What tax depreciation is
Tax depreciation lets you spread the purchase price of long-term assets into tax expenses gradually — hence depreciation: the asset is written off over its useful life, not all at once in the year you buy it. It's governed by §26–§33 ZDP.
Depreciation only applies if you keep actual expenses (tax records or accounting). Under the flat-rate expenses regime, depreciation is already included in the flat rate — you can't claim it on top. If you're on the flat-rate tax regime, you don't file an income tax return at all, so depreciation doesn't concern you — but keep an asset register anyway, in case you ever leave the regime.
What you can depreciate
Tangible assets
You depreciate assets that meet both conditions:
- Acquisition cost over CZK 80,000 (the limit has applied since 2021; it used to be CZK 40,000).
- Operational-technical life of more than 1 year — i.e. it isn't a one-off consumable.
Assets up to CZK 80,000 are an ordinary expense — you claim them in the year you pay for them, with no depreciation.
Intangible assets (software, licences)
Since 1 January 2021, intangible assets (software, licences, goodwill) are no longer tax-depreciated — the entire price goes straight into expenses in the year of purchase, regardless of the amount. Assets acquired by 31 December 2020 keep depreciating under the old §32a (software over 36 months, everything else over 72 months).
Depreciation groups
Every tangible asset belongs to one of six depreciation groups, which sets the minimum depreciation period:
| Group | Period | Typical examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 years | Computers, laptops, mobile phones, printers, tools, cameras |
| 2 | 5 years | Cars and vans, furniture, machine tools, servers, TVs |
| 3 | 10 years | Air conditioning, industrial boilers, lifts, ships, aircraft |
| 4 | 20 years | Wooden and plastic buildings, gas pipelines, utility networks, greenhouses |
| 5 | 30 years | Production buildings and halls, motorways, bridges, tunnels, warehouses |
| 6 | 50 years | Administrative buildings, department stores, hotels, schools |
Straight-line depreciation (§31)
Every year you write off the same percentage of the acquisition cost. Simpler to calculate, spreads evenly.
| Group | Year 1 | Following years |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20% | 40% |
| 2 | 11% | 22.25% |
| 3 | 5.5% | 10.5% |
| 4 | 2.15% | 5.15% |
| 5 | 1.4% | 3.4% |
| 6 | 1.02% | 2.02% |
Accelerated depreciation (§32)
You write off more in the early years and less in the later ones — useful for reducing the tax base quickly. The formula: year 1 = acquisition cost ÷ coefficient; following years = 2 × residual value ÷ (coefficient − number of years already depreciated).
Example: a car costing CZK 500,000 (group 2, coefficients 5/6): year 1 = CZK 100,000, year 2 = CZK 160,000, year 3 = CZK 120,000, year 4 = CZK 80,000, year 5 = CZK 40,000.
Extraordinary depreciation §30a — zero-emission vehicles 2024–2028
Extraordinary depreciation under §30a ZDP has applied since 2024 only to zero-emission vehicles (typically electric cars) acquired between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2028:
- 60% of the acquisition cost in the first 12 months + 40% in the next 12 months = 24 months in total.
- The earlier "covid-era" version of extraordinary depreciation for groups 1 and 2 applied only to assets acquired by the end of 2023.
Conditions: you must be the first person to depreciate it (a new asset, not second-hand). Depreciation starts the month following the purchase. Extraordinary depreciation cannot be interrupted.
Year of purchase and sale
- Year of purchase — you claim the full annual depreciation (both straight-line and accelerated) regardless of the month of purchase. Buy a car in November → the full annual depreciation for that year.
- Year of sale / disposal — for an asset you already had on your books at the start of the year, you can claim half the annual depreciation (§ 26(7) ZDP), not the full amount. This doesn't apply to extraordinary depreciation under § 30a — that runs monthly.
Interrupting depreciation
You can interrupt depreciation in any year (§ 26(8) ZDP) — for example, in a year when the depreciation wouldn't lower your tax anyway. In an interrupted year you don't claim the depreciation, and once the interruption ends you pick up exactly where you left off — no depreciation is lost, the whole schedule just shifts out by those years. You can't interrupt extraordinary depreciation under § 30a.
Watch out with flat-rate expenses: in a year when you claim expenses as a percentage of income, you're not allowed to interrupt depreciation. Depreciation is still tracked for the record in that year — you just don't get it in your tax expenses (it's already included in the flat rate), the depreciation period isn't extended by that year, and nobody gives you that year's depreciation back later. The same applies under the flat-rate tax regime.
Technical improvement
Spending on reconstruction, modernisation or extension of an asset that adds up to more than CZK 80,000 in a year counts as a technical improvement — it increases the asset's acquisition or residual value and gets depreciated together with it. Below CZK 80,000 you can put it straight into expenses as repairs.
VAT and depreciation
A VAT payer depreciates from the acquisition cost excluding VAT — they already deducted the VAT on purchase. A non-VAT payer depreciates from the price including VAT.
Assets over CZK 80,000 in Taxorio
Taxorio does not calculate depreciation or keep asset cards — that's an accounting task, not invoicing and record-keeping. Here's what to do:
- Enter the purchase document like any other expense and don't delete it. A VAT payer deducts the full VAT right away. Don't lower its business-use percentage to get it out of expenses either — a VAT payer would cut the VAT deduction too.
- Correct the expenses in your return. Taxorio counts the document in expenses at its full amount and the Income tax card flags it. In EPO, Annex 1, subtract from line 102 what Taxorio counted for the document (the “Daňový výdaj (Kč)” column in the income and expense ledger) and add the yearly depreciation (for an item also used privately, only the business share). Also enter the depreciation on the line “Uplatněné odpisy z obchodního majetku” (depreciation claimed on business assets) and the residual value in table D, line 1.
- Use the same base in your statements for the social security administration (ČSSZ) and your health insurer — the Insurance card in Taxorio calculates without depreciation.
- In the following years just add the yearly depreciation in EPO.
Asset register: a table is enough — what you bought and when, acquisition cost, group and method, depreciation for each year, residual value, and when and how you disposed of it. At year end, check you still have the assets.
Sale: issue the invoice in Taxorio as ordinary income. In EPO put the residual value into expenses; if you sell the item in a later year than you bought it, you can first claim half of the yearly depreciation.
Flat-rate expenses and the flat-rate tax: you don't adjust anything. Keep the table going, though — depreciation in those years runs on paper only, and once you switch to actual expenses you continue from the residual value.