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Set up the businessHow-to · 15 min read ·

How to set up a trade licence for accommodation: step by step in one afternoon

Accommodation services are an unqualified trade: no exams, no practice, no waiting for a permit — just a notification, one form and a thousand crowns. And you may do business from the very day you file the notification (§ 10 (1) of the Trade Licensing Act); the extract with your IČO merely confirms it.

The hardest part is not the forms but two things you fill in on them: whether accommodation is your main or your secondary activity (that is not a choice but a state of affairs — see step 3), and lump-sum tax yes or no. Both are hard to change and both make a difference of tens of thousands of crowns a year.

In brief
Whoanyone who accommodates guests for payment — full legal capacity and a clean record are enough (§ 6 of the Trade Licensing Act)
Whereany municipal Trade Licensing Office (živnostenský úřad), or online at rzp.gov.cz (formerly rzp.cz), section „Elektronická podání“ (electronic filings)
How muchCZK 1,000 at the counter, CZK 800 using the electronic form at rzp.gov.cz (a 20 % discount under § 9 of the Act on Administrative Fees), through Czech POINT CZK 50 more
How longthe notification takes one afternoon, the extract with your IČO within 5 working days (§ 47 (1))
Deadlineyou may do business from the day of notification; your health insurer within 8 days and the ČSSZ by the 8th day of the following month, unless you file it together with the trade notification
What you riskwithout an authorisation a fine of up to CZK 500,000 (§ 61 (3) of the Trade Licensing Act), and on a larger scale a criminal offence

What to do

What to do
  • Check the conditions — full legal capacity and a clean record; the office obtains the criminal record extract itself
  • Notify an unqualified trade with field no. 55 „Ubytovací služby“ (CZK 1,000 at the office, CZK 800 electronically through rzp.gov.cz)
  • On the same form, notify the start of your activity to the ČSSZ and to your health insurer
  • Decide main vs. secondary activity — with a main activity the advances run from the first month (a starting self-employed person CZK 6,881, otherwise CZK 8,311 a month), with a secondary one there are no advances in the first year and the balance is paid only after the overview
  • Decide on the lump-sum tax — the notice must be filed by the day you start the activity at the latest, not later
  • Collect the extract with your IČO, wait for the data box credentials and deal straight away with the business premises, UbyPort, the municipal fee, waste and being an identified person for VAT

Step 1 — where and how to file

Have ready your identity document, the address of your registered office, the address of the flat and the money for the fee. You do not have to obtain a criminal record extract; for Czech citizens the office requests it itself (§ 6 (3)). There are three routes:

  1. 1IN PERSON at any municipal Trade Licensing Office, not necessarily the one for your residence (§ 71 (1)). The clerk will usually help you with the unified registration form (JRF) — but you are not entitled to that.
  2. 2ONLINE at https://rzp.gov.cz/epo-jrf/cs/nove-podani (rzp.cz merely redirects now), section „Elektronická podání“; sign in with Identita občana (bank identity, the eGovernment mobile key, an eID card, NIA ID). The form from there costs CZK 800 instead of CZK 1,000.
  3. 3THROUGH A DATA BOX — send the form from the portal to the Trade Licensing Office's box.

You state field of activity no. 55 „Ubytovací služby“ (Annex no. 4 to the Trade Licensing Act): accommodation in all accommodation facilities and in apartment and family houses, with breakfast only up to 10 beds including extra beds. Any further catering is already the skilled trade „Hostinská činnost“ (hospitality). To manage other people's flats, add field no. 58 „Nákup, prodej, správa a údržba nemovitostí“ (purchase, sale, administration and maintenance of real estate) free of charge; brokering a lease does not fall under it — since 3 March 2020 that is the regulated trade „Realitní zprostředkování“ (real estate brokerage).

You state the address of your registered office in the notification (§ 45 (2)); if it differs from your residence, you prove your legal title to use the premises (§ 46 (1)) and mark the building with your name and IČO (§ 31 (2)).

If the flat in which you will provide accommodation is not yours, the owner's consent is not a courtesy but a statutory condition — without it you may not carry on the trade there (§ 17 (3)).

Step 2 — one form, several authorities

The unified registration form merges several filings into one piece of paper. Through the Trade Licensing Office you settle:

You do not register for income tax: the registration duty of natural persons was abolished as of 1 January 2024 and the Trade Licensing Office passes the data to the tax office itself; the only thing the unified form cannot do is registration as an identified person for VAT, which you file through the MOJE daně portal. The entry in the register and the extract with your IČO come within 5 working days of a flawless notification being delivered, and the first extract is free.

Step 3 — main or secondary activity?

The most expensive box on the form. A secondary activity is not a choice but a state of affairs: it applies to employees participating in sickness insurance, pensioners, recipients of maternity benefit, anyone personally caring for a child under 4 or for a dependent person, and students under 26. What counts is the care for a child under 4, not the parental allowance.

SECONDARY. You pay no social insurance advances in the first year. Contributions for 2026 arise only when the tax base reaches the decisive amount of CZK 117,521 (reduced by CZK 9,794 for each month without the activity). Below it you pay nothing — not the minimum, zero. Above it, 29.2 % of 55 % of the tax base, at least from a base of CZK 5,387, i.e. an advance of CZK 1,574 — and only from the month after the overview is filed. Health insurance in employment with contributions from at least the minimum wage has no minimum: 13.5 % of half the profit, with no advances in the first year.

MAIN. The advances run from the first month, even if the flat stands empty: CZK 5,005 social (from 1 July 2026, until June CZK 5,720 — the minimum was reduced by Act no. 90/2026 Coll.) and CZK 3,306 health, together CZK 8,311 a month. Anyone who was not in business in the previous 20 years pays a reduced social advance of CZK 3,575 in the year they start and in the two following years, i.e. CZK 6,881 a month in total. The social advance is due by the end of the month it is paid for (a month later for a newly starting self-employed person), the health one by the 8th day of the following month.

Example · Jan Novák, apartment BYT1 in Vinohrady, 2026
A) Secondary activity alongside employment for all of 2026, profit CZK 90,000
social (base below CZK 117,521)CZK 0
health 13.5 % of CZK 45,000CZK 6,075 (balance paid after the overview)
advances in the first yearCZK 0
Contributions for the year in totalCZK 6,075
B) Main activity, a starting self-employed person, the whole year
social CZK 3,575 × 12CZK 42,900
health CZK 3,306 × 12CZK 39,672
Contributions for the year in totalCZK 82,572 (CZK 6,881 a month)

If you start your activity only in September 2026, the decisive amount drops to 117,521 − 8 × 9,794 = CZK 39,169 and the same profit already triggers social contributions. The amounts apply to 2026; from January 2027 they will rise with the average wage, which the government announces by regulation in the autumn.

Step 4 — the lump-sum tax: yes or no?

Are you an employee? Then you cannot enter the lump-sum regime — the law bars it for anyone with income from dependent activity other than income taxed by withholding (§ 2a (1) (c) of the Income Tax Act). So the typical „flat alongside a job“ does not deal with the lump-sum tax at all.

For everyone else: one monthly payment covers the tax and both kinds of insurance, and you file neither a return nor overviews. In 2026 it is CZK 9,162 in band I (from July, after the reduction from CZK 9,984), CZK 16,745 in band II and CZK 27,139 in band III, due by the 20th of the month.

The regime's limit is CZK 2,000,000 of income from independent activity in the previous year; with the 60 % flat rate for accommodation services you fit into band I up to CZK 1,500,000 and into band II up to CZK 2,000,000, provided that this income makes up at least 75 % of your income. You must not be a VAT payer (being an identified person is fine), a partner in a general partnership or a general partner in a limited partnership, nor in insolvency. Alongside your business you may have income from lease, capital and other income of at most CZK 50,000 a year (§ 7a of the Income Tax Act) — anyone letting another flat long-term often does not fit into the lump sum.

The deadline is merciless: by 10 January, and if you start the activity later, on the day you start at the latest — typically right in the unified form. A late notice has no effect and the deadline cannot be restored; for 2027 it falls on 11 January.

The flat rate suits stable income without large deductions; it does not suit you if you claim the child tax credit or mortgage interest — those are forfeited. → How to tax Airbnb income: § 7, not § 9 — and why it matters

What awaits you after setting up

The trade licence is a ticket, not the destination. Deal with the following straight away (the full overview is in the article „Airbnb in Czechia, legally: the complete map of a host's obligations“):

Once you have a data box, you must file returns, overviews and form filings electronically only (§ 72 (6) of the Tax Code) — a paper return is a defective filing.

What is coming (as of September 2026)

The EU regulation on short-term rentals (Regulation (EU) 2024/1028) has applied since 20 May 2026, but introducing a registration procedure is optional for member states and Czechia has not done so — so today you need no registration number in your listing. The eTurista register is still only a proposal: parliamentary prints 106 and 107 are before their first reading and the Ministry for Regional Development talks about a launch in 2027. The new Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals (print 144) proposes an effective date as late as 1 January 2029.

The most common mistakes and myths

Frequently asked questions

Do I need the consent of the owners' association or of the flat's owner?
The law does not require the association's consent; the flat owner's consent it does (§ 17 (3)). Even so, go through the association's articles and your lease in advance.
Can I have my business premises in the flat where I live?
Yes, that is common practice. You are responsible for the flat's fitness under building and hygiene rules (§ 17 (4)) and you must designate a person responsible for the operation of the premises.
When can I take my first guest?
Legally, from the day of notification. In practice, first sort out UbyPort (up to 30 days) and register with the municipality for the stay fee.
How Ubyo helps
Once you have your IČO, you set up the legal entity and the apartment in the app and connect your bookings — and the statutory duties from the steps above stop being manual work.
Legal framework and sources (6)
  • Act no. 455/1991 Coll., the Trade Licensing Act, § 6, § 10, § 17, § 45a, § 47, § 71 — conditions, creation of the authorisation, business premises, the unified form
  • Act no. 634/2004 Coll., on administrative fees, item 24 and § 9 — the fee and the discount for the electronic form
  • Government Regulation no. 278/2008 Coll., Annex no. 4 point 55 — the content of the field „Ubytovací služby“
  • Act no. 589/1992 Coll. and Act no. 592/1992 Coll. — advances for the self-employed (as amended by Act no. 90/2026 Coll.)
  • Act no. 586/1992 Coll., on income taxes, § 2a, § 7a, § 38lc and § 38lk — the lump-sum regime, conditions and deadlines
  • rzp.gov.cz — the Trade Licensing Portal (electronic filing of the unified form); cssz.gov.cz and vzp.cz — current minimum advances for the self-employed

Updated: 21 September 2026, verified against the sources listed above. This is informational text, not legal or tax advice — consult a professional about your specific situation.

ubyo
Blog
Set up the businessHow-to · 15 min read ·

How to set up a trade licence for accommodation: step by step in one afternoon

Accommodation services are an unqualified trade: no exams, no practice, no waiting for a permit — just a notification, one form and a thousand crowns. And you may do business from the very day you file the notification (§ 10 (1) of the Trade Licensing Act); the extract with your IČO merely confirms it.

The hardest part is not the forms but two things you fill in on them: whether accommodation is your main or your secondary activity (that is not a choice but a state of affairs — see step 3), and lump-sum tax yes or no. Both are hard to change and both make a difference of tens of thousands of crowns a year.

In brief
Whoanyone who accommodates guests for payment — full legal capacity and a clean record are enough (§ 6 of the Trade Licensing Act)
Whereany municipal Trade Licensing Office (živnostenský úřad), or online at rzp.gov.cz (formerly rzp.cz), section „Elektronická podání“ (electronic filings)
How muchCZK 1,000 at the counter, CZK 800 using the electronic form at rzp.gov.cz (a 20 % discount under § 9 of the Act on Administrative Fees), through Czech POINT CZK 50 more
How longthe notification takes one afternoon, the extract with your IČO within 5 working days (§ 47 (1))
Deadlineyou may do business from the day of notification; your health insurer within 8 days and the ČSSZ by the 8th day of the following month, unless you file it together with the trade notification
What you riskwithout an authorisation a fine of up to CZK 500,000 (§ 61 (3) of the Trade Licensing Act), and on a larger scale a criminal offence

What to do

What to do
  • Check the conditions — full legal capacity and a clean record; the office obtains the criminal record extract itself
  • Notify an unqualified trade with field no. 55 „Ubytovací služby“ (CZK 1,000 at the office, CZK 800 electronically through rzp.gov.cz)
  • On the same form, notify the start of your activity to the ČSSZ and to your health insurer
  • Decide main vs. secondary activity — with a main activity the advances run from the first month (a starting self-employed person CZK 6,881, otherwise CZK 8,311 a month), with a secondary one there are no advances in the first year and the balance is paid only after the overview
  • Decide on the lump-sum tax — the notice must be filed by the day you start the activity at the latest, not later
  • Collect the extract with your IČO, wait for the data box credentials and deal straight away with the business premises, UbyPort, the municipal fee, waste and being an identified person for VAT

Step 1 — where and how to file

Have ready your identity document, the address of your registered office, the address of the flat and the money for the fee. You do not have to obtain a criminal record extract; for Czech citizens the office requests it itself (§ 6 (3)). There are three routes:

  1. 1IN PERSON at any municipal Trade Licensing Office, not necessarily the one for your residence (§ 71 (1)). The clerk will usually help you with the unified registration form (JRF) — but you are not entitled to that.
  2. 2ONLINE at https://rzp.gov.cz/epo-jrf/cs/nove-podani (rzp.cz merely redirects now), section „Elektronická podání“; sign in with Identita občana (bank identity, the eGovernment mobile key, an eID card, NIA ID). The form from there costs CZK 800 instead of CZK 1,000.
  3. 3THROUGH A DATA BOX — send the form from the portal to the Trade Licensing Office's box.

You state field of activity no. 55 „Ubytovací služby“ (Annex no. 4 to the Trade Licensing Act): accommodation in all accommodation facilities and in apartment and family houses, with breakfast only up to 10 beds including extra beds. Any further catering is already the skilled trade „Hostinská činnost“ (hospitality). To manage other people's flats, add field no. 58 „Nákup, prodej, správa a údržba nemovitostí“ (purchase, sale, administration and maintenance of real estate) free of charge; brokering a lease does not fall under it — since 3 March 2020 that is the regulated trade „Realitní zprostředkování“ (real estate brokerage).

You state the address of your registered office in the notification (§ 45 (2)); if it differs from your residence, you prove your legal title to use the premises (§ 46 (1)) and mark the building with your name and IČO (§ 31 (2)).

If the flat in which you will provide accommodation is not yours, the owner's consent is not a courtesy but a statutory condition — without it you may not carry on the trade there (§ 17 (3)).

Step 2 — one form, several authorities

The unified registration form merges several filings into one piece of paper. Through the Trade Licensing Office you settle:

  • the notice of starting a self-employed activity for the ČSSZ, the application for pension (and possibly sickness) insurance and the notice for your health insurer,
  • the notice of entry into the lump-sum regime (§ 45b of the Trade Licensing Act),
  • the notification of business premises — if you state them in the trade notification itself, you file no separate notification.

You do not register for income tax: the registration duty of natural persons was abolished as of 1 January 2024 and the Trade Licensing Office passes the data to the tax office itself; the only thing the unified form cannot do is registration as an identified person for VAT, which you file through the MOJE daně portal. The entry in the register and the extract with your IČO come within 5 working days of a flawless notification being delivered, and the first extract is free.

Step 3 — main or secondary activity?

The most expensive box on the form. A secondary activity is not a choice but a state of affairs: it applies to employees participating in sickness insurance, pensioners, recipients of maternity benefit, anyone personally caring for a child under 4 or for a dependent person, and students under 26. What counts is the care for a child under 4, not the parental allowance.

SECONDARY. You pay no social insurance advances in the first year. Contributions for 2026 arise only when the tax base reaches the decisive amount of CZK 117,521 (reduced by CZK 9,794 for each month without the activity). Below it you pay nothing — not the minimum, zero. Above it, 29.2 % of 55 % of the tax base, at least from a base of CZK 5,387, i.e. an advance of CZK 1,574 — and only from the month after the overview is filed. Health insurance in employment with contributions from at least the minimum wage has no minimum: 13.5 % of half the profit, with no advances in the first year.

MAIN. The advances run from the first month, even if the flat stands empty: CZK 5,005 social (from 1 July 2026, until June CZK 5,720 — the minimum was reduced by Act no. 90/2026 Coll.) and CZK 3,306 health, together CZK 8,311 a month. Anyone who was not in business in the previous 20 years pays a reduced social advance of CZK 3,575 in the year they start and in the two following years, i.e. CZK 6,881 a month in total. The social advance is due by the end of the month it is paid for (a month later for a newly starting self-employed person), the health one by the 8th day of the following month.

Example · Jan Novák, apartment BYT1 in Vinohrady, 2026
A) Secondary activity alongside employment for all of 2026, profit CZK 90,000
social (base below CZK 117,521)CZK 0
health 13.5 % of CZK 45,000CZK 6,075 (balance paid after the overview)
advances in the first yearCZK 0
Contributions for the year in totalCZK 6,075
B) Main activity, a starting self-employed person, the whole year
social CZK 3,575 × 12CZK 42,900
health CZK 3,306 × 12CZK 39,672
Contributions for the year in totalCZK 82,572 (CZK 6,881 a month)

If you start your activity only in September 2026, the decisive amount drops to 117,521 − 8 × 9,794 = CZK 39,169 and the same profit already triggers social contributions. The amounts apply to 2026; from January 2027 they will rise with the average wage, which the government announces by regulation in the autumn.

Step 4 — the lump-sum tax: yes or no?

Are you an employee? Then you cannot enter the lump-sum regime — the law bars it for anyone with income from dependent activity other than income taxed by withholding (§ 2a (1) (c) of the Income Tax Act). So the typical „flat alongside a job“ does not deal with the lump-sum tax at all.

For everyone else: one monthly payment covers the tax and both kinds of insurance, and you file neither a return nor overviews. In 2026 it is CZK 9,162 in band I (from July, after the reduction from CZK 9,984), CZK 16,745 in band II and CZK 27,139 in band III, due by the 20th of the month.

The regime's limit is CZK 2,000,000 of income from independent activity in the previous year; with the 60 % flat rate for accommodation services you fit into band I up to CZK 1,500,000 and into band II up to CZK 2,000,000, provided that this income makes up at least 75 % of your income. You must not be a VAT payer (being an identified person is fine), a partner in a general partnership or a general partner in a limited partnership, nor in insolvency. Alongside your business you may have income from lease, capital and other income of at most CZK 50,000 a year (§ 7a of the Income Tax Act) — anyone letting another flat long-term often does not fit into the lump sum.

The deadline is merciless: by 10 January, and if you start the activity later, on the day you start at the latest — typically right in the unified form. A late notice has no effect and the deadline cannot be restored; for 2027 it falls on 11 January.

The flat rate suits stable income without large deductions; it does not suit you if you claim the child tax credit or mortgage interest — those are forfeited. → How to tax Airbnb income: § 7, not § 9 — and why it matters

What awaits you after setting up

The trade licence is a ticket, not the destination. Deal with the following straight away (the full overview is in the article „Airbnb in Czechia, legally: the complete map of a host's obligations“):

Once you have a data box, you must file returns, overviews and form filings electronically only (§ 72 (6) of the Tax Code) — a paper return is a defective filing.

What is coming (as of September 2026)

The EU regulation on short-term rentals (Regulation (EU) 2024/1028) has applied since 20 May 2026, but introducing a registration procedure is optional for member states and Czechia has not done so — so today you need no registration number in your listing. The eTurista register is still only a proposal: parliamentary prints 106 and 107 are before their first reading and the Ministry for Regional Development talks about a launch in 2027. The new Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals (print 144) proposes an effective date as late as 1 January 2029.

The most common mistakes and myths

  • „I'll try one season without a trade licence and see.“ — That is unauthorised business with a fine of up to CZK 500,000. And without an authorisation you can claim only the 40 % flat-rate expenses on such income instead of 60 %.
  • „'Letting real estate' is enough for me.“ — That genuinely requires no trade licence (§ 3 (3) of the Trade Licensing Act), but short-term accommodation does not fall under it: it is an accommodation service in field no. 55 and income under § 7 of the Income Tax Act.
  • „When I have no guests, I don't pay advances.“ — With a main activity they run every month regardless of revenue. Reducing the advance or suspending the trade helps — but report that to the ČSSZ and your insurer too.
  • „I'll switch the lump-sum tax on once I see how it goes.“ — You will not. The notice can only be filed by 10 January, or on the day you start the activity.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need the consent of the owners' association or of the flat's owner?
The law does not require the association's consent; the flat owner's consent it does (§ 17 (3)). Even so, go through the association's articles and your lease in advance.
Can I have my business premises in the flat where I live?
Yes, that is common practice. You are responsible for the flat's fitness under building and hygiene rules (§ 17 (4)) and you must designate a person responsible for the operation of the premises.
When can I take my first guest?
Legally, from the day of notification. In practice, first sort out UbyPort (up to 30 days) and register with the municipality for the stay fee.
How Ubyo helps
Once you have your IČO, you set up the legal entity and the apartment in the app and connect your bookings — and the statutory duties from the steps above stop being manual work.
Legal framework and sources (6)
  • Act no. 455/1991 Coll., the Trade Licensing Act, § 6, § 10, § 17, § 45a, § 47, § 71 — conditions, creation of the authorisation, business premises, the unified form
  • Act no. 634/2004 Coll., on administrative fees, item 24 and § 9 — the fee and the discount for the electronic form
  • Government Regulation no. 278/2008 Coll., Annex no. 4 point 55 — the content of the field „Ubytovací služby“
  • Act no. 589/1992 Coll. and Act no. 592/1992 Coll. — advances for the self-employed (as amended by Act no. 90/2026 Coll.)
  • Act no. 586/1992 Coll., on income taxes, § 2a, § 7a, § 38lc and § 38lk — the lump-sum regime, conditions and deadlines
  • rzp.gov.cz — the Trade Licensing Portal (electronic filing of the unified form); cssz.gov.cz and vzp.cz — current minimum advances for the self-employed

Updated: 21 September 2026, verified against the sources listed above. This is informational text, not legal or tax advice — consult a professional about your specific situation.