Czech DPH after the 2024 change: two rates instead of three
From 1 January 2024 the two reduced Czech VAT rates became one. What moved, what it means for a menu or a price list, and where the rates are actually published.
Until the end of 2023 Czechia had three VAT rates: a standard 21%, and two reduced rates of 15% and 10%. From 1 January 2024 the two reduced rates were merged into a single reduced rate of 12%, as part of the consolidation package.
If your price list or your accounting categories were set up before 2024 and nobody has been through them since, this is worth an hour of your time.
What the rates are now
| Rate | Applies to, broadly |
|---|---|
| 21% standard | Most goods and services |
| 12% reduced | Most items that were previously 15% or 10% |
| Exempt / zero | A separate category — not a rate, a treatment |
The rates themselves are set out in Zákon č. 235/2004 Sb. o dani z přidané hodnoty, § 47. That is the thing to check, rather than any article — including this one.
Where it actually bites
Anything that was at 10% went up. The old 10% band covered a set of items that moved to 12%. If you sell any of them and you have not changed your prices, you absorbed the difference.
Anything that was at 15% came down. Which sounds like good news, and is, unless your prices are VAT-inclusive and you simply left them alone — in which case you quietly took a slightly better margin and your customers never knew.
Some items changed category entirely, not just rate. The consolidation moved a few things between bands rather than only merging the bands, so "it used to be reduced, so it is 12% now" is not reliable as a rule.
The practical checklist
- Export your product or dish list with its VAT rate and look at everything still
tagged 10% or 15%. Those tags are dead; they should not exist any more.
- Decide, per item, whether the price or the margin absorbs the change. For a menu
this is a real commercial decision and worth ten minutes, not a find-and-replace.
- Check your recurring invoices. Subscriptions and retainers set up before 2024
often carry the old rate in a template nobody reopens.
- Check anything with a deposit or a partial payment that straddles the change
date. Which rate applies depends on the date of the taxable supply, and this is the single most common place to get it wrong.
- Ask your accountant about anything you are not certain of. Particularly the
straddling cases.
What this means for invoicing software
If your invoicing is set to a country rather than to a hand-typed number, this kind of change is something you read about rather than something you implement. The rates, the rounding rules and the legal wording that has to appear on a Czech invoice — including the variable symbol your customer pays against — come from the country setting.
If it is not, it is worth checking that every template, every recurring invoice and every product category actually got updated, because software that lets you type "15" into a box will happily keep printing it.
BizBoard applies 21% standard and 12% reduced for Czechia, as published from 1 January
2024. Those are public facts with the law cited above. How they apply to your
particular business is a question for your accountant, and we have not had Czechia's
detailed rules reviewed by a paid local expert.
BizBoard sets the language, currency, VAT rates, invoice rules and accountant export from the country you choose. See what the Czech country pack covers.