Monthy Social Security charges - for all nationalities
With your first trade license (or your first in 5 years) you don't have to pay monthly social advances in the first year: you can pay 3,575 CZK a month voluntarily, or pay everything once your tax return and overview are filed. After that, the monthly advances are based on last year's revenue, at least the minimum.
- The minimum Social Charges for 2026 are 5,005 CZK / month (35% of the average wage, applied retroactively from January 2026; 2025: 4,759 CZK / month; from January 2027: 5,281 CZK / month). For a trade license started in 2024 or later, the reduced minimum is 3,575 CZK / month in the starting year and the 2 following years [check].
- The total sum of the Social Charges depends on your annual Revenue (it is about 6.4% of Revenue up to 2 M CZK, using the 60/40 rule, for 2025)
If you have a job as employee / receive salary as director of an sro and using the Trade License as secondary income, then the monthly social contribution is 0 CZK / month for the first year - of course, you need to pay up when your Tax Return and overview for the Social Security is ready . For the next year (2026) the social security contribution for secondary TL income is 1,574 CZK (unless the social security contributions through employment have been more than 54,379 CZK / month).
Sickness insurance (Premiums), maternity benefits
Additional, so-called Premiums (voluntary sickness insurance) are not included in the standard Social Charges. The Premiums pay out (a rather modest sum) in case of long-term illness / inability to work. Also they entitle you to state support in the first phase of maternity leave, although any payout during the first part of maternity leave will require to not invoice through the Trade License. Inform yourself whether it is beneficial to pay the Premiums at all. In most cases the state support is so small, that it makes more sense to keep your Trade License active, and send a few more invoices. When registering your Trade Licenses, we do not register you for the Premiums automatically - because it is not a requirement for the proper functioning of the Trade License.
Maternity and Parental benefits are indeed a very complex matter in Czech Republic. One needs to comply to a number of conditions (paying the Premiums well in advance (270 days) and the exact amount, for example) and file applications exactly in time at the Social Security and Unemployment Office. It is so complex that it is impossible to give any reasonable advice in a few words. Best is to find out your individual case directly at Social Security.
NOTE: the Premiums are voluntary sickness insurance (nemocenské pojištění), not pension insurance. Confusingly, it is often called 'health insurance', but it is paid to Social Security (ČSSZ). The minimum premium in 2026 is 243 CZK/month. See Nemocenské pojištění OSVČ (external link).
Key differences to keep in mind
- Voluntary vs. mandatory: a very common mistake is assuming that the mandatory social security advance (at least 5,005 CZK/month in 2026, 5,281 CZK/month from January 2027) covers you when you get sick. It does not. To get sick pay or maternity benefits, you must register for sickness insurance yourself and pay the extra 243 CZK/month.
- Different payment details: ČSSZ collects both, but with different variable symbols. Pension insurance advances use your 8-digit variable symbol; sickness insurance premiums use your birth number (rodné číslo) as the variable symbol. See ČSSZ: payments by self-employed persons (external link).
The flat-tax method
A number of years ago, a new system for paying Income Tax, and Social Security / Public Health Care contributions was introduced: the flat-tax method. It consist of 1 monthly payment combining all 3 - contrary to popular belief it is not always beneficial and there are also restrictions / requirements that need to be considered.
See this article for details on all 3 accounting methods for trade licenses
Calculating annual Social Charges
When filing the Income Tax Return, we will calculate if those minimum Social Charges were enough to cover the revenue that you made in the previous year, or that you must pay extra (this can be 10.000s of CZK!). Also, based on the income of the previous year, we will calculate the new monthly Social Charges for the next year.
