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VAT identified person: a trap for small businesses that pay for foreign services

A business that is not VAT-registered can become an identified person when it buys a service from a foreign company. When it happens, what you must file and by when.

Not VAT-registered, but you paid for advertising on a foreign platform, hosting or another service from a company in another country? Then you may have become an identified person (identifikovaná osoba) without knowing it. The law links this to receiving the service, and the registration deadline runs from that day.

When you become an identified person

A business with its seat or establishment in Czechia that is not a VAT payer becomes an identified person from the day it receives a service with the place of supply in Czechia from a person not established in Czechia, or from the day it pays for it, whichever comes first (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 6h). The same applies when you, conversely, supply a service to a business in another EU country with the place of supply there (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 6i). You can also become an identified person voluntarily before the first such service (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 6l).

What you must do

• File a registration application within 15 days of the day you became an identified person (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 97). The application can only be filed electronically (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 101a(2)).
• Account for VAT on the service you received instead of the foreign company (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 108(3)).
• File a VAT return for the month in which the duty to account for VAT arose (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 101(1) and Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 99), electronically (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 101a(1)), within 25 days after the end of the month (Act No. 280/2009 Coll., Section 136(4)). The tax is due on the same day (Act No. 280/2009 Coll., Section 135(3)).
• In months in which you receive no such service, you file no return (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., Section 101(5)).

How to prepare

• Before ordering, find out where the company invoices from and whether the invoice includes Czech VAT.
• Note in your calendar the day you pay for or receive a foreign service, whichever comes first: you have 15 days from then to register.
• If you buy foreign services regularly, plan for the monthly duty and talk to your accountant.

This article is general information, not legal advice for a specific case. Updated 30 Oct 2026 in line with the laws in force. — 777 PRODUCTION s.r.o.