Taxes in Czechia for Ukrainians

This page is for people who work in Czechia, run a business here or have income in Ukraine. It covers the rules for the 2025 and 2026 tax years; how to file a tax return is explained on a separate page.

# How can a self-employed person get back overpaid contributions for 2026?

If you are self-employed (osoba samostatně výdělečně činná, OSVČ) and paid the minimum social security advances in January–June 2026, you can get the overpayment back in two ways: faster, with a written application by 31 December 2026, or in the annual statement for 2026.

Act 90/2026 Sb. (Sb. stands for Sbírka zákonů, the official Collection of Laws of the Czech Republic) was passed on 26 May 2026 and has been in force since 1 July 2026. It lowered the minimum assessment base for social security contributions from main self-employment from 40% to 35% of the average wage. The law keeps the advances for January–June at the old amount, and the new minimum base applies to the annual calculation for the whole of 2026:

You can get the difference for January–June in these ways:

• Application by 31 December 2026. The territorial social security office refunds the difference for January–June within 2 months of the application. The application must be in writing. By our calculation, if you paid the minimum, this is 4,290 Kč (6 × 715 Kč).
• Without an application. The overpayment is taken into account in the annual statement (přehled) for 2026, which you file in 2027.
• If you underpaid. If for January–June you paid at least the new minimum but less than the old one, the debt up to the difference, together with the penalty, was written off as of 1 July 2026.

For people who pay the flat-rate tax in the first band, the reduction happened automatically: from 1 July 2026 the monthly payment went down from 9,984 Kč to 9,162 Kč, retroactively from 1 January. The overpayment of 4,932 Kč can be used to reduce the payment due on 20 July 2026 or any later one.

Materials that give 5,720 Kč or 9,984 Kč as the amounts for the whole of 2026 are out of date. The table of minimum assessment bases on the website of the Czech Social Security Administration (ČSSZ) still shows the old annual amount of 235,044 Kč; the current figures are on the ČSSZ pages about the change in minimum advances in 2026.

# Who is a Czech tax resident?

A resident is someone who has a home in Czechia where they intend to live permanently (bydliště), or who stays here for at least 183 days in a calendar year. The days can be in a row or in parts, and every started day counts. A resident pays tax on income from all over the world, a non-resident only on Czech income. Someone who stays in Czechia only to study or for medical treatment remains a non-resident even after 183 days.

A registered address does not decide residency: the Financial Administration writes that a permanent home can also be a rented room without registration. We did not find an official explanation specifically about temporary protection. For tax reliefs, according to an explanation by the Financial Administration, what counts is tax residency, not the residence permit. In 2022 the Financial Administration wrote that most people who came from Ukraine because of the war would remain tax residents of Ukraine, but each case is assessed separately, and employees declare their resident status themselves.

If you could be considered a resident of both countries, Article 4 of the agreement between Czechia and Ukraine decides. The criteria are checked in order: a permanent home, the center of vital interests, the habitual place of stay, citizenship and, if that does not help either, a mutual agreement between the tax authorities. A Czech resident can ask the tax office for a certificate of tax residence.

# What rates and tax credits apply?

The income tax rate is 15%; on the part of the annual base above 36 average wages it is 23%.

Both residents and non-residents get the basic tax credit without restrictions. A non-resident can get other tax credits, the child tax benefit and deductions only if they are a resident of the EU or the European Economic Area and at least 90% of their income comes from Czechia. So a Ukrainian tax resident in Czechia has only the basic tax credit. The exception is donations: Act 128/2022 Sb. allows Ukrainian tax residents to deduct donations made in 2022–2026 from the tax base, and a donation to Ukraine through its embassy in Czechia can be taken into account even in the annual tax settlement by the employer.

The child tax benefit for a resident is 15,204 Kč a year for the first child, 22,320 Kč for the second and 27,840 Kč for the third and each further child. The child must live with you in the same household in the EU or the European Economic Area; there is no benefit for a child who lives in Ukraine. The tax credit for students has not existed since 2024, although the Financial Administration’s page for Ukrainians still mentions it.

# How is salary taxed?

Every month the employer withholds a tax advance, as well as 7.1% for social security and a third of the health insurance contribution (the contribution is 13.5%).

To get the basic tax credit every month, sign the taxpayer’s declaration (prohlášení poplatníka, form 25 5457) with your employer within 30 days of starting work, and after that every year by 15 February. You can sign it with only one employer at a time, on paper or electronically.

Without the declaration, small agreements for work outside an employment relationship are taxed with a final withholding tax of 15%. In 2026 these are agreements to complete a job (DPP) up to 11,999 Kč a month and agreements to perform work (DPČ) up to 4,499 Kč a month. For Ukrainian citizens who are not Czech residents, this income is not included in the tax return. From 1 January 2027 the withholding becomes an advance, and only residents of Czechia, the EU and the European Economic Area will be able to credit it in the tax return; residents of Ukraine are not on that list.

If you are a Ukrainian tax resident and work remotely from Czechia for a Ukrainian employer, the income is taxed only in Ukraine if three conditions are met: you work in Czechia for no more than 183 days in any 12 months, the employer is not Czech, and the employer does not end up with a permanent establishment in Czechia. Otherwise the income is taxed in Czechia from your first day of work here.

# How is self-employment taxed?

To register a trade business (živnost), a foreigner who needs a permit to stay must show a long-term visa for more than 90 days or a long-term residence permit. Holders of special long-term residence meet this condition. For the purposes of the Act on the Residence of Foreigners, the law treats a holder of temporary protection as a holder of a long-term visa, but we did not find an official explanation of whether this is enough to register a business.

Expenses can be counted as actual costs or as a fixed percentage of income:

The flat-rate tax (paušální daň) combines the tax and the social security and health insurance contributions into one monthly payment. It can be chosen by a self-employed person who is not a VAT payer, is not in bankruptcy, has no income from employment (except income taxed with a final withholding tax) and whose income last year was within the band limit. You must give notice of joining by the 10th day of the year; for 2026 the Financial Administration gave 12 January as the date. The payment is due by the 20th of each month.

Outside the flat-rate regime, a self-employed person pays:

• social security contributions of 29.2% of 55% of the profit. The minimum advance for the main activity from July 2026 is 5,005 Kč a month, and for a secondary activity 1,574 Kč. In the year the main activity starts and the following 2 years, the minimum is 3,575 Kč if the person has not been self-employed in the previous 20 years. The advance is paid within the month it is for. Someone who started the activity after 31 December 2024 and has not been self-employed in the previous 5 years pays no social security advances in the year of starting and the following year, if they are not in the flat-rate regime; ČSSZ reminds you that the contributions for those years are still paid after the annual statement. For a secondary activity, the participation threshold in 2026 is 117,521 Kč of tax base, minus 9,794 Kč for each month without activity;
• health insurance contributions of 13.5% of 50% of the profit. The minimum advance in 2026 is 3,306 Kč, due by the 8th of the following month.

The annual statements for ČSSZ and the health insurance company are filed within a month after the tax return deadline, even if there was a loss or zero income. People in the flat-rate regime whose tax equals the flat-rate amount do not file these statements.

VAT. You become a VAT payer from 1 January of the following year if your turnover in Czechia for a calendar year exceeded 2,000,000 Kč, and from the following day if it exceeded 2,536,500 Kč. The rates are 21% and 12%. A VAT payer cannot be in the flat-rate regime.

# How do you avoid paying tax twice?

An agreement on the avoidance of double taxation applies between Czechia and Ukraine. It was signed in Kyiv on 30 June 1997 and has been in force since 20 April 1999, together with a 2013 protocol that applies from 1 January 2016. A Czech resident includes foreign income in the Czech tax return (Annex No. 3) and credits the tax paid in Ukraine: the Czech tax is reduced by the amount of the Ukrainian tax, but by no more than the part of the Czech tax that falls on that income. You prove that you paid tax in Ukraine with a certificate from the Ukrainian tax service.

A salary for work in Ukraine is exempt from Czech tax if it was taxed there and if the employer is a Ukrainian tax resident or the salary is borne by the employer’s permanent establishment in Ukraine. The rest of your income is then taxed at the rate determined from a base that includes the exempt salary (exemption with progression). If it is better for you, you can use the credit method; otherwise you cannot choose the method.

If some of your income is foreign, the tax office can, at your request, extend the tax return deadline to 10 months after the end of the year. Foreign currency is converted at the daily exchange rate of the Czech National Bank or at the single annual rate set by the Financial Administration.

If you kept your Ukrainian sole trader business (FOP) after moving, read a separate article.

# What other taxes might you come across?

• Real estate tax is paid by the owner; a tenant does not pay it. A tax return is filed by 31 January, and only if something has changed (in 2026 the deadline was moved to 2 February because of the weekend). The tax is paid by 31 May, and if it exceeds 5,000 Kč, in two installments by 31 May and 30 November. The municipality can set a local coefficient from 0.5 to 5.0; without one, 1.0 applies.
• VAT in prices: the standard rate is 21%, the reduced rate 12%.

Where there is no official explanation, we say so directly, and we mark our own calculations and conclusions from the text of the law with the words “by our calculation” or “in our reading”.

# What mistakes should you avoid?

• Expecting the overpaid contributions for January–June 2026 back right away: without an application by 31 December 2026, they are only settled in the annual statement for 2026.
• Taking 5,720 Kč or 9,984 Kč as the current amounts for the whole of 2026.
• Counting on the child tax benefit for a child who lives in Ukraine.
• Thinking that temporary protection by itself makes you a resident or a non-resident: your home and the number of days decide.
• Forgetting about income from Ukraine once you become a Czech resident.