CZK 40,000 plus CZK 8,400 VAT (21%) and a hotel stay for a client workshop for CZK 5,000 plus CZK 600 VAT (12%), so its input VAT is CZK 9,000.

• Output VAT: CZK 21,000
• Input VAT: CZK 9,000
• VAT payable within 25 days after September: CZK 21,000 − CZK 9,000 = CZK 12,000

To find the VAT inside a gross price at 21%, multiply by 21 and divide by 121: CZK 121,000 × 21 ÷ 121 = CZK 21,000.

Late payment between businesses

Government Regulation No. 351/2013 Coll. sets the statutory rules when a customer pays late:

• Default interest per year is the Czech National Bank's repo rate valid on the first day of the calendar half-year in which the default began, plus 8 percentage points. Check the repo rate on the ČNB website for the half-year concerned.
• Minimum recovery costs between businesses are CZK 1,200 per claim.

State your payment term and the consequences of late payment on your invoices and contracts, and send reminders before the debt gets old.

Common mistakes

1. 1Missing the calendar-year threshold: since 2025 it is CZK 2 million per calendar year, and above CZK 2,536,500 you are a VAT payer immediately.
2. 2Using a 15% or 10% rate from old templates: since 2024 the reduced rate is 12%.
3. 3Issuing tax documents late: the deadline is 15 days from the tax point, also for corrective documents.
4. 4Forgetting “daň odvede zákazník” on reverse-charge supplies.
5. 5Control statement errors: a missing or mistyped DIČ or document number triggers questions from the tax office and fines.
6. 6Showing VAT only in euros on a foreign-currency invoice; the VAT amount must also be in crowns.
7. 7Leaving EET 2.0 to the last minute if you take cash or card payments in person.

How Clientlly helps

Clientlly keeps invoicing, expenses and VAT records together:

• sequential invoice numbering per series and the VAT rates of your organisation's country on every invoice
• credit notes linked to the original invoice
• invoice PDFs in your client's language, multiple currencies and a card payment link on the invoice
• you see when an invoice was opened, and automatic reminders go out 3, 14 and 30 days after the due date
• recurring invoices for retainers and subscriptions, and scanning receipts with the VAT read automatically
• sales and purchase VAT books per rate, including exports, reverse charge and intra-EU purchases, with VAT reports for you and your accountant and Excel and PDF exports
• importing clients, suppliers, products and opening balances from Excel or CSV, and a mobile app

Clientlly does not file VAT returns or control statements and does not connect to EET 2.0; it prepares the figures you and your accountant need. See the invoicing features, the accounting module and the reporting tools.