Marketing is one of the few expense categories where Czech income tax law puts almost no ceiling on what you can deduct. If you spend money promoting your business, in most cases the whole amount reduces your tax base. There is one boundary the tax office watches closely, though — the line between advertising and entertainment — and one VAT rule that catches non-payers off guard when they buy ads from Google or Meta. This article covers both, and how to record the rest.
The line that matters: advertising versus entertainment
Act No. 586/1992 Coll., on Income Taxes, in § 25(1)(t) excludes entertainment expenses from deductible expenses — specifically hospitality, refreshments and gifts. Advertising and promotion, on the other hand, are ordinary business expenses under the general rule of § 24(1): incurred to earn, secure and maintain taxable income.
The test is who the spending is aimed at. Advertising addresses potential or existing customers in order to drive sales or brand awareness. Entertainment builds a personal relationship with one particular person — lunch with a client, a bottle of wine at Christmas. In practice the border is thin, and the same object can fall on either side of it.
Example: promotional items carrying your logo (pens, mugs, tote bags) worth up to CZK 500 per piece are deductible as advertising — this is the carve-out written into § 25(1)(t) itself. The same object without your logo is a gift, and gifts are not deductible.
Online advertising: Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn
Spending on PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns on Google Ads, Meta Ads (Facebook, Instagram), LinkedIn Ads or any other platform is fully deductible. It is direct promotional spending with an obvious link to your business.
How to record it: the platform issues an invoice, or charges your card and makes the invoice available for download. Download it at every billing cycle and keep it as a document — a card statement alone is a weak record. In Taxorio these expenses belong in the Marketing and advertising category.
Two situations need care:
- Invoices from abroad (Google, Meta): both platforms invoice Czech advertisers from Ireland, and the place of supply is Czechia. As a VAT payer you self-assess the VAT under the reverse charge mechanism — you declare the supply received on lines 5/6 of the VAT return and claim the same amount back on lines 43/44, so the net effect on what you pay is nil.
- If you are not a VAT payer, this is not a non-event. Receiving a service from a supplier established in another EU member state makes a Czech business an identified person (identifikovaná osoba) under § 6h of the VAT Act. You must register within 15 days and declare the 21 % VAT on the ad spend — with no right to deduct it, so it is a real cost. See our guide to the identified person status, and confirm the timing with an accountant before your first Google or Meta invoice, not after.
- Boosted social media posts are deductible on exactly the same terms as a formal campaign.
Your website: build, hosting, domain
A web presence is the baseline for most trades today, and the costs around it are deductible.
Domain name
The annual domain fee (typically CZK 200–500 for a .cz domain, CZK 300–800 for a .com) is a straightforward expense in the year you pay it. Category: Marketing and advertising.
Hosting
Monthly or annual hosting — shared hosting, a VPS, cloud hosting — is fully deductible. If you pay a year ahead, claim it in the year of payment; tax records (daňová evidence) work on a cash basis, so that is the normal treatment.
Building the site
A one-off invoice from a web studio or a freelance developer for building the site. Worth knowing: the separate tax regime for intangible assets was abolished in 2021 — § 32a of the Income Tax Act was repealed by Act No. 609/2020 Coll. There is therefore no statutory value threshold above which a website has to be written off for tax purposes; tax treatment follows accounting depreciation over the period the asset is actually usable.
For a sole trader on tax records rather than double-entry bookkeeping, that means the invoice is an expense when you pay it, whether the site cost CZK 45,000 or CZK 90,000. If you do keep books and capitalise the site as a long-term intangible asset, the tax deduction follows the accounting write-off instead.
Ongoing maintenance and SEO
Monthly fees for site maintenance, updates, security backups, SEO work or content management are all deductible, month by month, in the Marketing and advertising category.
Design, photography, copywriting, video
Creative services tied to promotion are deductible:
- Graphic design: logo, visual identity, promotional materials, banners for online campaigns
- Photography: product shots, headshots for your site and LinkedIn, event coverage
- Copywriting: website text, ad copy, social media content
- Video: ad spots, product videos, material for YouTube or Instagram Reels
All of these go in the Marketing and advertising category. Make sure the supplier's description of the work makes the promotional purpose visible on the document itself — "creative work" on its own tells an inspector nothing.
Print and promotional items
Business cards, flyers, brochures, banners, roll-ups, branded items — printing promotional material is deductible. Business cards are the textbook case: CZK 1,500 for a run of 200 cards is a full expense under Marketing and advertising.
For promotional items the condition from the opening section applies: the item must carry your logo or business name, and its value must not exceed CZK 500 per piece, otherwise it is a gift rather than advertising (§ 25(1)(t) of the Income Tax Act).
Trade fairs and exhibitions
The registration fee for a trade fair or professional exhibition where you present your products or services is deductible, and so are stand rental and exhibition materials. Travel to the event is deductible too, but as a travel expense, not as marketing — keep the two apart so your category totals stay meaningful.
Social media management
If you hire a social media manager, their monthly invoice is a deductible marketing expense. So are scheduling tools (Buffer, Hootsuite, Later) and design tools (Canva Pro, Adobe Creative Cloud) used for the business.
What you cannot deduct
Despite the relative freedom, some items stay out:
- Lunch or dinner with a client — entertainment, not deductible (§ 25(1)(t))
- Gifts to clients without your logo — a gift, not deductible
- A Christmas party for clients — entertainment
- Tickets to a cultural or sporting event for a client — entertainment, unless it is a genuine promotional or sponsorship arrangement
- Personal social media posts — private content with no business link
Recording it in Taxorio
- File every marketing expense under Marketing and advertising.
- In the description, say what you actually bought — "Google Ads — January 2026", "Photographer — product shots for the shop".
- Attach the document: the supplier's invoice, or the card statement if no invoice exists.
- For invoices from abroad, enter the original currency. Taxorio converts to CZK at the ČNB rate, and the document keeps both figures (see receipts in euros and dollars).
At the end of the year you get the marketing total split by category, which is what you need for the tax return — and, as a side effect, a clear figure for how much you spent on promotion, which you can set against the revenue it brought in. If you want the wider picture of what else is deductible, our overview of deductible expenses for the self-employed covers the other categories.
For VAT payers: on invoices from Google or Meta, declare the VAT on lines 5 or 6 of the VAT return and claim the same amount on lines 43/44. The two cancel out, so the only thing that can go wrong is the form itself.
Taxorio scope: Taxorio provides invoicing and income/expense records for Czech sole traders. It is not full accounting or personalised tax advice. For an unsupported or unusual case, verify the treatment with a Czech accountant or tax adviser before filing.