Accounting for freelancers and companies in the Czech Republic

Quick answer

The Czech tax administration (ADIS) publishes, for every DIČ, whether the holder is currently registered, whether they are flagged as an unreliable VAT payer, and which bank accounts they have published for receiving payment. Paying an unreliable payer — or paying any VAT payer into an account they have not published — makes the payer jointly liable (ručení za daň, § 109 of the VAT Act) for the VAT that supplier fails to remit on that transaction. There is no minimum invoice amount; it applies from the very first crown. Podnikio checks both conditions automatically for you.

Main takeaways

Why it matters

§ 109 of the Czech VAT Act makes the recipient of a taxable supply liable for VAT the supplier does not pay, if the recipient knew or should have known, at the time of payment, that:

• the supplier had been published as an unreliable VAT payer, or
• the payment was made to a bank account that is not published for that supplier in the VAT payer register.

Either is enough on its own — reliability and account publication are two separate checks, not one. Because the register is public and the tax office treats it as something any reasonable business would have consulted, "I did not check" is not a defence. Checking it, and being able to show when you checked, is what establishes that you acted with reasonable care.

This liability attaches to the payer. As the party issuing the invoice, it is your status and your account being scrutinised by whoever is about to pay you — which is exactly why it is worth confirming before you send the invoice, not after a client's accountant flags it and delays the payment.

What counts as "unreliable"

ADIS distinguishes a few statuses that are easy to conflate:

• A reliable VAT payer — the ordinary case.
• An unreliable VAT payer (nespolehlivý plátce) — flagged after a serious breach of their VAT obligations. Some grounds require a repeated pattern (for example, missing filings twice within a year); others, like a single unpaid VAT assessment over CZK 500,000, are enough on their own. This is the status that triggers § 109 liability.
• An unreliable person (nespolehlivá osoba, § 106aa) — someone who is not currently a VAT payer at all, flagged for the same kind of serious breaches, and often carried over from before their VAT registration lapsed — the category exists specifically so deregistering doesn't wash the flag away, and re-registering brings it straight back as an unreliable payer. It does not carry the same § 109 joint-liability consequence, since a non-payer isn't charging you VAT in the first place; it is still a real red flag about who you're dealing with, and Podnikio surfaces it with its own wording.
• An identified person (identifikovaná osoba) — registered only for cross-border reverse charge, never a full domestic VAT payer. Not the same risk profile as either of the above.
• Not found — no DIČ registration exists at all.

How Podnikio checks it for you

Podnikio queries ADIS's own web service directly, in real time:

• Your reliability status is checked automatically, using the VAT number on your company profile — active and reliable, or flagged, shown plainly.
• Your invoice's bank account is checked against your own published accounts, as soon as you set a bank-transfer payment method with an IBAN — matched against both the standard Czech account format and the alternative "non-standard" format ADIS also publishes.
• You get a warning immediately if either check comes back unfavourable.
• Your supplier's and client's own status is checked too.

No manual visits to the tax portal, no remembering to re-check before a big invoice — Podnikio runs the same lookup ADIS itself would answer, automatically.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a grace period, like Poland's ZAW-NR?

Not the same mechanism. Czech law does not offer an equivalent "notify within a deadline and you are off the hook" filing. It does offer a different opt-out: under § 109a, you can pay the VAT portion of the invoice directly to the supplier's tax administrator (and only the net amount to the supplier), which takes that payment out of § 109 liability entirely — but that has to be arranged with the supplier per payment, not filed after the fact. The practical protection for everything else is checking before you pay — the point of § 109 is that the payer had the means to know and acted anyway (or without checking).

Does this apply to invoices to consumers?

No — it is a B2B rule between VAT payers. A private individual paying an invoice is not exposed to joint liability for the supplier's VAT.

My client is an identified person, not a full VAT payer. Does the unreliable-payer check still matter?

An identified person cannot be flagged as an unreliable VAT payer in the first place — that status only applies to full VAT payers. Podnikio's check recognizes an identified person as exactly that internally, rather than lumping them in with "not registered" — so you won't get a false inactive-VAT-number warning about a client who is legitimately registered, just in a limited capacity.

Does this replace VIES?

No. This is Czechia's domestic register; VIES is the EU's cross-border one, and it does not know about domestic reliability status or published Czech bank accounts at all. Podnikio runs whichever check actually applies — domestic reliability and account publication for a Czech client, VIES for a cross-border one.

Contact us

If you are unsure how the unreliable-payer register or the joint-liability rule applies to a specific payment, feel free to reach out. We offer a free initial consultation.

Quick answer

An electronic invoice is simply the digital form of a paper invoice. It has the same legal validity and the same mandatory contents. It can be a plain PDF, a PDF with an embedded ISDOC data layer, an ISDOC file, or a web invoice sent as a link. To issue and process one you need a computer or phone and an invoicing tool. Electronic invoicing is not yet mandatory in the Czech Republic. Under the EU's ViDA reform, structured e-invoicing plus digital reporting becomes mandatory for cross-border B2B trade between EU countries from July 2030; purely domestic invoicing stays each country's own decision, with wider alignment expected by 2035.

Main takeaways

Who this applies to

OSVČ and s.r.o. invoicing under Czech law. The mandatory-contents rules referenced here are covered in full in what a Czech invoice must contain.

What is an electronic invoice?

An electronic invoice (also e-faktura or online faktura) is a digital record that a transaction took place. It carries the same validity and the same mandatory contents as a paper invoice. For a non-VAT payer it serves as an accounting document; for a VAT payer, as a tax document.

What format does an electronic invoice have?

The basic version is an ordinary PDF generated from a tool, a spreadsheet, or a word processor and sent by email. Most of the practical benefit, though, comes from formats that support automated processing:

• ISDOC.PDF — looks like a normal PDF but embeds an ISDOC data layer, so it is readable by a person and by systems that process invoices automatically.
• ISDOC — the standardised Czech format for electronic invoicing. Accounting and invoicing programs read the data straight in, with nothing to re-type.
• Web invoice — an invoice available at a link you send by email or messenger. The customer opens it in any browser, pays via the QR code, and you get better visibility of delivery and status.

What are the advantages?

The benefits are both environmental and economic. Beyond saving on a printer, toner, paper, and postage, you get back several hours a month:

1. Staying current — good tools track legislative changes for you.
2. Archiving — issued invoices sit in the cloud; they do not fade or burn.
3. Automation — recurring invoices, payment matching, reminders, thank-you messages.
4. Availability — issue, send, and record an invoice from a phone anywhere.
5. Export into accounting software without re-keying, which cuts errors.
6. Overview — at a glance you see what you have invoiced, what is paid, and what is overdue.
7. Speed — issuing, searching, and bulk actions are far faster than paper.

What can be automated with e-invoices

• Recurring invoicing — fill in a subscription or retainer invoice once; it is then adjusted for each period and sent automatically.
• Payment matching — connect your bank account and incoming and outgoing payments are matched to invoices, which are marked paid; invoices near or past their due date are flagged.
• Thank-you notes, payment reminders, and dunning — well-timed messages sent for you, with editable text.

What must an electronic invoice contain?

Exactly the same as a paper invoice. As a minimum, every invoice needs your IČO (and DIČ if you are a VAT payer), your name or business name, your registered seat or place of business, and the mandatory register sentence. If you keep accounting, add the document label, the customer's details, the line items with units and quantities, unit price, issue date, transaction date (DUZP for VAT payers), and the amount payable (VAT payers also show the tax base, rate, and VAT in CZK). The full breakdown is in what a Czech invoice must contain.

For tax documents you must additionally guarantee, for the whole archiving period:

• Authenticity of origin — that the document really was issued by the party named on it
• Integrity of content — that the mandatory data has not changed since issue
• Legibility — that it stays readable

You achieve this with sensible processes — for instance, being able to tie an invoice to an order, a contract, a delivery note, a handover protocol, or a bank payment.

Key laws

• Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012) — § 435(1)
• Act on Accounting (Act No. 563/1991) — § 11
• VAT Act (Act No. 235/2004) — § 29

How to start with electronic invoicing

The ideal moment is right at the start of your business or at the start of a calendar year, so you are not migrating part-year invoices into a new tool.

You need only two things: a computer or phone, and an invoicing tool.

Our free Czech invoice generator covers the first step with nothing to install and no account — fill in the details, watch the live preview, and download a clean, professional PDF. Your trade-register sentence goes in the registration note field and prints as a footer on every invoice.

A free Podnikio account adds the automation an e-invoice is really for: your issuer details and logo saved once, a reusable client list and saved payment methods, a searchable history of every invoice, recurring invoices that generate and send themselves on a schedule, and — once ready — a business bank account that matches incoming payments to invoices automatically, plus an accountant who handles the VAT and income-tax filings.

Frequently asked questions

Is electronic invoicing mandatory?

Not yet — no Czech law currently requires digital documents. Under the EU's ViDA reform, adopted in March 2025, structured electronic invoicing and near-real-time digital reporting become mandatory for cross-border B2B supplies between EU member states from 1 July 2030; national systems are expected to align by 2035, but domestic-only invoicing stays each country's choice. Individual countries move faster on their own territory — Slovakia, for example, makes e-invoicing mandatory for domestic B2B transactions from 1 January 2027.

What are the archiving rules for electronic invoices?

The same as for paper. Non-VAT payers keep accounting documents for 5 years. VAT payers issue tax documents and keep them for 10 years from the end of the tax period in which the taxable supply occurred.

Does an electronic invoice need an electronic signature?

No. A signature is not required on a paper invoice either. For tax documents you must ensure authenticity of origin, integrity of content, and legibility — an electronic signature is one way to do that, but most OSVČ rely on more accessible methods that link the invoice to a real transaction (an email order, a contract, a bank payment). You need an electronic signature only when a business partner, internal company rules, or a specific document-exchange method explicitly requires one.

Contact us

If you want help moving your invoicing fully online, or a check that your setup meets the Czech requirements, reach out. We offer a free initial consultation.

Quick answer

An invoice is a record that a transaction took place. In the Czech Republic you must issue one when a customer asks you for a proof of purchase (a business customer always will), when you are a VAT payer or identified person supplying goods or services (within 15 days), when you supply to the EU, when you take an advance payment as a VAT payer, or when a contract says so. You can issue it by hand, but in practice you use an online tool: fill in your details, the client, and the line items, then download the PDF or send a web invoice.

Main takeaways

Who this applies to

OSVČ and s.r.o. invoicing under Czech law. The article assumes an ordinary supply to a Czech customer — cross-border supplies have extra rules covered in invoicing services to the EU and invoicing customers abroad.

What is an invoice?

Put simply, an invoice is a document that records that a trade happened. The seller (supplier) issues it to the buyer (customer). Depending on whether you are a VAT payer, it serves as an accounting document or a tax document.

Why do I have to issue invoices?

From the state's point of view your invoices are either an accounting document (if you are not a VAT payer) or a tax document (if you are). They matter mainly for bookkeeping and calculating tax — and you will need to produce them in a tax audit, so keep them for at least five years.

When must I issue an invoice?

It depends on whether you are a VAT payer. The obligation does not always come straight from a statute — often it is practical or contractual:

1. You are not a VAT payer but need an accounting record of the transaction — typically for income tax or your books.
2. You are a VAT payer (or an identified person) supplying goods or a service. Issue the invoice within 15 days of the taxable supply or of receiving payment, whichever comes first.
3. You supply goods or services to the EU. Also 15 days — but here the clock runs from the end of the calendar month of the supply (§ 28(9) of the VAT Act), so you have until the 15th of the following month, for goods dispatched to another member state or services under the reverse-charge rule.
4. You receive a payment in advance as a VAT payer. You must issue a tax document for the advance received.
5. A customer asks for a proof of purchase. On the customer's request you must hand over a document for the goods or service showing the date, the type, and the price — § 31 of the Trade Licensing Act. A full invoice covers this; a VAT payer may instead issue a simplified tax document for supplies up to CZK 10,000. Business customers always ask, since they need it for their books.
6. You agreed to. If a contract or agreement says you will issue an invoice, that is binding — VAT payer or not.

What must be on the invoice?

Czech law requires a range of items, some of which differ depending on whether you are a VAT payer: typically your IČO and name, identification of your customer, a description of the work or goods, and so on. The full list — for non-VAT payers and VAT payers, plus the register sentence, due date, and VAT rounding — is in what a Czech invoice must contain.

What is an IČO?

The IČO (identifikační číslo osoby — company ID) is an eight-digit number that uniquely identifies you as a business, the way a birth number identifies a citizen. Almost every invoice shows one — yours, your customer's, or both. If you do not have one yet, you get it as part of registering your trade licence (živnostenský list).

Can I issue an invoice without an IČO?

It depends. No IČO means you are not an entrepreneur. You can still issue an invoice — for example when a business customer asks for one — but only if you meet the conditions for occasional income (příležitostný příjem): genuinely one-off, with no intention to repeat the activity. Systematic activity for profit under your own name is business, and then you need an IČO (which also goes on the invoice).

How to create invoices online (step by step)

You can fill an invoice in by hand, but a tool does it in a few clicks and keeps the mandatory fields right.

1. Open the free Czech invoice generator. No sign-up, no account, nothing stored.
2. Fill in your details, your client, and the line items. Set your VAT status — registered, simplified regime, or not registered — and, for a cross-border B2B supply within EU, set the client's country to their EU member state so the correct note is added and VAT is set to zero. Add a logo and a note if you want.
3. Check the live preview and download the PDF.

Non-VAT payer — what to put on it

Your business name or name, your registered seat or place of business, and your IČO. Sole traders add the sentence "Fyzická osoba zapsaná v živnostenském rejstříku"; companies add the fuller Commercial Register reference (court, section, insert). We also recommend adding the optional due date.

VAT payer — what to add

On top of the non-payer details, § 29 of the VAT Act requires the customer's DIČ (if they are a payer), a sequential tax document number (e.g. 2026-1234), the DUZP if it differs from the issue date, the tax base, the VAT rate (or a reference to the exemption), and the VAT amount in CZK.

Doing this repeatedly

If you invoice more than a handful of times a month, a free Podnikio account removes the repetition: your issuer details and logo saved once, a reusable client list and saved payment methods, a searchable history of every invoice, recurring invoices that generate and send themselves on a schedule, and — once ready — a business bank account that matches incoming payments to invoices automatically, plus an accountant who handles the filings.

Frequently asked questions

How do I issue an invoice for free?

Use the free invoice generator — no account, and nothing you type is stored.

How do I issue an invoice online?

Enter your details and the client's, add the line items, and download the PDF or send a web invoice link. It takes about a minute.

How do I choose invoicing software?

Focus on three things: ease of use (it should save you time, and the invoices should look good), the features you will actually use (reminders, payment matching, accounting export, foreign currencies, income and expense tracking), and trust (who uses it, what other freelancers and accountants say, how good the support is).

How is an advance or proforma invoice issued?

An advance (zálohová) or proforma invoice is issued to collect payment up front and must be labelled as such. Neither is a tax document. See proforma vs advance invoice.

How is an invoice to another country issued?

See invoicing services to the EU and invoicing customers abroad.

How far back can an invoice be issued?

A VAT payer should issue within 15 days of the taxable supply or of receiving payment, whichever is earlier. A non-VAT payer has no fixed statutory deadline, but the supply date must be correct and the invoice must fall in the right period for income tax.

Contact us

If you have a specific question about issuing invoices in the Czech Republic, feel free to reach out. We offer a free initial consultation.