The costliest mistake of Czech hosts fits into a single section of the law. Anyone who taxes short-term accommodation as a „lease“ (§ 9) taxes it wrongly — and at an inspection the Financial Administration will reclassify it as business (§ 7). And this is no formality: the tax can be assessed three years back (§ 148 of Act no. 280/2009 Coll., the Tax Code) and the assessment carries a 20 % penalty (§ 251 (1) (a) of the same Act) plus default interest. The contributions, however, are not assessed by the tax office — those are collected separately, through corrective overviews, by the district social security administration and by your health insurer. Three institutions, three arrears, one original mistake.

The good news is that the right setup can be done once and for all. Below you will find why § 7 and not § 9, three ways to tax within § 7, the figures for 2026 (careful — they changed mid-year), two worked examples and the exact deadlines.

What to do

Why § 7 and not § 9

§ 9 (lease) is for letting „bare“ property long-term: the tenant lives in the flat and you merely collect. Expenses at a flat rate of 30 % of income, at most CZK 600,000 (§ 9 (4) of the Income Tax Act), no social or health insurance — letting real estate is not an independent gainful activity (§ 9 (3) (f) of Act no. 155/1995 Coll.).

Short-term accommodation of tourists, however, is an entirely different activity. The Financial Administration recognises it by four features that together describe exactly what you do: the stays are short, the purpose is recreation rather than meeting a housing need, you provide services beyond the necessary (cleaning, changing the linen, keys, communication) and you offer it publicly on platforms. That is a systematic gainful activity, i.e. business — income under § 7 (1) (b) of the Income Tax Act, to which the unqualified trade, field no. 55 „Ubytovací služby“ belongs (Annex no. 4 to Act no. 455/1991 Coll.). It is described in detail in the Information of the General Financial Directorate, ref. no. 10352/23/7100-30118-012884, effective from 1 January 2023.

The difference in money lies mainly in the contributions: under § 7 you pay them, under § 9 you do not. That is exactly why § 9 is tempting and exactly why inspections focus on it — all the more so because the tax administrator knows your revenue before you file the return. The platforms report it under DAC7 by 31 January for the previous year.

Income is the price the guest paid, not what lands in your account

Before you calculate anything, be clear about which figure you are actually working with. Income is the whole amount the guest paid for the stay — even though it never reaches you in that amount. Platforms do not invoice their money by transfer: they deduct it from the payout before they even send it. Booking.com B.V. (VAT NL805734958B01) says so literally on its monthly tax document — the invoiced amount is „netted from your payout“. In the payment statement you then see, for each booking, the booking price, the commission deducted, the payment services fee and only below them the net revenue. What belongs in the return is the first figure, not the last.

On the documents for the 2025/2026 period Booking's commission is 15.0 % of the booking price and the payment services fee another 1.5 % (your rate may differ according to your contract and the programmes you have chosen — you will find it on your own document). Together the platform takes roughly a sixth of the price.

The difference between EUR 1,000.00 and EUR 835.00 is not a loss but an expense. With actual expenses you deduct the commission and the payment services fee as a cost; with the 60 % flat rate they are already „in the flat rate“ and cannot be deducted again — but in both cases the whole EUR 1,000.00 belongs in income. Anyone who records only the payout declares roughly a sixth less than what the platform reported about them to the Financial Administration under DAC7: both the consideration and the commissions deducted are reported, so the difference is visible from its data at a glance.

With Airbnb the principle is the same, only the document looks different: the service fee is invoiced by Airbnb Ireland UC (VAT IE9827384L) separately for each booking, not as a monthly summary. Here too the income is the price the guest paid, and the platform's fee is your expense.

The figures for 2026

Average wage 2026 = CZK 48,967 (Government Regulation no. 365/2025 Coll.) Personal income tax rate = 15 % up to a base of CZK 1,762,812, 23 % above Taxpayer credit = CZK 30,840 a year, not reduced pro rata Flat-rate expenses § 7 = 60 % of income, at most CZK 1,200,000 Flat-rate expenses § 9 = 30 % of income, at most CZK 600,000 Contributions from the tax base = social from 55 % of the base at 29.2 %, health from 50 % at 13.5 % Effectively together = 22.81 % of the tax base Min. social advance (main) = CZK 5,005 from 7/2026 (in 1–6/2026 it was CZK 5,720) a starting self-employed person = CZK 3,575, secondary activity = CZK 1,574 Min. health advance = CZK 3,306, due by the 8th day of the following month Minimums together = CZK 8,311 a month Decisive amount (secondary) = CZK 117,521 of the tax base per year Lump-sum tax I/II/III = CZK 9,162 / 16,745 / 27,139 a month Max. social assessment base = CZK 2,350,416

Three ways to tax under § 7

1. 1FLAT-RATE EXPENSES OF 60 %. For accommodation services you deduct 60 % of income as expenses without a single receipt (§ 7 (7) (b) of the Income Tax Act). Out of CZK 800,000 of revenue the base is CZK 320,000. Flat-rate expenses are capped at CZK 1,200,000 — you reach the full effect at income of CZK 2,000,000, above which the flat rate grows no further. You keep only records of income and a register of receivables (§ 7 (8)). Careful, „without receipts“ does not mean „without paperwork“: you need the documents on platform commissions because of the VAT of an identified person, and the guest register because of the stay fee. For most hosts with their own flat the flat rate is the best choice.

1. 1ACTUAL EXPENSES. You keep tax records (§ 7b) and deduct real costs: platform commissions, energy, cleaning, linen, furnishings, repairs, depreciation, and in the sublease model the rent. It pays off in two situations — when the costs exceed 60 % of income (typically when you lease flats yourself and resell them as accommodation), and when your income is above CZK 2,000,000, because there the effective flat rate falls below 60 % owing to the cap.

Careful with depreciation: to depreciate the flat you must put it into your business property — and that closes off the exemption of the income from its future sale. Under § 4 (1) of the Income Tax Act that applies only ten years after the flat is withdrawn from business property. For a flat worth millions that is substantially more expensive than what you save on depreciation.

1. 1THE LUMP-SUM TAX. One monthly payment covering the tax and both kinds of insurance, due by the 20th of the month (§ 38lk of the Income Tax Act). No return, no overviews. For 2026 it is CZK 9,162 in band I, CZK 16,745 in band II and CZK 27,139 in band III. Accommodation services fall into band I up to income of CZK 1,500,000 and into band II up to CZK 2,000,000. You enter by a notice filed by 10 January of the relevant year (for 2027 by 11 January 2027, because 10 January is a Sunday) or on starting the activity; the deadline cannot be restored.

The crucial condition that most applicants trip over: on the first day of the period you must not be carrying on an activity generating income from dependent activity (§ 2a (1) (c) of the Income Tax Act), except income taxed by withholding. An employee with a flat on Airbnb — the typical reader of this article — cannot enter the lump-sum tax. Further, you must not be a VAT payer, other income under § 8 to § 10 must not exceed CZK 50,000 and you must not be in insolvency. Registration as an identified person for VAT on commissions, by contrast, is no obstacle to entry. The downside: in the lump-sum regime you cannot claim credits for children, for a spouse or mortgage interest.

Contributions: do not forget them

Carrying on a trade is an independent gainful activity, so social and health insurance contributions are added to the tax. There are two different bases and you should not mix them up:

• Social: the assessment base is 55 % of the tax base (§ 5b (1) of Act no. 589/1992 Coll., since 2024; previously it was 50 %), the rate 29.2 % — effectively 16.06 % of the tax base.
• Health: the assessment base is 50 % of the tax base (§ 3a (1) of Act no. 592/1992 Coll.), the rate 13.5 % — effectively 6.75 % of the tax base.

Together 22.81 % of the tax base, i.e. more than the fifteen-percent tax. Anyone counting only the tax is planning their cash flow roughly half wrong.

What matters crucially is the distinction between a main and a secondary activity:

• A MAIN activity (accommodation is your only income): the minimum advances run every month regardless of revenue — in 2026 that is CZK 5,005 for social (from July, until June CZK 5,720) and CZK 3,306 for health, together CZK 8,311 a month. A starting self-employed person who has not been in business for the last twenty years pays only CZK 3,575 for social. The advances, however, are not the final amount: for a main activity the annual contributions are paid from at least the minimum assessment base (§ 5b (2) of Act no. 589/1992 Coll., § 3a (2) of Act no. 592/1992 Coll.), so for 2026 at least CZK 60,055 for social and CZK 39,663 for health, together CZK 99,718. If 55 % and 50 % of the base give you less, you pay the difference up to the minimum. A starting self-employed person calculates the social minimum from a lower base of CZK 12,242 a month (25 % of the average wage) for the year they start and the two following years — that works out at roughly CZK 42,900; the health minimum is the same.
• A SECONDARY activity (you have a job giving rise to participation in sickness insurance): in the first year you pay no social advances at all and the contributions are settled only by the overview. Social contributions are moreover not payable until the tax base reaches the decisive amount of CZK 117,521 for 2026 (reduced by CZK 9,794 for each month without the activity). What is compared is the tax base, not revenue — with the 60 % flat rate that corresponds to revenue of roughly up to CZK 293,800. For an employee whose contributions come from at least the minimum wage, no minimum applies to health insurance, and you pay the balance within 8 days of filing the overview.

You claim the taxpayer credit of CZK 30,840 once in the return, against the sum of the tax from employment and from business. For an employee it has usually been used up by the monthly advances from their salary, so you pay the whole CZK 36,000 from the business. The base of CZK 240,000 is above the decisive amount of CZK 117,521, so participation in social insurance is compulsory. And notice that the contributions are higher than the tax. The lump-sum tax would cost this reader CZK 109,944 a year — more expensive, and above all unavailable to them.

With a main activity it is not enough to calculate the contributions from 55 % and 50 % of the base: the annual contributions are paid from at least the minimum assessment base (§ 5b (2) of Act no. 589/1992 Coll., § 3a (2) of Act no. 592/1992 Coll.). At revenue of CZK 800,000 both actual assessment bases are below it — CZK 176,000 against the annual minimum of CZK 205,668 for social and CZK 160,000 against CZK 293,802 for health — so the minimum is paid and the monthly advances already paid are merely deducted from it in the annual settlement. In a secondary activity (the first example) this minimum does not apply — the minimum assessment base there is only CZK 5,387 a month, i.e. CZK 64,644 a year, and the actual base of CZK 132,000 is above it; the health minimum does not apply to an employee at all.

If the same flat were run by an employee, it would be a secondary activity: the contributions would be calculated from the actual bases — CZK 51,392 social and CZK 21,600 health, i.e. CZK 72,992 — and with the credit used up by their salary the levies would come to CZK 120,992, i.e. 15.1 % of revenue as in the first example. In contributions, the same revenue costs CZK 26,726 a year more in a main activity.

When it grows on you: the 23 % rate applies to a tax base above CZK 1,762,812 — and for an employee the base from the salary and from the business are added together, so you get there sooner than you expect. The social contributions cap of CZK 2,350,416 is likewise calculated from the sum of both.

The deadlines to write down

The tax return for 2026 is filed by 1 April 2027 (the basic deadline), by 3 May 2027 when filed electronically and by 1 July 2027 if it is prepared by a tax adviser or an attorney (§ 136 of the Tax Code; 1 May 2027 is a Saturday, so the deadline moves). For you only the middle one matters: as a self-employed natural person you have a data box set up by operation of law and you may send form filings electronically only (§ 72 (6) of the Tax Code). The April deadline is, for a host, dead in practice.

The overview for the ČSSZ and the overview for your health insurer are filed within one month of the expiry of the deadline for the return (§ 15 of Act no. 589/1992 Coll., § 24 of Act no. 592/1992 Coll.). For 2026 that gives, indicatively, 3 May, 3 June and 2 August 2027 — the ČSSZ has not yet published its 2027 calendar, so the dates are derived from the law. The balance of contributions is due within 8 days of filing the overview. From 1 January 2026 the overview for the health insurer is filed electronically only (§ 24 (7) of Act no. 592/1992 Coll.). Anyone in the lump-sum regime files no overviews at all.

What else is worth knowing

• HOW LONG TO KEEP THE DOCUMENTS. It is not six years as with the guest register — tax and accounting documents have their own, longer periods. If you keep tax records, follow the tax assessment period: it is 3 years, it is extended by 1 year if one of the facts under § 148 (2) of the Tax Code occurs in the last twelve months before it ends, and it ends at the latest 10 years after it began (§ 148 (1) and (5) of Act no. 280/2009 Coll.) — so in practice keep the documents for a given year for 10 years. If you keep accounts, 10 years apply to the financial statements and 5 years to accounting documents, books and inventory lists (§ 31 (2) of Act no. 563/1991 Coll.). If you are a VAT payer, tax documents for 10 years from the end of the tax period in which the supply took place (§ 35 (2) of Act no. 235/2004 Coll.). Where several regulations apply to a single document, the longer period prevails (§ 32 (1) of the Act on Accounting). → GDPR and guest data: what you may, what you must and what is forbidden

• DAC7. Platforms report your revenue to the Financial Administration by 31 January for the previous calendar year, i.e. before you file the return (Act no. 164/2013 Coll.). They send your identification, the consideration by quarter, the commissions deducted, the number of bookings, your account number, the property's address and the number of days let. The threshold of 30 transactions or EUR 2,000 that is sometimes mentioned applies only to the sale of goods — for accommodation even a single booking is reported. Declare everything.
• Cash is taxed exactly like a payment through a platform. What always decides is how much the guest paid, not by what route and in what amount the money reached you.
• VAT on commissions. By receiving a commission from Airbnb Ireland or Booking.com B.V. you become an identified person and pay 21 % VAT on the commission; registration within 15 days, the return and payment within 25 days of the end of the month (§ 6h and § 108 of Act no. 235/2004 Coll.). It is a separate duty alongside income tax and no obstacle to the lump-sum tax → Identified person: the VAT on Airbnb and Booking commissions almost nobody knows about
• The turnover limit of CZK 2,000,000 is a third, independent matter. Since 2025 turnover is tracked per calendar year; on crossing it you become a payer from 1 January of the following year, and on crossing CZK 2,536,500 the very next day. Accommodation carries the reduced rate of 12 % → The 2 million limit: when you become a VAT payer and what it does to your prices
• The stay fee. You collect it from guests for the municipality (up to CZK 50 per person per night, in Prague CZK 50 since 1 January 2022) and keep the guest register under § 3g of Act no. 565/1990 Coll. The Financial Administration passes DAC7 data to municipalities too, as fee administrators, so a fee inspection and a tax inspection go hand in hand → Stay fee: every municipality sets it differently — and you are the one collecting it
• Immovable property tax. A flat or house offered for accommodation services serves business purposes even when you happen to have no guest on 1 January — and it is taxed at the rate for other kinds of business, CZK 18.00/m² (§ 11 (1) (h) of Act no. 338/1992 Coll.); for a residential unit the floor area is first multiplied by the adjusted floor area coefficient (1.22, otherwise 1.20 — § 10 (3)), the coefficient for the size of the municipality does not apply to the business rate, and the municipality may set a local coefficient of 0.5 to 5.0 (§ 12). The return is filed by 31 January of the year following the change of use.
• eTurista and a European registration number need not concern you yet. EU Regulation 2024/1028 has indeed applied since 20 May 2026, but the registration procedure is optional for member states and Czechia had not introduced one as of September 2026; the amendment to Act no. 159/1999 Coll. has not been passed and the eTurista portal is in test operation. So a registration number in a listing is not mandatory. Watch the development — the government wants the Financial Administration to have access to the future register too.

The most common mistakes and myths

• „It's letting out my flat, I tax it under § 9 and pay no contributions.“ — Short-term accommodation with services is business. What decides is the nature of the activity, not the fact that you are the owner.
• „Contributions are calculated from half the base.“ — Half applies only to health insurance. Since 2024 social insurance is calculated from 55 % of the tax base, not 50 %.
• „Levies on CZK 600,000 of revenue will be in the low tens of thousands.“ — The contributions alone are CZK 54,744 and with the tax you are at CZK 90,744. Count on roughly 15 % of revenue.
• „I'll declare it by April, I have time.“ — With a data box you file electronically and the May deadline applies. Anyone planning on April and paper is planning badly.
• „An employee can take the lump-sum tax, it's the simplest.“ — They cannot. Being employed at the same time rules out entry into the lump-sum regime (§ 2a (1) (c) of the Income Tax Act), except for income taxed by withholding.
• „I'll tax what actually arrived in my account.“ — Income is the price the guest paid. The platform deducts the commission and the payment services fee from the payout before sending the money; for you they are an expense, not a reduction of income.
• „The platform doesn't report anything anywhere.“ — It does, under DAC7 and by 31 January, the flat's address included.
• Forgotten overviews for the ČSSZ and the health insurer. The return is not the end; the overviews are a separate duty with their own deadline.
• An unticked secondary activity in the ČSSZ overview. It cannot be corrected retrospectively and you will pay as for a main activity.
• Jumping between the flat rate and actual expenses without knowing the transition rules. The tax base for the previous year has to be adjusted for receivables, debts, inventories and reserves (§ 23 (8) (b) of the Income Tax Act), by a supplementary return. Get advice here.

Frequently asked questions

Updated: 5 September 2026, verified against the sources listed above. This is informational text, not legal or tax advice — consult a professional about your specific situation.