VAT returns in Czechia 2026: a guide for sole traders

VAT returns in 2026: what a sole trader needs to know

For many sole traders (OSVČ in Czech), DPH — daň z přidané hodnoty, Czech VAT — is the first tax obligation that recurs during the year rather than once at the end of it. The return is filed monthly or quarterly and it rests on a careful record of every taxable supply. This guide walks through the whole process.

Who has to file a VAT return

Every VAT-registered person files. You become registered in one of three ways:

• By obligation. Since 2025 two thresholds are watched over a calendar year. If your turnover passes CZK 2,000,000 in a calendar year, you become registered from 1 January of the following year. If it passes CZK 2,536,500 during the year, you become registered from the day after the threshold was crossed. The registration application has to be filed within 10 working days of crossing the threshold. (The limit was raised from CZK 1 million in 2023.)
• Voluntarily. You may register below the threshold if it suits you — typically when your customers are themselves registered and you have significant VAT on your inputs.
• By operation of law — in other specific cases set out in the VAT Act. Note that acquiring goods from another EU country above the set limit, or receiving a service from a person not established in Czechia, does not make you a VAT payer: a non-VAT payer becomes an identified person (identifikovaná osoba, Sections 6g and 6h of the VAT Act) and remains a non-VAT payer towards domestic customers.

Tax period: monthly or quarterly

The standard tax period is the calendar month. You can move to a quarterly period if:

• your turnover for the previous calendar year did not exceed CZK 10,000,000 (§ 99a of the VAT Act)
• you are not designated an unreliable payer
• you are not part of a VAT group
• you meet the timing conditions in Section 99a of the VAT Act — the switch is not available immediately after registration
• you notify the tax authority by the end of January of the year concerned

Newly registered traders always have a monthly period in their first year.

A quarterly period means less paperwork, but you also reclaim input VAT later. Work out which one your cash flow prefers.

Filing deadlines

The return is due by the 25th day of the month following the end of the tax period. The tax is payable by the same date.

Examples for 2026:

• VAT for January 2026 — filing and payment by 25 February 2026
• VAT for February 2026 — by 25 March 2026
• VAT for Q1 2026 — by 27 April 2026 (25 April is a Saturday, so the deadline moves to the Monday)

Whenever the 25th falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day.

What the return contains: the DPHDP3 form

The VAT return is filed on form DPHDP3, which is divided into sections:

Section	Lines	What is reported
I. Taxable supplies	1–13	output VAT — line 1 (21 % rate), line 2 (12 %), acquisitions of goods and services from the EU
II. Exempt supplies with a right to deduct	20–26	supplies of goods to the EU, exports
III. Supplementary data	30–36	simplified arrangements and corrections
IV. Right to deduct	40–47	input VAT — line 40 (21 %), line 41 (12 %), deductions on imports and EU acquisitions
V. Restricted deduction	50–53	deduction restricted by the coefficient where there are exempt supplies without a right to deduct
VI. Tax calculation	62–66	output VAT minus the deduction — the resulting tax due, or an excess deduction

For your wallet, sections I (how much VAT you hand over) and IV (how much you reclaim) are the ones that matter. The difference, calculated in section VI, is either tax you pay or an excess deduction the state refunds.

How to file: electronic filing only

VAT returns are filed electronically only. Your options:

1. The Portál MOJE daně (formerly EPO) — the tax administration's web application at adisspr.mfcr.cz. You fill the form in online and submit it through a datová schránka (data box, the state electronic mailbox), through the Identita občana scheme (BankID, eObčanka, MojeID) or with an electronic signature.
2. The datová schránka — send an XML file in the prescribed format straight to the data box of your tax office.
3. XML upload — on the MOJE daně portal you can upload a prepared XML file, check the figures and submit.

Taxorio can generate the DPHDP3 XML file from supported Czech invoices and expenses. Before you file, go through the warnings, the period, the DUZP dates and any documents outside the supported range; then upload the XML to MOJE daně. That removes the retyping for the supported data. The feature is part of the PRO plan.

Supplies made and supplies received: what goes where

Supplies made (output VAT)

These are your issued invoices — what you supplied to your customers. For each one you need to get right:

• the tax base
• the VAT rate (21 % or 12 %)
• the amount of VAT
• the type of supply (domestic, to the EU, outside the EU)

Supplies received (the right to deduct)

These are your received invoices and expense documents — purchases you want to reclaim the VAT on. To have the right to deduct you need:

• a valid tax document from the supplier
• the supply to be used for your economic activity
• to claim in time: for entitlements arising from 1 January 2025, the general cut-off is the end of the second calendar year following the year the entitlement arose. A stricter rule applies to a restricted deduction — it must be claimed no later than in the last tax period of the year in which it could first have been claimed. Exceptions and corrections follow their own rules.

Careful records on both sides are therefore not optional. In Taxorio you keep both issued invoices and received expense documents, and the app draws the data it needs for the VAT return from them.

Penalties for filing late or filing wrong

Penalty for a late return

If you file after the deadline and the delay runs beyond 5 working days, the penalty is 0.05 % of the assessed tax for each day of delay (or 0.05 % of the assessed deduction in the case of an excess deduction), capped at 5 % of the assessed tax or CZK 300,000. A penalty that does not exceed CZK 1,000 is not imposed at all (Section 250 of the Tax Code); a fixed CZK 500 applies only to someone who fails to file even after a notice from the tax office. There is more on the consequences in the article on a return filed after the deadline.

Default interest

Paying the tax late carries interest at the ČNB repo rate plus 8 percentage points per year, for every day of delay.

Penalty on additionally assessed tax

If an inspection finds you declared too little, the penalty is 20 % of the additionally assessed tax (or 1 % of the amount by which an excess deduction is reduced).

Do not lean on the deadlines. The five working days of tolerance after the 25th give you a little room if something goes wrong technically, but they are not a plan. File early.

Practical habits that keep VAT quiet

1. Record documents as they arrive — do not leave data entry until the end of the period. Log every invoice, issued and received, as soon as you can.
2. Watch the DUZP — the date of the taxable supply decides the period, not the date of issue. A document with a January DUZP belongs in the January return even if it was issued in February.
3. Keep the return consistent with the VAT control report — the figures in the two have to agree. A mismatch can trigger a notice from the tax authority.
4. Keep the documents — every received tax document. Without it you cannot prove the right to deduct.
5. Follow the tax calendar — Taxorio shows upcoming tax dates so none of them arrives as a surprise.

Excess deduction

If your input VAT (on purchases) exceeds your output VAT (on sales), you are entitled to an excess deduction. The tax office refunds the difference within 30 days of the excess deduction being assessed (Section 105 of the VAT Act) — the clock starts at assessment, not at filing. Be ready for the tax authority to open a procedure to remove doubts and ask for supporting documents before it pays out.

The short version

Three habits save the most trouble with VAT: record documents as they come in rather than at the last minute, watch the DUZP because it decides the period, and keep the return consistent with the control report because a mismatch triggers a notice. After that, the 25th-day deadline and electronic filing are routine. If you file yourself, generating the XML straight from your invoice records removes the retyping — and retyping is where most of the mismatches start.

Official sources

• Section 73 of Act No. 235/2004 Coll., on VAT — the right to deduct
• Section 105 of the VAT Act — refund of an excess deduction
• Czech Financial Administration — value added tax
• Financial Administration — changes to the deadline for claiming a deduction from 2025

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.