3 Accounting methods for a Trade License

The Real Expense method, the 60/40 method and Paušální Daň.

Up to 2020, the Trade License income could be filed in 2 ways: either using the Real Expenses method, or by using the so-called 60/40 method. New is the Paušální Daň (Flat Tax) method.


The Real Expenses method

is simply put your real Revenue minus your real Expenses. What is left is the Tax Base that you will pay Income Tax, Social Charges and Public Health Contributions on. Most modern professions (programmers, IT services, consultants) actually have little to no expenses, reason why the 60/40 method is a much better choice.

Downsides of the Real Expense method:
  • You need to track or do bookkeeping for expenses,
  • Monthly or quarterly accounting almost unavoidable (instead of bringing a banana box of receipts at the end of the year),
  • Best suitable for professions with a small profit margin.


The 60/40 method

is almost always used for business with little expenses. You can claim 60% 'virtual expenses' on the first 2 M CZK of your Revenue up (even if the the real percentage of expenses is much lower). So, the remaining 40% of your invoiced amount is your Tax Base. On this tax base only 15% income tax is calculated, and if applicable, tax deductions can be applied.

Note: There are professions with other standard expense deductions: 80% (Farmers, Bricklayers, Carpenters etc) or only 30% or 40% (Free professions, but not Trade Licenses) - hardly ever our clients fall in those categories.

A common misconception is that the 60/40 method can not be used for Revenue over 2M CZK. Not true. It can be used. If you have a Revenue of 3.5 M CZK, on the first 2 M CZK you can apply the 60/40 method (and the remaining 1.5 M CZK gets added straight to your tax base).

Benefits of the 60/40 method:
  • No need to track or do bookkeeping for expenses,
  • No need for monthly or quarterly accounting (unless you are VAT registered),
  • Suitable for income generated online / without invoicing / without seeing the actual customer,
  • We basically see you once a year for the Income Tax Return.
Important to understand is that the 60/40 method has different benefits for EU and non-EU (3-rd country nationals).

Typically, only EU citizens, US nationals and permanent residents pay into Public Health Care.

3rd Country Nationals - many of them can not be in Public Health Care and therefore do not make monthly health contributions based on Revenue (unless they are *also* employee, in that case they *are* in Public Health Care).

All nationalities pay monthly Social Security contributions (unless they have a very good job (> 2M CZK Gross) covering the social charges).
2025 minimums Social /month Health /month S+H /year
new TL 3.399 3.143 92.664
existing TL 4.759 3.143 108.984


The Paušální Daň method

for Revenue up to 2 M CZK (before 2023 it was 1M CZK). The idea was to pay one fixed sum per month instead of separately to Tax / Social / Health and no annual Income Tax Return or overviews for Social- and Health need to be filed.

Because in 2023 the Full VAT limit increases from 1 M to 2 M CZK, as a result also the Paušální Daň limit changed. There are now 3 fixed sums, about this later.

You can not make use of the Paušální Daň method if:
  • you did not announce before 10.01.2025 you want to be in it,
  • your Revenue in 2025 will be more than 2 M CZK / year (before 2023 it was 1 M CZK),
  • you are registered for Full VAT,
  • you can not be in insolvenčním řízení (clearing debts)
  • you are employee,
  • you have a dohoda o pracovní činnosti earning over 4.000 CZK / month,
  • you have a dohoda o provedení práce earning over 10.000 CZK / month,
  • you are in the board or shareholder in an sro or komanditní společnost,
  • your business is EET registered (EET has been cancelled for now),
  • you have other sources of income (rent, capital, investments ) over 50.000 CZK / year ,
  • and most of all: if you are not or cannot be in Public Health Care.
If during the year you do not comply to one of the conditions above, you will drop out of / be forced out of the Paušální daň system. Nice.


There are 3 THREE fixed monthly sums, meant for 3 different 'bands' (pasma). In these 'bands' various independent professions can fit (Trade Licenses with 80/20, 60/40, other free professions with 30 or 40% standard expense deduction) and for each professions the maximum allowed revenues are different.

  • Band 1: Revenue 0 - 1M, but 1.5M for 60/40 TLs, and 2M for 80/20 TLs
  • Band 2: Revenue 1M - 1.5M, but 1.5M - 2M for 60/40 TLs, not for 80/20 TLs
  • Band 3: Revenue 1.5 - 2M, not for any TL
To simplify it, the table below is for Trade Licenses that normally would use the 60/40 method
Band TL 60/40 Revenue 2024 Sum/month 2025 Sum/month S+H+T/ 2025 year
1 0 - 1.5M 7.498 8.716 104.592
2 1.5 - 2M 16.745 16.745 200.940
3 1.5 - 2M, not applicable 27.139 27.139 325.668


Downsides of the Paušální Daň method:

  • If you earn (a little) more than the limit 1.5M CZK during the year you have the obligation to move to band 2 - you must announce this before it happens! And you will stay in the higher band for at least 1 year so the 2 years combined may not be better than 60/40 Method !!!
  • If your Revenue is less than cca 700.000 CZK - the Paušální daň method will actually cost you more money than the 60/40 method !!!
  • for banks / mortages / loans / car leases it is really necessary to be able to show a Tax Return, which you won't have with this method.
  • Foreign Tax Offices may ask for proof of tax residence (those forms have to be requested from the Tax Office) and it is also not uncommon that the foreign Tax Office asks in addition for the Czech Tax Returns.
  • You can not use any tax deductions (for yourself, spouse, childeren) or indirect tax reductions (mortgage interests, life insurance, donations) at all
So it is a good idea to use the Paušální Daň method or is it better to stick to the 60/40 method?
There is no simple answer to this, because it depends on many factors:

  • On how many tax benefits / tax reductions are you going to miss out?
  • What will your Revenue be? Is there a risk that you have to move from band 1 to band 2? (not beneficial at all, if just a littlebit over 1.5M CZK!)
  • Will you encounter factors that make staying in the Paušální Daň method impossible?
What can we do for you to answer this question?
Put all possiblities in the Excel model we have developed for many years and look at the actual numbers based on your specific situation. It is just not possible to figure it out with just a few guesses. A consultation will cost some money, choosing the wrong system may cost you 10.000s of CZK.

Changing from the 60/40 to the Paušální daň system

If you have a Trade License in 2024, and want to use this system in 2025, you only have time to announce this at the Tax Office, latest 10.01.2025!

If you start a Trade License after 10.01.2025, you can be in this system but you have to announce it right at the registration of the Trade License - the reality is that it almost never works for people newly arriving to / registering in Czech Republic, because the authorities do not know you yet. It is successful if you have been fully registered in the year prior and you change from the 60/40 method to the pausalni dan method in the next year (2026).



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Continue to: Income Tax Return
or Continue to: VAT Registration