You tutor maths, do graphic design for clients abroad, shoot weddings at weekends, or work as a courier between lectures — and then someone says: "Just send me an invoice." The question every student then asks is: do I even need a trade licence (živnostenský list), how much will the state take in social and health insurance and tax, and how do I actually write that first invoice?
The answer depends mostly on how much you earn and how much longer you are studying. As long as you count as a dependent child under 26 in full-time education, your self-employed activity (OSVČ, from osoba samostatně výdělečně činná, the Czech term for a self-employed person) gets special, favourable treatment for social and health insurance. Let's walk through how to get a trade licence, how much you will actually pay in contributions and tax, and how to write an invoice that will hold up with the tax office (finanční úřad).
When occasional income is enough, and when you need a trade licence
If it is a one-off, non-recurring favour — helping with a website once a year, selling a single photo — that counts as occasional income: you do not need a trade licence, and up to 50,000 CZK a year such income is exempt from tax. But once you tutor or take photos regularly, with an expectation of repeat work, that is a continuous activity, and you need a trade licence regardless of how much you earn.
Author royalties are assessed separately — for example selling photographs or texts, where a different taxation method applies. If you are not sure which category your income falls into, talk to a tax advisor; a wrong classification is hard to fix retroactively.
Getting a trade licence as a student
Anyone from the age of 18, meaning anyone with full legal capacity, can register a trade licence. You register a free trade (volná živnost, the broadest and least regulated licence category) through the Single Registration Form (Jednotný registrační formulář, JRF); the administrative fee is 1,000 CZK, and you can file it online through the Trade Licensing Portal (Portál živnostenského podnikání), the Czech government's site for registering and managing a trade licence. You will usually get your business ID number (IČO) within a few working days, and from then on you can invoice.
Right after registering, sign up for social insurance with the Czech Social Security Administration (ČSSZ) — by the 8th day of the month following the month you started — and with your health insurance company within 8 days of starting. Both authorities will want a confirmation of study; without it, they will register your activity as your main activity, with full minimum advance payments.
Automatic secondary-activity status up to age 26
If you count as a dependent child under 26 and are in full-time education — at a secondary school, a follow-up technical course, or university, including the combined or part-time form — your self-employed activity is automatically classed as secondary, regardless of how much you earn. What matters is your student status, not your income.
The moment you turn 26 or finish your studies, secondary status ends and your business becomes your main activity. From then on, the full minimum advance payments described below apply, even if you are just landing your first clients.
Social insurance: when you actually pay it
For a student on secondary activity, you do not pay any social insurance advances at all in the first year. The final premium is only calculated afterwards, in your annual statement of income and expenses, and only if your tax base from self-employment for the year exceeds the decisive threshold of 117,521 CZK (for a full year of secondary activity; if you are self-employed for only part of the year, the threshold is reduced proportionally). Below that threshold, you pay no social insurance at all.
Above it, the premium is calculated at 29.2% of the assessment base, which is 55% of your profit. If you do end up paying advances in later years, the minimum for secondary activity in 2026 is 1,574 CZK a month.
Health insurance: the state pays it for you
For health insurance, students have it even easier. You are classed as a person for whom the state pays the premium, so no minimum assessment base applies to you. From 2026, students who are secondary self-employed persons generally do not have to pay monthly health insurance advances at all any more, even in later years of self-employment. The final premium is only calculated in your annual statement, at 13.5% of the assessment base (50% of your profit), no matter how low a profit you report.
Check the exact conditions for your specific combination of circumstances — for example if you are a student and also work a full-time job — directly with your health insurance company.
Income tax: the basic personal credit, not a "student credit"
The student tax credit was abolished back in 2024 and no longer exists in 2026. What remains is the basic personal tax credit of 30,840 CZK a year, which every taxpayer can claim regardless of age. Thanks to it, a student with a taxable base of up to 205,600 CZK (30,840 divided by 15%) pays no income tax at all.
You must file an income tax return if your income from self-employment exceeds 50,000 CZK a year, or 20,000 CZK if you also have income from employment. The deadline for the 2025 tax return is 1 April 2026 on paper, 4 May 2026 electronically, or 1 July 2026 with a tax advisor; the reports for the ČSSZ and your health insurance company are due within a month of the tax return deadline.
What a student actually keeps: two examples
Most students claim expenses as a flat-rate percentage of income. For a free trade — tutoring, graphic design, small IT jobs, or assistance work — the flat rate is 60%; for income from author's rights without a trade licence, for example licensing texts or photographs, it is 40%; for a craft trade it is 80%. The examples below use the 60% flat rate.
| Example 1 — tutoring | Example 2 — freelance graphic design | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual income | 120,000 CZK | 300,000 CZK |
| Tax base after the 60% flat rate | 48,000 CZK | 120,000 CZK |
| Income tax (15% minus the 30,840 CZK credit) | 0 CZK | 0 CZK |
| Social insurance | 0 CZK (below 117,521 CZK) | 19,272 CZK (29.2% of 55% of the base) |
| Health insurance (13.5% of 50% of the base) | 3,240 CZK | 8,100 CZK |
| Total contributions and tax | 3,240 CZK | 27,372 CZK |
The 117,521 CZK tax-base threshold — roughly 294,000 CZK of income at a 60% flat rate — is the tipping point: below it, you only pay health insurance; above it, social insurance is added on top. Income tax stays at zero in both examples thanks to the basic personal tax credit.
Combining it with a DPP or DPČ side job
Nothing stops you from holding a trade licence and a side job on an agreement to perform work (dohoda o provedení práce, DPP) or an agreement to complete a job (dohoda o pracovní činnosti, DPČ) at the same time. Income from such an agreement is usually taxed at source by your employer through withholding tax. If you want that withheld tax refunded — typically when you have not used up your full personal tax credit during the year — you can file a tax return voluntarily to claim it back.
Does the lump-sum tax make sense for a student?
The lump-sum tax (paušální daň) in the first band works out at 9,162 CZK a month in 2026, roughly 110,000 CZK a year, regardless of how much you actually earn. At the tens-of-thousands to low-hundreds-of-thousands income typical of a student, that usually comes out considerably worse than the standard regime with the personal tax credit and zero social insurance below the decisive threshold. The lump-sum tax makes more sense once income clearly exceeds 300,000 CZK a year and you mainly want to be rid of the paperwork.
After you turn 26 or finish your studies
Once you stop meeting the conditions for secondary activity, the same rules apply to you as to any main-activity self-employed person: a minimum social insurance advance of 5,005 CZK a month and a minimum health insurance advance of 3,306 CZK a month, regardless of whether you already have clients or are just starting out. It is worth planning ahead for this change and building up a reserve. None of this stops your parents from claiming the child tax credit for you, as long as your studies continue until you turn 26.
If you are studying abroad, including on an Erasmus programme, you will need a confirmation of study from the foreign school too. Check with the ČSSZ and your health insurance company directly which specific document they will accept, ideally before you apply for secondary-activity status.
Writing your first invoice
As a student who is not a VAT payer, you do not put VAT or a Czech VAT ID (DIČ) on your invoice. You just need your name, address, business ID number, a sequential invoice number, a description of the service, the amount, the issue and due dates, and the payment method. See our full guide to invoice requirements and a template in Invoice for a Non-VAT Payer in Czech Republic 2026. The general steps for getting started are also covered in How to Get a Trade Licence as a Foreigner and Freelancing in Czech Republic as a Foreigner: 2026 Guide.
Number your invoices in a single sequential series, add a QR payment code to speed up collection, and keep track of when a client actually pays you — under Czech tax records, income only counts once it is received, not once you issue the invoice. Even if lower income keeps you clear of contributions altogether, it is sensible to plan for social insurance kicking in once you cross the decisive threshold, and to set part of your income aside along the way so a lump-sum payment after filing your annual statement does not catch you off guard.
How Taxorio handles this
Taxorio's Free plan is free forever and needs no payment card, so a student with just a few invoices a month can manage without a paid subscription at all. Once you have set up your account, you choose secondary activity in the app under Settings, in your insurance settings; from that point Taxorio no longer assumes you owe the full main-activity minimum advances. The deadline calendar reminds you about your tax return and statements, and the downloadable income-and-expense ledger is available even on the Free plan.
You write an invoice the same way as any other self-employed person: the ARES public business registry fills in your client's details from their business ID number, a QR code speeds up payment, and sending it by email takes one click. You can also get a rough estimate of your tax and contributions with the free self-employed income tax calculator.