A practical guide to trade licences, self-employment and business in Czechia

How to do business as: an Airbnb / Booking host

Airbnb and short-term rentals: trade licence, taxes and fees

If you accommodate guests short-term via Airbnb or Booking.com and provide services alongside (cleaning, changing linen, handing over keys), it is not a passive lease but an accommodation service — that is, a business activity. For it you need an unqualified trade (živnost volná) and you tax the income under § 7, not as a lease under § 9. Watch out above all for three things that beginners forget: the tourist stay fee, the DPH (VAT) on the platform's commission and the reporting of your income to the tax authority via DAC7.

short-term accommodation = unqualified trade registration 1,000 Kč (online 800 Kč) DPH (VAT) on accommodation 12 % tourist stay fee up to 50 Kč/night
Step-by-step procedure More professions

A lease, or an accommodation service? It determines what you need

Long-term flat lease

income under § 9 ZDP · NOT a trade

If you lease a flat in the classic way (e.g. for a year) and merely hand over the space for living, it is a lease under § 9 of the Income Tax Act. You do not need a trade licence and the income is NOT subject to social or health insurance.

When you do not need a trade licence

Short-term accommodation (Airbnb / Booking)

unqualified trade · accommodation services (§ 7)

If you accommodate guests short-term and repeatedly with services (cleaning, linen, towels, reception), it is an accommodation service = a business activity. You need an unqualified trade (živnost volná) in field no. 55 "Accommodation services" and you tax it under § 7 including social and health insurance.

Unqualified trade

Step-by-step procedure (self-employed OSVČ host on Airbnb / Booking)

  1. Verify the regime: it is an accommodation service, not a § 9 lease do you provide services (cleaning, linen, reception) and accommodate short-term and repeatedly? Then it is an accommodation service = a trade, not a passive lease under § 9.
  2. Register the unqualified trade "Accommodation services" (field no. 55) at any trade licensing office (živnostenský úřad) or online — fee 1,000 Kč, online 800 Kč, the extract with your IČO (business ID) within 5 working days. No qualification is required. → detail
  3. Register the flat as business premises (provozovna) if the address of the flat you let differs from your home address, report it to the trade licensing office as business premises (registering the premises is free of charge). → detail
  4. Register as a self-employed person (OSVČ) via the Single Registration Form (JRF) notify the start of the activity to your health insurance company (within 8 days) and to ČSSZ (Czech Social Security Administration) by the 8th day of the following month; start paying advance payments on social and health insurance.
  5. Register as an identified person for DPH within 15 days of receiving the first commission from Airbnb / Booking; you then declare and pay DPH on the commissions even as a non-payer. Monitor your turnover: 2 million Kč/year = mandatory VAT payer registration. → detail
  6. Register with the municipality for the tourist stay fee and keep guest records if the tourist stay fee is introduced in the municipality, collect it from guests (max. 50 Kč/night) and remit it to the municipality; keep a house book and report the accommodation of a foreigner to the Police of the Czech Republic within 3 working days.

Tourist stay fee and DPH on accommodation 2026

What you deal withRule / rate 2026Source
Tourist stay fee — maximum rateup to 50 Kč per person and night; the specific amount (0–50 Kč) is set by a municipal decree§ Act No. 565/1990 Coll.
Tourist stay fee — stay limitonly a stay of up to 60 consecutive days for a guest not registered in the municipality; the payer is the host, the taxpayer is the guestportal.gov.cz
DPH — rate on accommodation servicesreduced 12 %Tax Administration (Finanční správa)
Mandatory VAT payer registration at turnoveronly above 2,000,000 Kč / calendar yearVAT Act
Identified person (DPH on the platform's commission)mandatory within 15 days of receiving the service from Airbnb / Booking — even for a non-payerGFŘ

Amounts and deadlines verified 2026 (portal.gov.cz, Tax Administration / GFŘ). Always verify the specific tourist stay fee rate in the generally binding decree of the municipality where you provide accommodation — Prague and tourist towns charge max. 50 Kč, elsewhere even 0 Kč.

DAC7: platforms report your income to the tax authority

Airbnb and Booking, as operators of digital platforms under the DAC7 directive, have since 2023/2024 each year by 31 January reported the income of their hosts for the previous year to the Tax Administration. The reporting concerns sellers with more than 30 transactions or income over EUR 2,000 per year. The consequence is simple: the authority knows your income from the platform even without your tax return, so it cannot be concealed and must be properly taxed (§ 7). For failure to comply with the reporting obligation, the platform operator faces a fine of up to 1,500,000 Kč. Source: EU Directive 2021/514, Grant Thornton, epravo.cz — verified 2026.

Records of accommodated guests and the house book

As a host you keep a house book: for each guest you record the name, date of birth, citizenship, document number and the start and end of the stay. The accommodation of a foreigner you additionally report to a unit of the Police of the Czech Republic within 3 working days of the accommodation (typically via ubyport). You keep the house book for 6 years from the last entry and present it to the Police of the Czech Republic on request. In parallel you keep a register book also for the purposes of the tourist stay fee towards the municipality. Source: Act No. 326/1999 Coll., Act No. 565/1990 Coll. — verified 2026.

DPH on Airbnb: why you must be an identified person even if you are not a payer

With short-term accommodation, DPH has two separate levels that you should not confuse:

  • DPH rate on accommodation = 12 %. Accommodation services fall under the reduced 12 % rate. You become a VAT payer from the accommodation itself only after exceeding a turnover of 2,000,000 Kč per calendar year — which an ordinary host will not reach.
  • DPH on the platform's commission — an obligation even for a non-payer. This is the most frequently overlooked obligation. When you receive a service (arranging the accommodation) from Airbnb or Booking based outside the Czech Republic, you must register as an identified person for DPH (not as a VAT payer) within 15 days of receiving the first such service. You then declare and pay the DPH on the commission to the Czech tax authority under the reverse charge regime — regardless of the amount of turnover and the fact that you are not a VAT payer.

Income tax on accommodation services is income from independent activity under § 7 ZDP (not a § 9 lease). You may apply the 60 % lump-sum expense allowance, actual expenses, or the flat-rate tax. Unlike a § 9 lease, however, you also pay social and health insurance. More in the section DPH and OSVČ →. Source: GFŘ — Information on the tax assessment of the obligations of accommodation service providers; jakpodnikat.cz — verified 2026.

Frequently asked questions about Airbnb and short-term rentals

Do I need a trade licence for Airbnb?
Yes, if you accommodate guests short-term, repeatedly and with services (cleaning, changing linen and towels, handing over keys, possibly breakfast). From the law's perspective this is an accommodation service, i.e. a business activity, for which you need an unqualified trade (živnost volná) "Accommodation services" (field no. 55). Registration costs 1,000 Kč, electronically 800 Kč, and requires no professional qualification. Only a classic long-term flat lease without services is a lease under § 9 of the Income Tax Act and does not need a trade licence.
How much is the tourist stay fee and to whom do I remit it?
The maximum rate is 50 Kč per person and night; the specific amount (0 to 50 Kč) is set by the municipality's generally binding decree — Prague and tourist towns charge max. 50 Kč, elsewhere even 0 Kč. You as the host (payer) collect the fee from guests and remit it to the municipality; the taxpayer is the guest. It concerns only stays of up to 60 consecutive days for a guest who is not registered in the municipality. You must register for the fee with the municipality and keep a register book.
Does Airbnb report my income to the tax authority?
Yes. Under the DAC7 directive, platforms such as Airbnb and Booking have since 2023/2024 automatically reported hosts' income to the Tax Administration (Finanční správa) — this concerns sellers with more than 30 transactions or income over EUR 2,000 per year, and is done each year by 31 January. The authority thus knows your income even without a tax return and cross-checks it against your tax filings. The income therefore cannot be concealed and must be properly taxed under § 7.
Is short-term rental via Airbnb a lease, or a business activity?
A business activity. What matters is what you actually provide, not what you call it. As soon as it is a systematic activity for profit whose content is not merely the bare letting of space but also supplementary services (cleaning, changing linen, reception), it is an accommodation service under the Trade Licensing Act — that is, a business activity. It is taxed under § 7 (independent activity) including social and health insurance, unlike a passive lease under § 9.
Do I have to deal with DPH even if I have small income?
With the platform's commission, yes. Almost every host on Airbnb or Booking must become an identified person for DPH and pay DPH on the platform's commission (within 15 days of the first commission), even as a non-payer and regardless of the amount of income. You become a VAT payer, on the other hand, only at a turnover above 2,000,000 Kč per year; for accommodation the reduced rate of 12 % then applies. Do not confuse these two concepts.

Related articles

First you need an unqualified trade

Before you start providing accommodation, register the unqualified trade "Accommodation services". What an unqualified trade entails, what its conditions are and how to register it you will find in the overview of types of trades.

Unqualified trade