The tourist tax (poplatek z pobytu) is a small amount, but you deal with it for every guest. You have to calculate it, collect it, record it, settle it with the municipality and show it correctly on the invoice.
If one step goes wrong, the others stop adding up. That is why we separate what the law sets for the whole country from what your municipality decides.
We go through who pays the tax, who is exempt, how to calculate and remit it, how long to keep the records and why the invoice must not show 0% VAT. We rely on the Local Fees Act and the VAT Act. For every claim we give the section number, so you can check it yourself.
How Chalupario keeps the guest book, foreigner reporting and the tourist tax
The guest pays the tax, you collect it and remit it
The taxpayer is the guest, meaning whoever stays the night with you. As the accommodation provider you collect the tax from the guest and remit it to the municipality. That is how § 3 and § 3f(2) of the Local Fees Act divide the roles.
Two things follow for you. The money from the tax is not your income, you only pass it on. And because you collect it, the records and the settlement with the municipality, described below, are your job too.
The municipality sets the rate, the law sets only a ceiling
A municipality may introduce the tax, but it does not have to. If it does, it sets the rate itself. The law fixes only an upper limit: at most CZK 50, § 3d of the Local Fees Act. It is charged for every started day of the stay except the day of arrival (§ 3c), so in practice per person per night.
Before you start collecting, ask the municipal office whether your municipality has the tax and at what rate. Each municipality sets its own rate, so the next village over may differ from yours.
Under 18 and stays over 60 days are exempt everywhere
Two exemptions come straight from the law, so they apply the same way in every municipality.
Persons under 18 are exempt from the tax, § 3b(1)(b). The age limit of 18 is national and does not depend on where your cottage stands.
A stay longer than 60 consecutive days is not subject to the tax, § 3a(1). This is not an exemption of a particular person but a stay that falls outside the tax altogether.
Older guides often describe both rules as a matter for the municipality. Our own notes said so for a while too, until we read the text of the law again. A municipality cannot change them.
The law and your municipality add further exemptions
The law also exempts holders of a ZTP/P card and their companions (§ 3b(1)(a)) and people accommodated for seasonal work (§ 3b(1)(e)). A municipality can add more exemptions in its decree, and these differ from one municipality to the next.
Ask the office for the list of exemptions in your municipality and keep it at hand when guests arrive. For every exempt guest, note the reason, because you will need it in the records.
You calculate it from persons, nights and the rate
The calculation is simple: the number of persons who pay the tax, times the number of nights, times the municipality's rate. Exempt guests are left out of the calculation.
Example with a rate of CZK 40, chosen only for the calculation. Two adults and two children under 18 stay four nights. Only the adults pay: 2 × 4 × CZK 40 = CZK 320. You enter the children in the records with the reason for the exemption and you do not collect the tax from them.
When to remit it is set by the municipal decree
The due date of the tax and the deadline for registering with the municipality as a provider are both set by the municipality in its decree, § 14(2)(b) and (c) of the Local Fees Act. The law sets no monthly or quarterly interval, so the dates differ from one municipality to the next.
For the settlement it helps to have three numbers ready for the period: the number of guests, the number of nights and the amount collected. The municipal office will tell you the form of the report.
Keep the records for six years
You keep records of the collected tax in what is called the evidence book (evidenční kniha). You keep its entries for six years, § 3g(4) of the Local Fees Act.
If you accommodate foreigners, the house book (domovní kniha) has the same period under § 101(4) of the Residence of Foreigners Act.
On the invoice it is outside VAT, not at a zero rate
If you issue tax documents (daňový doklad), show the tax as a separate line outside VAT. Not as a line with 0% VAT.
The reason is in the VAT Act. Its § 47(1) knows only the rates 21% and 12%, and there is no 0% rate. The tax does not belong in the tax base at all: under § 36(14) it is an amount you received from the guest to cover what you pay in the guest's name and on the guest's account.
On the document the tax is therefore in the subtotal and in the total, but not in the VAT summary. A note "outside VAT" next to the line, with a reference to the section, is enough. If you showed VAT on the tax anyway, you would owe that VAT, § 108(4)(g) of the VAT Act.
Summary
- The guest pays the tax, you collect it and remit it to the municipality.
- The municipality sets the rate, the law allows at most CZK 50 per person per night.
- Persons under 18 and stays over 60 consecutive days are outside the tax in every municipality.
- ZTP/P holders and seasonal work are exempt by law, and a municipality can add more exemptions.
- When you remit it is in the municipal decree, the law sets no interval.
- You keep the records of the tax for six years.
- On the invoice it is outside VAT, never at 0%.
What to do now
Write or call the municipal office and find out three things: the rate, the list of local exemptions, and how often and in what form the municipality wants the settlement. With that you have everything you need for the tax.
