Working from Czechia as a Netherlands resident

At a glance

Rule coverage

What the rules say about Czechia

The rules below are the ones most likely to shape a stay in Czechia, in plain words and with the source behind each one. Your own report tells you which of them apply to you.

1. Significant issueImmigration and visa

   Past 90 days you need a long-term visa or the Nomad Programme

   The Schengen visa-free allowance is capped at 90 days in any rolling 180-day period. Staying longer without a long-term visa or permit risks a fine, administrative expulsion and a Schengen-wide entry ban of 1 to 5 years.

2. Significant issueRight to work

   Working for Czech clients without a permit is unlawful employment

   Act No. 435/2004 Coll. regulates employment of foreigners on Czech territory, and serving Czech clients or companies needs an Employee Card, Blue Card, trade licence or free movement. The Digital Nomad Programme explicitly excludes Czech-source income and local clients.

3. Significant issueTax residency

   At 183 days or more in the calendar year you become a Czech tax resident

   183 or more days present in a calendar year makes you a Czech tax resident under Section 2 of Act No. 586/1992 Coll., taxed on worldwide income at 15 percent up to CZK 1,762,812 and 23 percent above. Arrival and departure days both count as full days, which is stricter than several peer countries.

4. Significant issueMoving your company

   Directing your company from Prague can drag it into Czech tax residence

   Czech corporate tax residence follows either the registered seat or the place of effective management. Moving yourself to Prague while continuing to direct a foreign company from a Prague desk can pull the whole company into Czech corporate residence, exposing worldwide profits to 21 percent corporate income tax.

5. Significant issuePermanent establishment risk

   Signing contracts or managing from Czechia creates permanent establishment risk

   A foreign company creates a Czech permanent establishment through a dependent agent habitually concluding contracts, or through management functions exercised from Czechia. A deemed PE is taxed like a resident company at 21 percent corporate income tax and becomes a withholding agent for payroll.

6. Significant issuePersonal income tax

   A Czech entity bearing your cost makes you taxable from day one

   Where a Czech entity is the economic employer, meaning it benefits from your work or bears the cost, Czech law can treat it as the deemed employer obliged to withhold payroll tax regardless of the 183-day count. Article 15 relief does not apply once a Czech permanent establishment carries the cost.

What tends to surprise people here

• The Digital Nomad Programme covers only twelve eligible nationalities
• A Czech entity bearing your cost makes you taxable from day one
• Directing your company from Prague can drag it into Czech tax residence

Tax treaty between Netherlands and Czechia