Which documents to download, which month what belongs to, what exchange rate to use and what to do with a credit note. The identified person's VAT return in one evening.
The previous article explained why you're an identifikovaná osoba (identified person). This one is purely practical: how to put together the return each month so that it adds up. I'm assuming you're registered and have your DIČ (VAT/tax ID) entered on both platforms — so invoices arrive without VAT and with a note about the reverse charge.
Step 1: download the documents for the month
Airbnb issues a commission document for each booking; you'll find them under Taxes / VAT invoices. The “VAT rate” column must show 0.0%. If you see 21.0%, the platform doesn't have your DIČ — fix that first.
Booking.com issues one monthly invoice for commissions (Finance → Invoices). Watch out for one thing: Booking compiles invoices by the guest's departure date, and says so itself on the document. A stay spanning the turn of the month belongs in the invoice and the return for the month of departure, not arrival.
Step 2: add up the tax base
The tax base includes everything the foreign platform invoiced you as a service: the commission and the payment services fee. The latter is often left out on the grounds that it's “a banking matter”. It isn't; it's a service from the platform and belongs in the tax base just like the commission.
You convert invoices in euros at the exchange rate on the day the obligation to declare the tax arises, i.e. the Czech National Bank (ČNB) rate on the date the service was provided, or the rate you use in your accounting. Not the rate Booking shows on the invoice to eight decimal places — that's its internal settlement.
Step 3: credit notes
A canceled booking means a corrective document. On Airbnb, you'll recognize it by the suffix -CN-1 in the document number. A corrective document reduces the tax base and has to be reflected in the return, otherwise you'll declare more than you owe.
Step 4: fill in the return
The standard DPH (Czech VAT) return form, filed electronically via the MOJE daně (My Taxes) portal (DIS+ or EPO) or from your datová schránka (data box, the Czech official e-mail system). As an identified person, you fill in three rows:
| Row | What | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | receipt of a service from a person registered for tax in another member state | tax base and 21% tax |
| 62 | output tax | total tax |
| 64 | tax liability | the same, because you have no deduction |
You don't file a control statement. You don't file a recapitulative statement. You don't claim a deduction.
Step 5: file and pay by the 25th
Both the return and the payment are due within 25 days after the end of the month in which the commission was received. The deadline can't be extended. For months without a commission, no return is filed — a nil return is unnecessary work, not an obligation.
An example for one month
May: 4 bookings via Airbnb with commissions totaling CZK 1,800, one canceled with a credit note of CZK 300, a Booking invoice for commissions of CZK 2,400 and a payment services fee of CZK 180.
| Item | Tax base | 21% tax |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb commission | CZK 1,800 | CZK 378 |
| Airbnb credit note | −CZK 300 | −CZK 63 |
| Booking commission | CZK 2,400 | CZK 504 |
| Booking payment services | CZK 180 | CZK 38 |
| Total (rows 5, 62, 64) | CZK 4,080 | CZK 857 |
You file by 25 June and pay CZK 857.
The most common mistakes I've seen
- A Booking reservation assigned by arrival instead of departure.
- The payment services fee left out.
- Conversion at the rate from the invoice.
- Nil returns “just in case” and control statements “just in case”.
- A forgotten credit note.
In Ubyo, commissions and fees are recorded for every booking, and in Finance (Reverse charge) there's a monthly summary of the tax base by platform; you just upload Booking's monthly commission invoice. Then you simply copy the figures into the return.
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.
