The trade licence is the easiest part of going independent and, at the same time, the part surrounded by the most folklore. You need no s.r.o., no haulage concession and no share capital.
Which licence exactly
If you work under contract with a transport company and hold no licence of your own, all you need is a volná živnost — an unregulated activity that requires no proof of qualification. The koncesovaná activity “silniční motorová doprava” is what you would need instead if you held the licence yourself as a carrier in your own right — and it is not filed as a notification: you apply for it, and the trade office decides whether to grant the koncese. If the licence and the truck are not yours, that road is not for you: it costs time and money and adds nothing.
Which activity you pick also fixes your expense allowance, and with it the tax regime for the whole first year — the difference is worked through in Paušální daň or the standard regime.
What to bring
A passport or ID card, an address to register the place of business, and a decision on the tax regime you will pay under. The form is filled in on the spot; the fee is 1 000 Kč. You walk out with a výpis — an extract from the trade register — and an IČO.
| What is filed | Fee | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Notification of a trade on entry into business | 1 000 Kč | Položka 24 písm. a) |
| Every further notification of a trade | Kč 500 | Položka 24 písm. b) |
Source: Act No. 634/2004 Coll. on administrative fees — Sazebník, Položka 24 — "a) Ohlášení živnosti při vstupu do živnostenského podnikání Kč 1000", "b) Další ohlášení živnosti Kč 500".
That distinction is worth remembering: 1 000 Kč is paid once, on entry, not per trade. Add a second trade later and you pay less — the line "a živnost costs 1 000 Kč per trade", copied endlessly from forums, is simply wrong for the second one.
One visit is enough, but prepare in advance
Half of all repeat visits are caused by the address: if the premises are not yours, you need the owner’s consent. It is the one document you cannot obtain at the counter.
Two deadlines afterwards — and they are not the same
Once you start trading you have to notify two bodies, and each has its own deadline. The line "you get eight days for the insurance", copied from forum to forum, is right in exactly half the cases:
| Who you notify | Deadline | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Health insurance fund | 8 days from the day you became an OSVČ | § 10 odst. 3 of Act No. 48/1997 Coll. |
| Regional social security administration (ČSSZ) | 15 days from the day the fact arose | § 48 odst. 4 of Act No. 582/1991 Coll. |
Sources: Act No. 48/1997 Coll., § 10 odst. 3 — "Pojištěnec, který se stal nebo přestal být osobou samostatně výdělečně činnou, je povinen oznámit příslušné zdravotní pojišťovně tuto skutečnost nejpozději do osmi dnů ode dne, kdy se stal nebo přestal být osobou samostatně výdělečně činnou"; and Act No. 582/1991 Coll., § 48 odst. 4 — "Povinnosti uvedené v odstavcích 1 až 3 je osoba samostatně výdělečně činná povinna splnit nejpozději do 15 dnů ode dne, v němž nastala skutečnost, která zakládá takovou povinnost".
Work to the shorter one — 8 days. Anyone who remembers 15 and applies it to both is already late with the health insurer.
Both can be filed at the trade office itself. The same § 10 odst. 3 goes on: "Pojištěnec, podnikající na základě živnostenského oprávnění, splní tuto povinnost i tehdy, učiní-li oznámení příslušnému živnostenskému úřadu" — so if you complete the attachments to the single registration form at the Czech POINT counter, the notifications are done and no clock is running. That is the real reason to turn up prepared for one visit.
Leave it for later and this is the thing people miss, because the licence is already in hand and the job feels done. Missing it brings penalty interest rather than refusal, but nobody wants to start out in debt.
What those advances come to, and from which month they are due, is in Social and health advances — set against the one-off 1 000 Kč, they are much the larger item.
Then comes the euro account. The bank asks for your IČO, so it cannot be done before the živnost. Allow a separate week for the bank: it usually takes two appointments — filing and signing.
