Česká verze
General information on social security contributions
See Czech Social Security Administration’s website
Act No. 589/1992, as amended, regulates social security contributions, including the payments for pension insurance and sickness insurance and the contribution to the state employment policy. Social security contributions constitute earnings of the state budget.
The contributions must be paid by all taxpayers who are:
- employers employing at least one employee whose employment establishes their participation in the sickness insurance and the pension insurance
- employees whose employment establishes their participation in the sickness insurance and the pension insurance,
- self-employed persons, if they participate in the pension insurance
- self-employed persons who voluntarily register for the sickness insurance,
- persons who voluntarily register for the pension insurance as defined in Section 6 of Pension Insurance Act No. 155/1995 Coll., as amended.
Assessment base
The contributions are paid based on the taxpayer’s assessment base using the appropriate percentage rate.
The assessment base is ascertained from the decisive period, which is
- the calendar month for which the insurance contribution is paid, as for the employers and employees
- the calendar year for which the insurance is paid, as for the self-employed persons with pension insurance,
- the calendar month, as for the self-employed persons with sickness insurance, as well as for individuals who voluntarily register for the pension insurance
The employee’s assessment base for the contributions is the sum of the earnings which are subject to income tax according to the Income Tax Act (Act No. 589/1992 Coll.) and are not exempted from this tax and which the employer has provided the employee with in association with the employment which establishes said employee’s participation in the sickness insurance.
The employer’s assessment base is the sum of the assessment bases of its employees.
The assessment base of a self-employed person for pension insurance payments and the contribution to the state employment policy is the amount which said individual designates, but which is not less than 50% of said individual’s usual tax base according to the Income Tax Act.
The amount of the assessment base for a self-employed person may not be lower than
- 25% of the average wage (as for the self-employed who have carried out full-time independent gainful activity)
- 10% of the average wage (as for the self-employed who have carried out part-time independent gainful activity)
Levels of the minimum amounts of assessment base for self-employed persons can be found on Czech Social Security Administration’s website
The assessment base for a self-employed person for the payment of sickness insurance is the monthly basis designated by the self-employed person within a given minimum and maximum. The minimum is twice the decisive income of employees determined in accordance with the sickness insurance legislation for participating in the sickness insurance. The monthly basis must not be higher than the monthly average calculated from the self-employed person’s assessment base for pension insurance of the preceding year. At the same time, this amount must not exceed 1/12 of the maximum assessment base.
The assessment base for individuals who have voluntarily registered for pension insurance is the amount they designate, but at least 25% of the average wage.
The maximum assessment base is defined as 48 times the monthly average wage.
Contribution rates
Following contribution rates are set by Act No. 589/1992 Coll., as amended:
- for employers
- 24.8% of the assessment base, from which 2.1% on sickness insurance, 21.5% on pension insurance and 1.2% on state employment policy
- for employees
- 6.5% of the assessment base
- for self-employed
- 29.2% of the assessment base, from which 28% on pension insurance and 1.2% on state employment policy
- 2.1% of the assessment base on sickness insurance for self-employed persons participating in the sickness insurance
- for individuals voluntarily registered for the pension insurance
- 28% of the assessment base
- for foreign employees
- 2.1% of the assessment base
The employer is obliged to pay its own contributions and contributions of its employees for the given calendar month by the 20th day of the following calendar month. The contributions are paid in the Czech currency, and the employer will be considered to have paid the contributions on the day when the payment of the contributions is credited to the appropriate account of the District Social Security Administration.
If the contributions are not paid within the designated deadline, or if it is paid at a lower amount than should have been paid, the payer will be obliged to pay a penalty. The penalty amounts to 0.05% of the outstanding amount for every calendar day in which any of these facts occurred. https://www.cssz.cz/en/social-security-premiums
Healthcare for foreigners
See Health Insurance Office website
Persons with permanent residence in the Czech Republic
By law, every person who is a permanent resident of the Czech Republic, i.e., even foreigners, is compulsorily insured in the Czech Republic unless they are subject to the legislation of another EU/EEA/Switzerland/UK member state under European regulations or subject to the legislation of another Contracting State under an international treaty. Health insurance is established for these persons upon acquiring permanent residence in the Czech Republic and ceases upon the death of the insured person or their declaration of death or the end of permanent residence in the Czech Republic.
Persons without permanent residence in the Czech Republic
a) A foreigner not from the EU/EEA/Switzerland/UK without permanent residence may participate in public health insurance in the Czech Republic according to the law as an employee of an employer who has its registered office or permanent residence in the Czech Republic, or if they meet the criteria set out in European regulations (e.g., dependent family member of a breadwinner insured under the regulation in the Czech public health insurance system), or they are citizens of one of the countries with which the Czech Republic has concluded an international social security treaty that also regulates the area of health insurance (a list of these treaties can be found on the website of the Health Insurance Office (cz).
The health insurance company will issue a green card or a paper certificate for the insured person to replace the card.
Just like in the case of the commencement and termination of employment of other employees, the employer is obliged to notify the health insurance company of the commencement and termination of participation in health insurance of an employee who is a foreigner without a permanent residence.
Non-resident foreigners can take out contractual health insurance for the months they are not covered by public health insurance under their employment.
b) A foreigner from the EU, EEA and Switzerland without permanent residence in the Czech Republic can participate in Czech public health insurance both according to the law governing employment and European regulations (e.g., as a self-employed person carrying out business only in the Czech Republic, dependent family members of a person from the EU who carries out gainful employment in the Czech Republic or receives income replacement benefits, e.g., a pension, in exceptional cases also economically inactive persons who can sufficiently prove their actual residence and centre of interests in the Czech Republic, etc.).
c) In the context of gainful employment, it should be mentioned that under the Czech Republic’s agreements with the USA, Japan, Turkey, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Tunisia and Syria, an insured person employed or doing business in the Czech Republic becomes a participant in the Czech health insurance system (and vice versa). This also means they must opt out of health insurance in their country of origin. A similar procedure applies in the case of the association agreement with the Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) – if a person from these countries is employed in an EU member state (including the Czech Republic), they are covered by the health insurance system of that EU country (and vice versa). A similar principle is established by the international treaty between the Czech Republic and Israel, which applies only to citizens (not all insured persons) of the Czech Republic and Israel. Please note that these procedures do not apply to tourist stays, including study stays.
With regard to children born in the Czech Republic to foreign women with long-term residence permits, the birth of the child is required by law to be reported by the child’s legal representative, guardian or custodian within eight days of the date of birth to the health insurance company with which the child’s mother is insured on the date of the child’s birth. If the child’s mother is not insured in the Czech Republic, she reports the child’s birth to the health insurance company with which the child’s father is insured on the day of the child’s birth. If the parents are not insured in the Czech Republic, they must notify the General Health Insurance Company of the Czech Republic of the birth of the child.
The insurance payments for these newborn children are paid by the legal representative, guardian or custodian to the relevant health insurance company account in a single lump sum for the entire reference period.
The payments are payable from the first to last day of the reference period. The assessment base is twice the minimum wage for the relevant period.
List of the health insurance companies and their websites:
Všeobecná zdravotní pojišťovna ČR
www.vzp.cz
Zdravotní pojišťovna Ministerstva vnitra ČR
www.zpmvcr.cz
Oborová zdravotní pojišťovna
www.ozp.cz
Česká průmyslová zdravotní pojišťovna
www.cpzp.cz
Vojenská zdravotní pojišťovna ČR
www.vozp.cz
Revírní bratrská pokladna, zdravotní pojišťovna
www.rbp-zp.cz
Zaměstnanecká pojišťovna Škoda
www.zpskoda.cz