Withholding tax refund in 2026. Under what conditions?

In this article, we clarify what exactly withholding tax is and when it is really final. We’ll show in what situations it pays to involve the tax return, what kind of confirmation to look for from the payer, and what the most common reason people miss out on their refund is. We’ll also add typical scenarios from practice so you can easily check if this applies to you.

What is withholding tax and why it can sometimes be refunded

Withholding tax is a method of taxation where you don’t pay the tax, but it is deducted and paid by the payer of the income (typically an employer, bank, payroll company) at source, i.e. at the time of payment. You get the net amount already.

This has two big advantages: the state has the money quickly and the payer takes care of the formalities. The disadvantage is obvious: withholding tax is often deducted even for people who would have paid less or even nothing in tax after adding up their annual income and allowances. This is where the scope for clawback comes in.

But it is important to distinguish between the two situations:

1. Withholding tax as a final tax: for many incomes, withholding is a tax that is settled and not refundable on your return. This is typically the case for some investment income (e.g., interest in the bank), dividends, etc.
2. Withholding tax that can be recovered through your tax return: for certain income (mainly earned income without a signed declaration), you can voluntarily include the income in your tax return, offset the withheld tax and if you come out overpaid, the government will refund it. In practice, this is how withholding tax and tax returns most often meet in the case of temporary jobs and agreements.

FTEs, FTEs and withholding tax when filing a return

There is one key question that keeps recurring in practice with agreements: does my employer withhold tax or withhold advance tax? And right after that, the second: can I get the withheld tax through my tax return? The answer depends on two things – whether you signed an income tax declaration (pink declaration) with your employer and how much your monthly remuneration was with the same payer.

Income from agreements (and generally some other small employment income) will fall under the special rate withholding tax regime if you meet the conditions of the law – namely you don’t have a signed taxpayer declaration and the income is below the threshold.

In the case of a DPP, the threshold for withholding tax is linked to the limit for participation in sickness insurance: if your total remuneration with one employer in a calendar month is below CZK 12,000 and you do not have a signed taxpayer’s declaration with that employer, the employer will generally apply withholding tax.

For FTEs (and generally for non-FTE employment), the relevant amount for withholding tax is lower: if your earnings with the same employer in a month do not reach CZK 4,500 and you do not have a signed tax declaration, these earnings may also be subject to withholding tax.

For the purposes of the tax return for 2025, use the values that applied in that year: 11,500 CZK for the FTE and 4,500 CZK for the DPČ.

Now, the most important thing for withholding tax refunds: if your employer withheld withholding tax on the agreement, it does not automatically mean that you have irretrievably lost the money. The law allows you to voluntarily include such income on your tax return – and then the tax withheld is applied to your total annual tax liability. If, after adding up all your income and claiming allowances, it turns out you should have paid less, you will have overpaid and the tax office will refund you.

But there is one crucial condition: if you decide to include income subject to withholding tax in your return, you must include all such income that falls under the same scheme – you can’t select just some.

One more practical note: once you have signed a taxpayer declaration with your employer, withholding tax typically does not apply – the employer withholds advance tax and can already take allowances (typically the basic rate taxpayer allowance) into account during the year. On the other hand, withholding tax is most likely to occur where a declaration is not signed (for example, a second job alongside your main job) and where you fit within the limits.

When you can claim a refund of withholding tax

The most common scenario in which you can get a refund of withholding tax is simple: you had only small earnings during the year (perhaps a few part-time jobs), some of which were taxed by withholding. When you then add up the year’s earnings, you end up with a low (or zero) tax liability because the basic personal allowance and any other allowances and deductions apply. However, if you didn’t file anything, the deduction is left to the state.

When a refund is not (or cannot be) paid

In some cases, the withholding tax is actually final and is not included in the tax return at all – typically for capital income withdrawals. And even where the law allows you to voluntarily add the income to your return, it may not be worthwhile: if you have a higher total income and the tax credits have nowhere to go, offsetting the withholding won’t give you any refund.

In practice, you can follow a simple rule of thumb: you should be careful if you have had part-time jobs or agreements where your employer withheld tax, you did not have a signed declaration from your employer (or you had one from another employer) and your total annual income is not very high. It is often in this situation that it makes sense to start proactively seeking a refund of withholding tax, as an overpayment may come through your tax return.

Practical examples

To understand when a withholding tax refund is most likely to succeed in practice, it helps to look at a few typical situations that people encounter most often:

Example 1: One part-time job, withholding, low annual income

You were working on a DPP, you didn’t sign a declaration, your employer withheld tax. You hardly had any other income. You file a return, claim the basic ratepayer’s allowance – and often find that your tax liability is lower than the tax already withheld, so you end up with an overpayment.

Example 2: Two or three agreements during the year

Each employer withheld a little from you. Individually it doesn’t look dramatic, but together it can be a noticeable amount. When you request withholding tax receipts from all of them and include the income on your return, the refund can be surprisingly large.

Example 3: Combination of main employment and agreement

If you were employed and also had a small part-time job without a declaration, it is worth calculating whether including the withholding taxed income in the return will improve the result (e.g. because of additional allowances, deductions, mortgage, gifts, etc.). But beware here: sometimes, on the other hand, the return will result in an obligation to pay something extra – depending on the particular combination of incomes.

Confirmation of withholding tax

It is with withholding tax certificates that people most often stumble and often lose money unnecessarily just because they don’t have the right paper on time. This is because if you want to convert your withholding tax into a refund via your tax return, you need to be able to prove two things to the tax office: how much you were actually paid and how much the payer withheld and paid in tax. Without this, your claim on the return is just a number without support – and the taxman may ask you to fill it in, or not give you a credit at all.

That’s why you need to get a receipt from your employer confirming income paid and tax withheld. In particular, when you get it in your hand, make sure it includes the employer’s (payer’s) identification, your identification, the period for which the income is earned, and, most importantly, the specific amounts: the total income paid, the basis for calculating the tax, and the total tax withheld. It is these figures that you then use when completing your return to show how you arrived at the tax offset.

When do I need a receipt? Ideally as soon as you know you’ll be filing the return – typically at the beginning of the year after the end of the tax year. Employers are used to such requests and are legally obliged to provide you with a certificate within 10 days of your request. And if you had more than one agreement, you need a separate certificate from each employer.

Withholding tax and tax returns: how to claim a refund

First, get together the supporting documents from all income payers. If you had more than one part-time job or arrangement with different employers, you’ll need confirmation from each employer who withheld tax – otherwise you won’t be able to prove how much was withheld and the taxman may question your figures or ask you to complete them.

Then comes the tax return itself. This is where you list the relevant income according to its nature – typically as earned income for temporary jobs and contracts – and at the same time indicate on the return that some tax has already been paid by way of withholding. In other words, you claim the tax withheld on your return as tax to be credited against your total annual tax liability.

If you end up with an overpayment after adding up your income and claiming credits, there is one more important thing you need to do: actively claim the overpayment back. It is not enough to rely on it being sent to you automatically. The taxman must be clear that you are claiming the refund and, more importantly, where to send it – the e-return addresses this by filling in the section on claiming the overpayment and the bank account.

How quickly you get the money and what can delay the refund

If the request meets the conditions, the tax authority is obliged to refund the overpayment within 30 days of receiving the request. However, the request will normally only be granted if the amount is at least CZK 200 ( otherwise only after this amount has been reached within 60 days). You may also not be reimbursed if there is a reasonable expectation that you will be liable to repay something shortly afterwards (for example, in the same personal tax account).

In practice, withholding tax refunds most often get stuck on a few typical things. Often there is no withholding tax certificate, so you have nothing to prove how much was actually withheld and paid. Other times, you do have a receipt, but the information on it doesn’t match what you put on your tax return – and the tax office then asks you to complete or correct it. The problem can also be purely technical: an incorrectly filled-in bank account for repayment of an overpayment can make the whole process unnecessarily long. Finally, if you have arrears of other taxes, the tax office may use the overpayment to pay the amount owed as a priority.

How to file a tax return

You no longer have to go to the tax office to file your tax return. The tax administration has long been moving communication online and the main gateway you will use in practice is the MY Tax portal. This combines two things: firstly, the EPO application, where you fill in and submit forms, and secondly, the Online Tax Office (DIS+), which, once you have logged in, can also offer useful information from your personal tax accounts and can partially or completely pre-fill some returns.

Through MY Taxes you can complete the whole process: fill in the form in EPO, have it checked, save the working version (in case you need to return to it) and then send it. Logging in is handled in a modern way, typically through a citizen’s identity (e.g. a bank identity).

Important practical note: some people are required to submit forms (typically tax returns) exclusively electronically. This obligation arises in particular if the person has a data box established by law (self-employed persons, entrepreneurs). For them, therefore, it is not just a matter of convenience, but a legal obligation to choose the electronic form.

Summary

Withholding tax refunds are mainly available for smaller earnings (typically FTEs and DPPs) where your employer withheld tax because you did not have a signed taxpayer declaration with them and you also fell within the monthly withholding tax limits. The withholding itself doesn’t mean you’ve definitely lost money – if you voluntarily include this income on your tax return, the withheld tax will be credited against your annual tax liability. If, after adding up all the income and applying the allowances, the tax comes out lower, you will have an overpayment and the tax office will refund it to you. However, if you choose to include income subject to withholding, you must include all the income that falls under the same regime on your return – you can’t just pick out the ‘advantageous’ ones.

The key to success is to have the right supporting documents: ask for a receipt from each taxpayer who withheld tax from you, showing the income paid and the tax withheld (without it, the taxman may disallow the offset or ask you to complete it). You then list the income on your return and claim the tax withheld as already paid. If an overpayment arises, you must also actively claim it back and fill in the account correctly. Missing or mismatched receipts, incorrect bank details or arrears of other taxes (the overpayment can then be used to pay these) can hinder the refund. The whole process can now be conveniently handled online via the MY Taxes portal.