Accounting reality is relentless: once you send money to the wrong account or fail to check that a supplier is an unreliable taxpayer, you risk being liable for someone else’s VAT. But the solution is literally within your reach – the public VAT register.
In this article, we explain what you can find in the register, how to verify anyone, how to deal with bank accounts published in the register, and how to handle VAT registration – both mandatory and voluntary – correctly in 2025.
The VAT register is a public application on the My Taxes portal managed by the Financial Administration. It contains data on VAT payers, identified persons and also information on whether an entity is an unreliable taxpayer. It also includes an overview of the published bank accounts of taxpayers for VAT purposes and the number of the tax office with which the taxpayer is registered.
Why should you be interested in the register of taxable persons? Because an incorrect payment (for example, to an account that the taxpayer has not published in the register) can cause liability for unpaid VAT to pass to you. Similarly, trading with an unreliable payer is one of the typical liability triggers. By checking the register, you not only prevent disputes but also avoid significant costs.
We can help you navigate the law, whether it’s dealing with a specific tax situation, preparing for an audit by the tax authority or defending yourself in court.
The verification can be done in a minute and you don’t pay anything for it. The procedure is simple: open the VAT register on the My Taxes portal, enter the VAT number in the search field and send your query. The result will show you whether the entity is a VAT payer or an identified person, whether it is unreliable, what bank accounts it has published in the register, or which tax office it is registered with. If you do not find the account mentioned on the invoice among the published accounts, beware – you may be liable for the VAT of an unreliable taxpayer.
Payment to an undisclosed account is one of the typical cases where liability for unpaid VAT is invoked. In practice, this means that if your supplier fails to pay the VAT, the state will claim it from you as the recipient of the supply. You can avoid this by paying into a published account or by using a special tax guarantee (payment of VAT directly into the tax authority’s account).
If you are trading within the EU (B2B) and need to verify the VAT ID of a partner from another Member State, use the European Commission’s VIES tool. VIES is not a stand-alone database, but a gateway to national registers – the result therefore tells you whether the VAT number is valid/invalid at the time, and often completes the basic identification data. The Czech Financial Administration recommends keeping the verification result – typically as a screenshot with the exact time of the query.
The year 2025 has fundamentally overhauled the rules of taxpayer registration. There are now two turnover thresholds: CZK 2,000,000 and CZK 2,536,500 (domestic turnover is tracked per calendar year). Each of the thresholds leads to becoming a taxpayer – the only difference is when you become a taxpayer: if you exceed the threshold of CZK 2,000,000, you become a taxpayer only from 1 January of the following year, while if you exceed the threshold of CZK 2,536,500, you become a taxpayer from the next day.
The deadline for filing has also changed. It is now set at 10 working days and applies to both of the above limits. In practice, it works like this:
You become a taxpayer from 1 January of the following calendar year (i.e. from 1 January 2026).
If you want to become a taxpayer earlier, you can choose to become a taxpayer from the day after you exceed CZK 2,000,000, but you must explicitly state this in your application and submit it on time – within 10 working days of exceeding the threshold.
How do the obligations of VAT payers and non-payers differ? Find out in our article.
You become a taxpayer from the day after you exceed this higher threshold.
Again, the 10 working day deadline for filingapplies even if you have already filed an application for exceeding CZK 2,000,000 and it has been decided that you become a taxpayer from January of the following year.
Example: the company’s domestic turnover will exceed CZK 2,000,000 on 18 June 2025. However, if you specifically state in the application that you want to become a taxpayer from 19 June 2025, you will become a taxpayer the following day. However, if you still exceed £2,536,500 in December 2025, you will become a taxpayer from the day after you cross that higher threshold – even if you had previously chosen to become a taxpayer from 1 January 2026.
For many entrepreneurs, the increase in the quarterly tax period limit is welcome news – from £10m to £2m. CZK to 15 million. CZK turnover for the previous calendar year. So if you meet the conditions, you can change your month to a quarter from the new year. In practice, this means that you file your VAT return four times a year and pay the tax after three months.
There are situations where voluntary VAT registration is worthwhile – typically if you are a B2B business, have significant VAT inputs (investments, purchases), supply mainly to taxable persons and want to claim a deduction even on large purchases. Conversely, if your main customer is a consumer (B2C) and you compete on price, adding output VAT is unlikely to be worthwhile.
When is it worth paying VAT? This is discussed in detail in the next article.
You submit your application electronically via the My Taxes portal (EPO/web forms). It is useful to attach supporting documents that prove the economic activity (e.g. contracts, orders or work in progress), which can speed up the whole procedure.
As regards compulsory registration, please note the new deadline of 10 working days after exceeding the relevant turnover threshold. In the case of voluntary registration, you become a taxpayer from the day following the date of notification of the decision.
Once the application has been submitted, the tax office conducts the registration procedure and then issues the VAT registration decision. The decision is delivered by default to the data box, which is now mandatory for all businesses.
You can appeal against a negative decision within 30 days from the date of delivery. The appeal must be lodged with the authority that made the decision to register.
In practice, you do not need a VAT registration certificate (certificate); it is fully sufficient for third parties to verify you in the VAT register.
Our next article will tell you how to register and cancel your VAT registration in 2025.
Why does the VAT register sometimes show the status of an identified person instead of a taxpayer? This is an entity that is not a VAT payer, but due to cross-border trade within the EU, it has limited VAT obligations (e.g. to declare the tax on the acquisition of a service from abroad or to declare the supply of a service to the EU).
When making payments, ensure that the bank account on the invoice matches the published account in the register. The Inland Revenue has long warned that payment to an undisclosed account may give rise to liability. Also watch for unreliable payers – this is also an important indicator. If you find a discrepancy and the supplier insists on a different payment, consult the possibility of a special tax guarantee (payment of VAT directly to the tax authorities) or do not make the transaction at all.
The VAT register on the MY Tax portal is a key tool for preventing liability for foreign VAT. It allows you to check the VAT number, status (taxpayer/identified person), unreliability and published bank accounts and the competent tax authority free of charge and within a minute. Always compare the invoice account with the disclosed accounts and think carefully before making a payment with an unreliable payer. In risky situations, special tax security (payment of VAT to the tax authorities) may be used. Use VIES to check foreign VAT IDs in the EU and save the result (e.g. screenshot with query time).
The year 2025 changes the rules for becoming a taxpayer: there are two domestic turnover thresholds – CZK 2,000,000 (taxpayer from 1 January of the following year, an earlier date can be chosen) and CZK 2,536,500 (taxpayer from the following day). In both cases, a new deadline of 10 working days for filing applies. The limit for the quarterly tax period has increased to 15 million. CZK. Voluntary registration pays off especially for B2B and higher VAT inputs.
The application will be submitted electronically via MY Taxes and the decision will arrive in your inbox (refusal can be appealed within 30 days). As a rule, you do not need a certificate – verification in the register is sufficient.
In practice, both phrases are used, but we are talking about the same public VAT register application on the My Taxes portal.
The Register is a continuously updated public record of the Financial Administration. The data (including unreliability and published accounts) are posted in a way that allows remote access and are used by the tax administrator as a basis for liability. It is therefore advisable to take a screenshot of the date and time for important payments.
Yes. ARES provides summary registers of basic economic data. The taxpayer’s status, unreliability and published accounts are authoritatively in the VAT Register. It is therefore the Register that is relevant for liability.
Yes – the first due to January vesting, the second if you hit the higher limit in the same year (vesting the very next day). The deadline for each application is 10 business days after the overage.
Send the VAT amount directly to the supplier’s tax office to account number 80039, enter the supplier’s VAT number as VS, the customer’s VAT number as SS and enter the date of transaction (DD/MM/YYYYYY-P) or the date of payment (…-U) in the message to the recipient.
Not sure how to do your taxes correctly so you don’t get it wrong? We can help you navigate the law, whether it’s dealing with a specific tax situation, preparing for an audit by the tax authority or defending yourself in court.
Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 10 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
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