The most expensive mistake in the field fits into a single section of the law. Anyone who taxes Airbnb as a lease is taxing it wrongly — and often paying more. Three ways to tax it correctly, with figures for 2026.
Short-term accommodation is income from self-employment under Section 7 of the Czech Income Tax Act, not rental income under Section 9. It's not a formality. If you tax it under Section 9, the tax administration will reclassify the income under Section 7 during an audit, assess the tax three years back with a 20% penalty and interest, and the ČSSZ (Czech Social Security Administration) and the health insurance company will each collect their contributions separately. Three institutions, three back payments, one mistake.
The good news: under Section 7 you have three ways to be taxed, and one of them is almost always simple.
Option 1: 60% flat-rate expenses
The most common and, for most people, the most advantageous. You deduct 60% of your income as expenses without having to document them, up to a maximum of CZK 1,200,000 — so you get the full effect up to an income of CZK 2,000,000. On the remaining 40%, you pay 15% tax (23% above CZK 1,762,812) and insurance contributions.
Watch out: without a trade license, the flat rate drops to 40%. And a lease under Section 9 has only 30%. Paradoxically, then, the correct classification under Section 7 with a trade license means you're taxed less than with the wrong classification under Section 9.
Option 2: actual expenses
This pays off when your costs are higher than 60% of your income — typically with a sublet apartment, where you pay rent to the owner. You keep records of income and expenses and document them with invoices. Be careful with depreciating the apartment: to depreciate it, you have to put it into your business assets, and by doing so you lose the exemption on income from its future sale for up to ten years after it's taken out. For an apartment worth millions, that's considerably more expensive than the savings on depreciation.
Option 3: the flat-rate tax
One monthly payment that includes the tax and both insurance contributions, no tax return and no annual statements. For 2026, it's CZK 9,162 a month in band I, which accommodation services fall into for income up to CZK 1,500,000. You enter it by notification by 10 January (for 2027 by 11 January 2027) or when starting the activity.
The condition most people trip over: an employee can't enter the flat-rate tax regime. If you have an apartment on Airbnb alongside a job — the typical reader of this article — you're out of luck. You also mustn't be a DPH (Czech VAT) payer, and you can't claim tax credits for children or a spouse, or deduct mortgage interest. On the other hand, registering as an identifikovaná osoba (identified person) for VAT on commissions doesn't prevent you from entering.
Insurance contributions: main or side activity
This is where tens of thousands a year are decided. Contributions are 22.81% of the assessment base (half of the profit, which applies only to health insurance). With a main activity, however, you pay minimums: social and health insurance combined of at least CZK 99,718 a year, even if your profit is lower. With a side activity (you're employed, a student, a pensioner, on parental leave), no minimum applies and contributions are calculated only on your actual profit.
The practical consequence: an apartment alongside a job with 60% flat-rate expenses means paying roughly 15% of revenue in total. The same apartment as a main activity with low revenue can mean more in insurance contributions than in tax. You have to tick side activity in your annual statement for the ČSSZ — it can't be corrected retroactively.
If you started the activity after 31 December 2024 and hadn't been self-employed in the previous 5 years, you don't pay pension insurance advances for the first two years; you pay the contributions after the end of the year based on the annual statement.
What counts as income
The price paid by the guest, not the amount after the commission is deducted. Under DAC7, platforms report the consideration and the deducted commissions separately to the tax administration, so the difference is immediately visible from their data. The commission is an expense — with flat-rate expenses it's included; with actual expenses you document it with the platform's invoices.
Deadlines for 2026
- Tax return: electronically by 3 May 2027 (if you have a datová schránka (data box, the Czech official e-mail system), by law it can only be filed electronically), with a tax advisor by 1 July 2027.
- Annual statements for the ČSSZ and the health insurance company: within a month of the tax return. It doesn't end with the tax return — forgotten annual statements are the most common mistake in the first year.
- Property tax: partial return by 31 January; an apartment used for accommodation has a rate of CZK 18/m².
Example: an apartment alongside a job, revenue CZK 600,000
| CZK | |
|---|---|
| Income | 600,000 |
| Flat-rate expenses 60% | −360,000 |
| Tax base | 240,000 |
| Tax 15% (the basic taxpayer credit is already claimed through the employer) | 36,000 |
| Insurance contributions (side activity, on actual profit) | roughly 55,000 |
| Total | roughly 91,000 |
Altogether, roughly 15% of revenue. As a main activity, the insurance contributions would be at least CZK 99,718.
In Ubyo, you have revenue by month and platform, including commissions, in Analytics, so the basis for a tax return with flat-rate expenses is ready in a few minutes.
Marco, founder of Ubyo — He has been running apartments in Prague for over seven years and wrote Ubyo because he didn’t want to do any of this by hand.
For information only, not legal or tax advice — always discuss your specific situation with a professional. This article is a translation of the Czech original.
