Do I Pay Tax When I Sell an Apartment or House in the Czech Republic?

You do not always have to pay income tax when you sell an apartment, house or other property in the Czech Republic.

Your sale is tax-free if you meet one of the exemptions below and any specific conditions connected with it.

Special rules apply if the property was included in your business assets. We explain this below.

These rules come mainly from § 4 of the Czech Income Tax Act. The Czech tax office also confirms the 2-year rule and the different 5-year and 10-year ownership periods.

You lived in the property for at least 2 years

If the apartment or house was your home for at least 2 years immediately before you sold it, the money from the sale is tax-free.

This rule is in § 4(1)(a) of the Czech Income Tax Act.

For example, you bought an apartment in 2021. You lived there from 2022 until you sold it in 2026.

You meet the 2-year rule, so the sale is tax-free.

Special restrictions apply if the property was included in your business assets

No. Registered permanent residence (trvalý pobyt) is not required for this exemption.

The law uses the Czech term bydliště. In simple terms, the property needs to have genuinely been your home.

The tax office can look at your real situation, including your personal, family and economic connection to the property. Registered permanent residence can help show this, but it is not the same thing as bydliště under the Income Tax Act.

You owned the property for 5 or 10 years

If you did not live in the property for 2 years immediately before selling it, the sale can still be tax-free because of how long you owned it.

The rule depends on when you bought the property.

If you owned the property for the required 5 or 10 years, the sale is tax-free.

There are some exceptions, especially if the property was included in your business assets. We explain this below.

The law changed from 01.01.2021.

Before the change, the ownership period was 5 years. The new law increased it to 10 years.

However, the old 5-year rule was kept for property bought before the new rules started.

This is why someone selling an apartment today can still use the 5-year rule if they bought it by 31.12.2020.

You bought an apartment in 2017 and sold it in 2025.

You did not live there and the apartment was not included in your business assets.

Because you bought it before 2021, the old 5-year rule applies. You owned it for more than 5 years.

The sale is tax-free.

You bought an apartment in 2022 and sold it in 2026.

You did not live there.

Because you bought it from 01.01.2021, the 10-year rule applies. You owned it for only 4 years.

The 10-year rule is not met.

You need another exemption for the sale to be tax-free. One possibility is using the money for your own housing.

What if you inherited the property?

If you inherited the property from a direct relative or your spouse, the time they owned the property counts towards your 5-year or 10-year period.

Direct relatives include, for example, parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren.

For example, your father owned an apartment for 8 years and you inherited it from him.

You do not start counting from zero on the day you inherit the apartment. Your father’s ownership period is included when checking the time limit.

This rule is in § 4(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act.

What if you sell earlier and use the money for your own home?

Even if you sell before the normal time limit, the sale can still be tax-free if you use the money for your own home.

To use this exemption, you need to meet the rules explained below, including the deadline and notification to the tax office.

For example, you lived in your house for only 15 months before selling it.

You do not meet the 2-year rule. However, if you use the money from the sale for your own housing and meet the deadline and notification requirements, the sale can still be tax-free.

For property bought from 2021, this option can also apply when you have not yet owned the property for 10 years.

The tax office gives a similar example of a recreational cottage bought in 2021 and sold before the 10-year period, with the money then used to buy a family home.

What can you use the money for?

Buying another apartment or house is the most common example, but it is not the only one.

Under § 4b of the Income Tax Act, your own housing can include:

• buying an apartment or house;

• building your own home;

• buying land where you start building within the required period;

• certain renovations to your home;

• certain cooperative housing arrangements;

• paying off a mortgage or other loan used for your own housing.

Yes. Your new home does not have to be in the Czech Republic.

The Czech tax office has confirmed this in a case involving the sale of property in the Czech Republic and the purchase of a new home in Sweden.

The other conditions still apply.

How long do you have to use the money?

You have until the end of the following tax year.

For an individual, the tax year is normally the calendar year.

For example, if you receive the money from the sale in 2026, you have until 31.12.2027 to use it for your own housing.

Money you spent on your own housing in the previous year can also count.

For example, if you spent the money on your own housing in 2025 and then sold the property in 2026, that spending can still count.

These time limits are in § 4b(2) of the Income Tax Act.

If your exemption depends on using the money from the sale for your own housing, you must notify the Czech tax office that you received the money.

You must do this by the tax return deadline for the year in which you received it.

For example, if you receive the money in 2026, you need to notify the tax office by your 2026 income tax return deadline.

This requirement is in § 4b(3) of the Income Tax Act and is also confirmed by the Czech tax office.

Only the part used for your own housing is tax-free under this rule.

The CZK 5 million used for your own housing is tax-free under this exemption.

The remaining CZK 3 million is taxable unless another exemption applies.

The Czech tax office confirms that if only part of the money is used for your own housing, only that part is tax-free under this rule.

If you use only part of the money from the property sale for your own housing, only that part is tax-free. The remaining part is taxable income under § 10(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act.

„Jestliže použijete na obstarání bytové potřeby jen část prostředků získaných z prodeje, jsou od daně osvobozeny pouze takto použité prostředky a zbývající část je zdanitelným příjmem dle § 10 odst. 1 písm. b) ZDP..“

View the Tax Office guidance

What if the sale is not tax-free?

If no exemption applies, you need to include the property sale in your Czech income tax return under § 10.

You do not pay income tax on the full selling price.

The price you originally paid for the property and other costs allowed by § 10 can reduce the amount on which tax is calculated.

In this simplified example, the amount used for the tax calculation is CZK 1.8 million, not the CZK 8 million selling price.

§ 10(4) and § 10(5) of the Income Tax Act set out the costs that can be deducted.

The calculation can be different if you inherited the property, received it as a gift, depreciated it or included it in your business assets.

What if you rented out the apartment?

Renting out an apartment does not prevent the sale from being tax-free.

You can still use the 5-year or 10-year ownership rule if you meet its conditions.

The Czech tax office gives an example of an apartment that had been rented out for many years. The sale was tax-free because the owner had owned it long enough and it had not been included in business assets during that time.

What if the property was included in your business assets?

Different restrictions apply if the apartment, house or other property was included in your business assets.

For the 2-year home rule, the exemption does not apply while the property is in business assets or during the 2 years after it is removed from business assets.

For property under the current 10-year ownership rule, the exemption does not apply if the property is or was included in business assets during the 10 years before the sale.

For property bought before 2021 and covered by the old rules, the corresponding period is 5 years.

Legal reference: § 4(1)(a) and § 4(1)(b), Act No. 586/1992 Sb.

Do you need to report a tax-free property sale above CZK 5 million?

If the sale is tax-free and the property is registered in the Czech Land Register, you do not need to report it separately just because the amount is above CZK 5 million.

Czech tax law requires certain tax-free income above CZK 5 million to be reported to the tax office. However, tax-free sales of property registered in the Czech Land Register are excluded because the tax office can get this information directly from the Land Register.

No. For the § 38v reporting rule, the CZK 5 million limit looks at the tax-free income you received, not your profit after deducting what you originally paid.

For example, if you sell an apartment for CZK 8 million, the relevant income for this reporting test is CZK 8 million.

But if it is a tax-free sale of property registered in the Czech Land Register, the Land Register exception applies and you do not file the § 38v notification.

Do not confuse two different notification rules.

If your property sale is tax-free because you are using the money for your own housing, you must notify the tax office under the own-housing rules.

The CZK 5 million rule is a separate notification under § 38v. A tax-free sale of property registered in the Czech Land Register does not require this § 38v notification.

What if you sell property outside the Czech Republic?

If you are a Czech tax resident, Czech tax rules generally apply to your income from the Czech Republic and abroad.

This means that if you sell an apartment or house in another country, you may also need to pay tax on this income in the Czech Republic. The same Czech tax exemptions for property sales can apply.

You may also need to pay tax in the country where you sold the property. If the same income is taxed in both countries, the tax treaty between the Czech Republic and that country explains how double taxation is avoided.

The result depends on your tax residency, where you sold the property and the tax treaty between the two countries.

If the sale is tax-free in the Czech Republic and the tax-free income is above CZK 5 million, you need to report it under § 38v. The Czech Land Register exception does not apply to property abroad.