the Trade License Registration Steps
Step 1: Consultation before Registration
We start with a 1-hour consultation, because from experience with registering 100s of Trade Licenses, we know that new clients usually have very many questions, such as: is the Trade License is something for me, visa / residence permit questions, what about social / health insurance, should I open an sro? What about income from abroad? VAT?
During this hour we also explain the requirements and different options of the Trade License registration package.
You will get more information than a week surfing the Internet!
(and on top of that we offer a: not happy with the consultation, we'll refund the money guarantee)
Step 2: Selecting Trade License types and Registering the Trade License
After we have received the Required Documents from you, and we have selected one or more tradelicenses, we will go ahead and make the actual Trade License Registeration application.Step 3a: EU Citizens or 3rd-Country National WITH a valid visa / residence permit:
After 5 working days we will pick up the trade license, the so-called "výpis ze živnostenského rejstříku". From that moment on, you will able to send invoices to your clients, although you are not registered at the Tax Office, Social Security and Public Health Care, a process that may take several weeks to complete.Continue to Step 5 if you have an EU Residence Permit, otherwise first read Step 4a: Residence Permit for EU
Step 3b: 3rd-Country Nationals WITHOUT long-term D-Visa / residence permit:
After 5 workingdays we will pick up the Trade License, but it does not have an IČO (registration number). With this paper you can apply for a Visa for Business purposes at a Czech embassy. If you have another visa / residence permit for Czech Republic with a different purpose of stay that remains valid, there is no need to apply again for a Business Visa. Discuss your options with us, please.After you received the Visa (this may take up to 3 months) we have to return to the Trade License Register to get the 'real' Trade License with the IČO - before you have the IČO number, you are (officially) not allowed to trade.
Continue to Step 5 if you have a valid Visa, otherwise first read Step 4b: Business Visa for non-EU
Step 5: Registration at Tax Office, Social Security, Public Health Care
After you get the trade license with IČO from the Trade License Register, you are able to trade, but you are still not registered completely in the Czech system. To follow are the tax office, the Social Security and Public Health Care (for EU and few few other nationalities). This process takes several weeks *at least*. However, you don't have to wait for these registrations to complete before you can start as self-employed person.
Note: since 1.1.2024 there is no explicit registration of an ID for income tax possible, instead the rodne cislo (which many foreigners don't have) is used as Tax ID. it *is* still possible to register a VAT ID relatively easily. Not having a Tax ID for income tax will cause serious problems when filing the 2024 Income Tax Return - currently there is no other solution than making a special request - which may or may not be granted.
The registrations at Tax / Social / Health is more complicated than the Trade License registration itself, because those systems are not united and require separate registrations for each and produce different registration numbers for each(!). There is an option on the Trade License registration form to forward all information 'automatically' to Tax / Social / Health - but that only works for people who already have a rodne cislo *and* have previous registrations at Tax / Social / Health.
Step 6: Consultation after registration
Once all registrations have been done, you will have a second consultation. During it, we will explain how much and when to pay Social Charges and Public Health Contributions to which bank accounts, how to invoice clients (in CZ, in EU, outside EU), how to deal with Income Tax and VAT and how to prepare for the extension of your Business Visa (if applicable). Of course we answer any questions you may have.
After it, you will be be fully registered and fully prepared to work as self-employed / freelancer in Czech Republic.
Condition for the second consultation: to be booked within 2 months of Trade License registration. The consultation is about the subjects mentioned above, it can not be 'saved' to be used later for another purpose.