Working in Czechia: no permit, a trade licence for 1,000 crowns, and the paušál you must choose on day one

As a Dutch citizen you don't need a work permit in Czechia: as an EU citizen you work there as an employee without a permit, and the self-employed never need one in the EU. The finding is with the self-employed. Czechia has the paušální režim: one fixed monthly amount that covers your income tax, pension contribution and health contribution together, 9,162 crowns a month in the first band since July 2026. Whoever wants that scheme registers no later than the day they start. A day later the registration is invalid for that year, and the tax office cannot restore the deadline.

Do you need a work permit as a Dutch citizen?

No. As an EU citizen you generally don't need a work permit to work as an employee anywhere in the EU, and the self-employed never need one in the EU. For many counters in Czechia you do need a personal number, the rodné číslo, which you get via the registration certificate (see rodné číslo and the reporting duty in Czechia).

How do you start as self-employed?

The usual form is the živnost, a trade licence. For a free trade, a volná živnost, you register it at a municipal trade licensing office: at the counter, by post, electronically or via a Czech POINT counter.

Step	Deadline	Cost
Registration of the first živnost	office registers you within 5 working days	1,000 Kč
Each further registration	same	500 Kč
Filing via a Czech POINT counter	—	50 Kč extra
Registration for the paušální režim, new entrepreneur	no later than the day you start	—
Paušální režim, first band (since July 2026)	per month, by the 20th	9,162 Kč
Paušální režim, second and third band (start of 2026)	same	16,745 Kč and 27,139 Kč
Recognition of a foreign higher education degree	decision as a rule within 30 days	3,000 Kč

What is the paušální režim, and who is it for?

The paušální režim bundles three obligations into one payment to the tax office: income tax, the pension contribution and the contribution for public health insurance. Whoever meets the conditions doesn't have to file a tax return or contribution statements, and pays nothing extra afterwards.

There are three bands. In the first you may have, measured by the previous year, at most one million crowns of income from self-employment, from any activity. The second and third go up to one and a half and two million, with conditions on the type of income. A new entrepreneur enters the scheme from the start of the month in which they begin, and you only switch band at the start of a year.

The first band was reduced halfway through 2026: from 9,984 to 9,162 crowns a month from July, because the pension contribution for the self-employed was lowered retroactively. Whoever already paid in the first half of the year has 4,932 crowns credit.

You choose the paušál on the day you start, not later. A new entrepreneur registers for the paušální režim no later than the day they start their activity. The tax office writes it itself: a registration that comes later is invalid, the deadline can't be restored, and you then can't be in the scheme for that whole calendar year. Whoever is already in business has, as a rule, until 10 January. So do the registration together with your trade licence, not afterwards.

The scheme is only for those who, as self-employed, fall under Czech social and health insurance in Czechia. If you have an S1 from the CAK because you have a Dutch pension, that needs sorting out first; see healthcare in Czechia.

Does your Dutch degree count?

Not automatically. Czechia has treaties on the equivalence of degrees with, among others, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Hungary and Slovenia, but not with the Netherlands. If you need a recognised higher education degree for your work, you apply for nostrifikace: recognition of your foreign education as equivalent to a Czech one. It costs 3,000 crowns, and the decision follows as a rule within thirty days, longer if the check is complicated.

Note the difference: nostrifikace is academic recognition, not professional recognition. For regulated professions, such as teacher, doctor or lawyer, a separate procedure applies. Whether you need the recognition for other work, you ask your employer before you pay.

And the tax on your Dutch income?

If you keep working for a Dutch employer or have a Dutch pension, the tax treaty determines who may tax it. That is in AOW, pension and tax in Czechia. What has to happen in which order for your situation is in the step-by-step plan for Czechia.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 2 of 5 of the journey, step 2.11: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Czechia or go straight to step 2.11 in the open plan.