IČO, DIČ, rodné číslo, VAT number: Czech paperwork is full of numbers, and for foreigners with a trade license they rarely match. This guide explains which number is which, and why yours may look different from a Czech colleague's.
Overview
| s.r.o. company | Trade license, with rodné číslo | Trade license, foreigner without rodné číslo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| IČO (business ID) | IČO of the company | IČO of your trade license | IČO of your trade license |
| DIČ (tax ID) | CZ + IČO | CZ + rodné číslo | CZ + a number the tax office makes up, often starting with CZ68 |
| VAT number | CZ + IČO | CZ + rodné číslo | the same made-up DIČ |
| Social security and health insurance | — | usually your rodné číslo | numbers each office makes up |
IČO: your business ID
The IČO (identifikační číslo osoby, always written in capitals with a háček on the Č) is an 8-digit number that identifies a business.
- s.r.o.: the company gets its IČO in the commercial register.
- Trade license: the IČO is simply the number of your trade license. It identifies you as an entrepreneur.
Rodné číslo: your birth number
Rodné číslo literally means "birth number". Everyone born in the Czech Republic gets one, and so does anyone who becomes a Czech citizen in another way. A Czech person normally has everything under this one number: the tax ID is CZ + rodné číslo, and social security and health insurance usually use the rodné číslo too. Usually, not always: the rules have changed a few times.
How to read it: YYMMDD/XXXX. The first six digits are your date of birth (year, month, day), then a slash and a four-digit code.
- Women: 50 is added to the month, so the month is 51–62. Someone born in March 1990: 900312/… for a man, 905312/… for a woman.
- Since 2004: when the codes for a day run out, 20 can be added to the month (21–32 for men, 71–82 for women).
- The whole 10-digit number is divisible by 11. People born before 1954 have a three-digit code instead.
A foreigner usually does not get a rodné číslo together with a visa or residence permit. It comes later, from the Ministry of the Interior, and that can take weeks or months.
Registered before you have a rodné číslo
You can register a trade license without a rodné číslo. The tax office, social security and the health insurer then each generate a substitute number. It looks like a rodné číslo, but it isn't one. At the tax office it often starts with CZ68, even though 68 has nothing to do with your year of birth.
DIČ and VAT number: CZ + something
- s.r.o.: the tax ID (DIČ) is CZ + IČO, and so is the VAT number. A company has the same number three times.
- Trade license: the DIČ is CZ + rodné číslo, or CZ + the substitute number from the tax office. Register for VAT (full VAT or VAT-light) and this DIČ becomes your VAT number.
Which number goes on your invoice?
- Always: your name, business address and the IČO of your trade license, plus the line “Fyzická osoba zapsaná v živnostenském rejstříku” (natural person registered in the trade license register).
- Registered for VAT: also your VAT number (CZ…). With VAT-light this applies to invoices for businesses in other EU countries, together with their VAT number.
Our free invoice generator puts the right numbers in the right place.
After you get your rodné číslo
Getting a rodné číslo does not mean the other offices update your numbers automatically. Each office has to be asked separately to switch to your new number: the tax office, social security and your health insurer. That can take months.
Keep paying with your old number until an office confirms the change. You would expect the rodné číslo to win, but it does not. We have seen clients switch to their rodné číslo as the variable symbol for their monthly payments, and half a year later social security or the health insurer reported that they had stopped paying, with a fine. The payments were made, but under a number the office did not link to them. So only switch an office to your rodné číslo once that office has confirmed the change in writing.
