VAT in Czechia in 2026

Consultoria EHERO

8 minutos de lectura

In Czechia, VAT is called daň z přidané hodnoty, DPH for everyone. It has a general rate of 21 %, which has not changed since 1 January 2013, and a single reduced rate of 12 %. These are set by § 47 of the VAT Act (zákon č. 235/2004 Sb.), and most of what goes to 12 % is listed in its Annexes 2, for services, and 3, for goods. A few things go to 12 % under their own article and you will not find them in those annexes: heat and cold, social housing, and electronic press. Be careful with tables from before 2024: until 31 December 2023 there were two reduced rates, 15 % and 10 %, and on 1 January 2024 they were merged into one.

There is a third case that technically is not a rate but behaves like 0 %: books. Since 2024 they have been exempt with the right to deduct, and that includes shipping. This is what will change your store setup the most, so I go into more detail below.

Rate	Percentage	Applies to
General (základní sazba)	21 %	Everything the law does not expressly send to 12 % or to exemption: clothing, footwear, electronics, cosmetics, household goods, toys. Since 2024 also beverages — juices, bottled water and soft drinks —, cut flowers and decorative foliage, firewood, and advertising leaflets and brochures, which used to be at a reduced rate. Alcoholic drinks are at 21 %: as products, wine and bottled beer were already there before 2024, and the ones that left the reduced rate that year were juices, waters and soft drinks. There is one case that did change, although it does not affect a store: draft beer served in hospitality was at 10 % from 1 May 2020 within restaurant services and on 1 January 2024 it went back to 21 %, like the rest of the drinks served
Reduced (snížená sazba)	12 %	Food, feed and food supplements, except beverages: of those, only milk, liquid dairy products, their plant-based alternatives (soy, oat, almond) and tap drinking water remain here. Coffee and tea in dry form — beans, ground, leaf or in bags — are at 12 %; served in a cup, at 21 %. Syrups, powdered drinks and instant mixes remain at 12 %, because they do not count as beverages. Also live plants and seeds, medicines, medical devices in Annex 3, prescription glasses and contact lenses when they are medical devices, child car seats, newspapers and magazines in print and digital, accommodation, catering, collective passenger transport by road and inland waterway — scheduled air travel and taxis are at 21 % —, tickets to culture and sport, and heat and cold
Exempt with deduction (osvobození od daně s nárokem na odpočet daně)	0 %	Books, illustrated books, drawing and colouring books, non-advertising brochures and loose sheets, sheet music and maps, in print or digital, and the sound recording of their content. Excluded are those with more than 50 % advertising and those consisting mainly of music or video

Rates verified on 12 September 2026 against the information «Informace GFŘ ke změnám sazeb DPH od 1. 1. 2024» from Finanční správa, the Czech Tax Administration, which includes as annexes the full lists of Annexes 2 and 3 of the VAT Act (financnisprava.gov.cz).

Books are 0 %, and book shipping too

Since 1 January 2024, Czechia does not tax books: § 71i of the VAT Act declares them exempt with the right to deduct. This is not the usual kind of exemption. The bookseller does not charge VAT to the customer and still deducts all input VAT, so the price really goes down. The invoice shows no VAT amount, and anyone taxable in Czechia reports those sales on line 26 of the return.

The exemption covers the printed book and its digital equivalent: download, email delivery, online reading, lending and rental, and also the sound recording of the content, i.e. the audiobook. Two cases are excluded: anything with more than 50 % advertising and anything consisting exclusively or mainly of musical or audiovisual content. Since 1 January 2025, loose sheets, leták, have also been included; until then they were excluded even if they were a medicine leaflet. The definition was broadened because in practice there was no way to distinguish a leták from a brožura.

The detail almost nobody configures: Finanční správa says the exemption also covers the ancillary costs under § 36.4 and expressly mentions packaging and transport of the book. If the order contains only books, shipping is also 0 %. If you mix a book with a mug, you have to split the taxable base and shipping is no longer fully exempt.

And the trap that catches people out: press did not go down with books. Newspapers and magazines remain at 12 %, both in print and digital. If you sell books and magazines, those are two different tax classes in the same store.

Which VAT you charge customers in Czechia if you sell from another EU country

This is the part no rate table covers, and usually the real question. The rate you charge does not depend only on the destination: it depends on how much you sell to consumers in other EU countries.

Below €10,000 a year in distance sales to the rest of the EU — added up across all countries, not country by country — you charge your own country’s VAT.
Above that €10,000 you charge the destination VAT: 21% as the standard rate in Czechia, or the reduced rate that applies to the product. You declare it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country, with no need to register in the destination country.

The threshold adds up all your B2C sales to other EU countries plus digital services, and the switch does not wait for next year: the very sale that crosses the threshold already carries the destination rate.

Selling to a business with a valid EU VAT number is a different story: the sale goes without VAT because the customer accounts for it in their own country, but you have to check that number in VIES and keep proof of the check.

How to set this up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes rates by country, but it does not distinguish rates within a country by product class, nor does it monitor the threshold for you. There are three things you need to set up:

A tax class for each rate you use, assigned product by product and not at store level.
VAT ID validation at checkout against VIES for business customers, so VAT is not charged when the transaction is under reverse charge.
A control for the €10,000 threshold, because the day it is exceeded the rates change at once in all countries simultaneously.

All three are covered by EHERO Woo VAT, which we built precisely because these are the three points where stores selling to the rest of the European Union break.

Two quick checks: check the customer’s VAT number in VIES before invoicing without VAT, and use the EU VAT calculator to see which rate to charge on each sale.

Selling to other EU countries from WooCommerce?

EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate product by product, checks VAT numbers against VIES at checkout and keeps an eye on the €10,000 threshold for you.

See EHERO Woo VAT →

Frequently asked questions

What is the general VAT rate in Czechia in 2026?

21 %, and it has been there since 1 January 2013. Below that there is only one reduced rate, 12 %, which on 1 January 2024 replaced the previous two, 15 % and 10 %. In addition, books are exempt with the right to deduct, which in practice is 0 %. In 2026 none of the three changes.

Is it true that books do not have VAT in Czechia?

Yes. § 71i of the VAT Act exempts them with the right to deduct from 1 January 2024, in print, digital and audiobook form, and the exemption also covers packaging and transport of the book. It does not apply if more than half of the content is advertising, or if the product is mainly music or video. Newspapers and magazines were not included in the change: they remain at 12 %.

I sell to Czechia from another EU country — which VAT do I charge?

Your own country’s VAT while your distance sales to the whole EU stay below €10,000 a year. Once you cross that threshold, the destination VAT (21% standard rate), declared through the One Stop Shop.

Do I have to register for VAT in Czechia?

Not if you only ship from your own country: that is what the One Stop Shop is for. You do if you store goods there — for example with Amazon’s fulfilment network — because stock held in the country creates a registration obligation regardless of how much you sell.