Every Czech trade license has a registered business address, called sídlo in Czech.

Your sídlo can be the apartment where you live, another address you have the right to use, or a separate commercial or virtual business address.

The registered business address is public information. This means that if you use your home as your sídlo, the address where you live becomes publicly connected with your business.

Your sídlo is your official registered business address.

What does sídlo mean?

Sídlo is the Czech term for your registered business address.

For a self-employed person (OSVČ), it is the address officially connected with the business in the Trade Licensing Register.

You may also see it described as:

• business address;

• registered business address;

• virtual business address;

• commercial business address.

A virtual or commercial business address usually means that instead of registering the place where you live, you use an address provided specifically for business registration.

You can live at one address and have your business registered at another.

Do you need a business address for a Czech trade license?

Yes. A registered business address forms part of your Trade License Registration.

If your sídlo is different from your residence, you normally need to prove that you have the legal right to use the address for your business.

When proof is required, property-owner consent is one common way to establish the right to use the address.

Can you use your home address as your sídlo?

Yes. Your trade license can be registered at the same address where you live.

If you own the property, you can use your own address. If you rent it, whether additional consent is needed depends on your situation.

Before using your home, consider two practical disadvantages.

Your registered sídlo is public information.

If you register your home as your business address, somebody looking up your business can see the address where you live.

If you do not want your home address publicly connected with your business, you can use a virtual business address instead.

If your business is registered at your rented apartment and you move, you normally need to arrange a new business address or obtain consent from the new property owner.

This can mean another address change with the Trade License Office and updates connected with your business registrations. It can become time-consuming, especially for foreigners who move between rental apartments.

There is also no guarantee that your next landlord will agree to your business address.

In Pexpats cases, we have seen former landlords delay returning a rental deposit until the tenant removed the business address from the apartment, while the new landlord did not agree to provide new consent.

A virtual business address avoids this dependency and can remain unchanged when you move home

Is a Rental Contract Enough for a Business Address?

Usually not.

For a Czech trade license, the important requirement is proving your legal right to use the premises as your registered business address (sídlo).

A standard apartment rental contract is normally evidence that you are allowed to live in the apartment. It does not normally give you permission to register the apartment as your business address.

In Pexpats cases, we do not use a standard residential rental contract as a replacement for Business Address Consent. If you rent the apartment and want to use it as your sídlo, ask the property owner to give you separate consent for business-address registration.

This is an important distinction: permission to live at an address and permission to register your business there are not the same thing.

Do you need landlord consent for your business address?

It depends on your situation. If you need to prove your right to use an address as your sídlo, Business Address Consent from the property owner can be used for this purpose.

If you have Czech permanent residence (trvalý pobyt) at the address and use the same address as your sídlo, you generally do not need separate Business Address Consent from the property owner for Trade License Registration.

Simply living in an apartment does not mean that you have permanent residence there.

If you rent an apartment but do not have Czech permanent residence (trvalý pobyt) at that address, you can still use it as your sídlo, but you need to prove your legal right to use the address for your business.

This is commonly done with Business Address Consent from the property owner.

For this rule, permanent residence means trvalý pobyt in the Czech Republic, not simply the address where you currently live.

Is Proof of Accommodation the same as Business Address Consent?

No. Proof of Accommodation is for residence or immigration purposes; Business Address Consent is for registering a sídlo.

Proof of Accommodation is generally connected with proving where you are accommodated for residence or immigration purposes.

Business Address Consent proves the right to use an address as the registered sídlo of your business.

Proof of Accommodation does not replace Business Address Consent when Business Address Consent is required.

What should Business Address Consent contain?

The document should clearly identify:

• the property;

• the property owner;

• the entrepreneur;

• the address;

• the owner’s consent to use the address as the entrepreneur’s sídlo.

The document should be prepared specifically for business-address registration rather than using a generic accommodation document.

If you need the document, you can generate Business Address Consent with the Pexpats document generator.

Pexpats Business Address Consent Generator

What Is a Virtual Business Address?

A virtual business address is a real address that you have the legal right to use as your registered sídlo even though you do not work there.

You may also see it described as a:

• commercial business address;

• registered business address;

• virtual sídlo.

It is commonly used by freelancers who do not want to register their private apartment as their public business address.

There must be a legal basis for using the address as your sídlo.

Are all virtual business addresses the same?

No. Providers may offer the same basic service — an address for your sídlo — but what actually exists behind that address can be very different.

Some low-cost providers use apartments or addresses where very large numbers of businesses are registered.

Other providers use actual office premises with staff and ongoing administrative support. These services may both be sold as a “virtual business address,” but they are not necessarily equivalent.

The Trade Licensing Act also requires an entrepreneur whose sídlo differs from their residence to visibly mark the building with their name and IČO, if one has been assigned.

The Trade License Office can also require the entrepreneur to prove the legal right to use the premises.

This is why comparing virtual addresses only by price can be misleading. Check whether the address can realistically meet the legal requirements, what is physically located there, how your business is identified, and who deals with communication connected with the address

If the Trade License Office asks for proof of the legal right to use the premises and the entrepreneur cannot provide it, the Trade Licensing Act requires the office to cancel the trade authorization.

This is a stronger reason to check the service behind a very cheap address rather than choosing only by price.

Why use a virtual business address?

A virtual business address can protect your privacy and remain stable when you move home.

Your sídlo is public.

A virtual business address prevents your private apartment from becoming the public registered address of your business.

You can change apartments without automatically needing to change your sídlo.

This is particularly useful for foreigners who rent their homes and may move more frequently.

A virtual business address can remain unchanged even when your home address changes.

Why do virtual business addresses have very different prices?

The price of a virtual business address can vary considerably because providers may be offering very different services behind the address.

The biggest difference is often what physically exists behind the address. A low-cost provider may use a residential apartment as a mass-registration address and sell the same address to hundreds or even thousands of businesses.

The low price is possible because there may be no staffed office, reception or ongoing administrative service behind it.

A serviced business address works differently. It may operate from real office premises where employees actually work, businesses are properly identified, communication connected with the address is handled and support is available when an authority needs to contact or verify the entrepreneur.

Maintaining premises, employees and this ongoing support costs money, which is one reason a serviced address cannot always compete with an address-only provider on price alone.

An apartment address or a large number of businesses registered at one address is not automatically illegal. The legal problem arises when the requirements connected with the sídlo are not actually met.

The entrepreneur remains responsible for visible identification at the address and for being able to prove the legal right to use the premises when the Trade License Office asks.

This is not only theoretical. Czech trade-license authorities have specifically reported controls focused on so-called virtual addresses where businesses were difficult to find or contact.

Those controls focused on the § 31(2) duties concerning visible identification of the sídlo and proof of the legal right to use the declared address.

Before choosing only by price, check:

• what type of property the address is located in;

• whether your business will be properly identified at the address;

• whether you will continue to have a legal right to use the address;

• what happens if the Trade License Office checks the address or asks for proof of your right to use it;

• how communication connected with the address is handled;

• what happens if the provider can no longer provide the address.

If your sídlo differs from your residence, the Trade Licensing Act requires the building to be visibly marked with your name and IČO, if one has been assigned.

The Trade License Office can also require you to prove your legal right to use the premises.

The Trade License Office can also ask you to prove that you still have the legal right to use the address. If you cannot prove this, the Trade Licensing Act requires the office to cancel your trade license. This is one of the main risks of choosing a virtual business address only because it is cheap.

A low-cost address is not automatically a problem, but you should know who provides the legal right to use it, whether your business will be properly identified there, and what happens if the provider stops supporting the address.

Pexpats uses a real office building in Prague 1 with 24/7 reception services. The Business Address service also includes Contact Agent support.

This means a Pexpats employee acts as your local representative at your registered business address and can communicate with Czech authorities on your behalf.

If an authority needs to deliver important correspondence, visit the registered address, verify your business or contact you through your sídlo, Pexpats can assist and represent you.

This is an example of a serviced business address, where there are real premises, reception services and local support behind the registered address.

Frequently Asked Questions