Start your business

• Licences and permits, rules and regulation schemes (requirements for cross-border provision of services)

Obtaining a business licence

All entrepreneurs (self-employed persons and companies) need a trade licence to carry out their chosen activity.

If you want to get a business licence (trade licence or concession), you must submit an application to the Trade Licence Office (or Czech Point). These offices act as points of contact between businesses and public administration.

• Czech Point – points of contact for the public administration
• Directory of Trade Licence Offices   

Business registration

Within five days, the Trade Licence Office will enter your application in the Trade Register and provide you with confirmation of registration. This document will be appended to your trade licence or concession (concessions without confirmation documents are not valid).

Trade Register – electronic forms

Trade authorisations may still not be considered valid at this stage as you still have to register in the Commercial Register. Once completed, companies and cooperatives become legal persons with all the associated rights and obligations.

• Trade Licence Register 

Registration in the Commercial Register

Proceedings in matters of the Commercial Register are settled by the registration court, which is usually the regional court in the location of the legal person or place of business of a natural person applying for entry in the Commercial Register. In the case of Prague, this would be the Municipal Court in Prague.

In most cases, the applicant must file an application for entry in the Commercial Register. Applying for entry in the Commercial Register requires the payment of a court fee. This fee is CZK 6,000 for first-time registrations, i.e., if you apply as a company not yet entered in the Commercial Register (except for joint-stock companies where the fee is CZK 12,000).

Direct entries in the Commercial Register made by a notary

In addition to the registry court, a notary may also register companies and cooperatives in the Commercial Register. For applicants registering in the public registers, this means simplifying the process of registration in the public registers – unlike a court, a notary does not conduct any proceedings, i.e., the applicant does not risk the application being rejected or refused.

The notary charges the following fees on behalf of the state for registry in a public register:

• CZK 8,000 for first-time entry of joint-stock company in a public register (the register court charges CZK 12,000 for this entry)
• CZK 2,700 for first-time entry of an entity in a public register, except for joint-stock-company or association (the register court charges CZK 6,000 for this entry)
• CZK 1,000 for amendments or additions (the register court charges CZK 2,000 for the amendments)

You will find more detailed information in Entry in Public Register written in Czech.

Applications for entry in the Commercial Register and applications to amend existing registrations may be submitted only via the specified forms.

Registration for tax purposes

Within 15 days of registering the company in the Commercial Register, it is necessary to file an application for payment of corporate income tax. This obligation applies to all companies, regardless of whether the company will have income or not. The registration form must be sent to the competent Tax Office at the location of the company’s registered office via a data box.

Information regarding the registration can be found here:

• Czech Tax Authority

Useful information

The following governmental and non-governmental institutions and websites offer further information and valuable tips:

• Notarial Chamber of the Czech Republic
• Czech public administration website
• Doing Business guide by World Bank
• Doing Business guide by Czech Association of Foreign Investment (AFI)