General information on the legal address in the Czech Republic
Each company and individual entrepreneur in the Czech Republic must be registered to a local address at a physical property. This is a legal requirement when starting a business in the country.
That said, many Czech business owners use a "virtual office" service. The reason is that their work does not require a real office space (which involves high costs), and they can effectively run their business from home.
Czech law allows businesses to use a ‘formal’ registered address without needing a physical office at this location. This is a widespread practice, common in the Czech Republic and many other countries.
The location of this address determines which government authorities the business is assigned to – mainly the Tax Office and the Trade Court that maintains the company’s records. Changing your legal address will change your assigned government authorities, unless the move is within the same district (for example, moving from one in Prague 4 to another in Prague 4).
How to change your company’s legal address in the Czech Republic: procedure and requirements
This information is for those who want to change the registered address of their Czech company independently. Here is the required procedure.
At its core, the procedure for changing is divided into two main steps:
- Step 1: Getting permission for the new legal address
- Step 2: Recording the change in the Trade Register
Let’s review each step in detail.
1) Getting permission for the new legal address
When relocating a company’s registered location, the first step is to get permission to establish the company’s address at the new one. This permission is known as "Souhlas s umístěním sídla" in Czech. A Czech company’s registered place may be situated in any residential or commercial property within the Czech Republic (it must be a physical structure), including a private apartment or house. Many business owners choose to use their own home or other real estate as the legal address.
The permission must be given by the property owner (or by someone acting on their behalf with a power of attorney). If the property has multiple owners – for example, a married couple – we recommend getting this permission from every single owner.
If you do not own property in the Czech Republic, you can use a so-called "virtual address" for your company. There are many providers of such available in every major Czech city. These services are provided for a fee, with the cheapest options starting at about 70 euros per year. If you need a reliable provider, feel free to reach out – we will be happy to recommend one.
The signature on the permission form must be officially certified. You can obtain certification from any notary, at any CZECH Point office, at Czech consulates abroad, or from notaries outside the country (we can advise you on how to do this). If the permission form is issued by someone acting on behalf of the property owner via a power of attorney, a certified copy of that power of attorney must be attached to the permission form to confirm the signatory’s authority.
There is no specific mandatory template for the permission form; it is typically written in a free form. We recommend including the following details in the document:
- Name and registration number of the company receiving the permission.
- Address of the office, including cadastral information (the more details, the better).
- Individual who is granting the permission.
- The period of the permission (it can be time-limited, for example, for one year).
Use our TEMPLATE FOR THE LEGAL ADDRESS PERMISSION FORM FOR A CZECH COMPANY. You just need to insert the specific information about the property owner and the address itself.
Furthermore, we suggest including a signed statement from the company founders confirming they agree to the address change. Based on our experience, this document is often not strictly required, and the application is processed without it. However, we still recommend preparing it as a precaution to formally document the founders’ agreement to the address change.
2) Recording the address change in the Trade Register
Once you have the permission, the next step is to record this change with the Czech Trade Register (the official registry of legal entities).
It is important to check what your company’s Articles of Association says about the registered office location. You must determine if the Articles of Association needs to be updated because of the address change. There are two main scenarios:
- The company’s Articles of Association specifies only a general locality for the legal address (for example, simply that ‘the company’s is located in Prague’), and now we are changing the address within that specified locality. In this case, we do not need to amend the company’s Articles of Association, which is simpler and significantly cheaper. In fact, this is the most common situation that we encounter. In this scenario, the company director (specifically the director) prepares and submits an application to the Trade Register to change the company’s legal address. The application must be accompanied by the permission for the use of the new one (the above-mentioned "Souhlas s umístěním sídla"). The application must be drafted using a special online form on the Czech Ministry of Justice website. It must then be printed, signed with a notarized signature, and submitted to the relevant Trade Court where the company is registered. Submission can also be made using the company’s Datová schránka, if available. An administrative fee of 2000 CZK (approximately 80 EUR) must be paid for processing the application; the payment details are generated automatically on the first page of the application. The Trade Court typically issues a decision within 3-5 business days.
- The company’s Articles of Association specifies a precise legal address, or the change involves relocating to a different city (for example, moving the address from Prague to Brno). In this case, amending the company’s Articles of Association is mandatory. This procedure is more complex, as it requires a formal change to the company’s Articles of Association. The complexity arises because this action can only be authorized by the company founders. Furthermore, this is more expensive as a notary must be involved, costing about 7000-8000 CZK (~300-350 EUR). The founders must be physically present at the notary’s office or be represented by someone with a power of attorney. You will still need to provide the permission for the new location to the notary. The advantage is that the notary will then submit the change directly to the Trade Register – no separate application from your side is needed. The situation is less common overall and often depends on individual circumstances. If this applies to you, please feel free to contact us for guidance on how to proceed.
Once the address change is officially recorded in the Trade Register, the company is automatically reassigned to the new territorial government authorities. The most important changes are your local Tax Office ("Finanční úřad") and a new Trade Court where your company is registered. This process is carried out automatically; the company’s records are transferred from the old offices to the new ones without any action required on your part.
However, this means that starting from the address change date, you must submit your accounting reports to the new Tax Office. Additionally, any future amendments to the company must be filed with the new Trade Court.
This concludes the company address change procedure.
Frequently Asked Questions about company legal address
What happens if I don’t renew my Czech company’s legal address?
This is a common question we receive. Let’s assume the company has simply stopped paying the annual fee for the address to its provider.
In practice, problems can arise from two directions:
1. From government authorities. If you have not renewed the legal address, the address provider can file a request with the government authorities to cancel it, or the authorities may discover this on their own. In such a case, the authorities will send the company an official inquiry. The company must then provide documented proof of its right to use the current legal address or change to a new one (providing supporting documents). The law typically provides a sufficient period for this change, usually between 30 and 90 days. If the company does not respond to this inquiry, all its business licenses may be cancelled. Without these licenses, the company loses the legal authority to conduct business. Further inaction can lead to "forced liquidation". Based on our experience, however, such severe sanctions from government authorities are relatively rare.
2. From the address provider. This concerns situations where you do not own property in the Czech Republic and have obtained an address from a third party. In practice, there are also two main scenarios here:
- The legal address was provided WITHOUT a formal service contract. This means you simply paid money and were given the permission for address use. This is a relatively safe situation – the worst the property owner can do is file a request with the Trade Register to cancel it for your company (for example, if you did not pay for the next year). This would then trigger the scenario described in point 1 (sanctions from government authorities). Whether the property owner will actually take this step is unpredictable. From our experience, this does happen. Our recommendation is to simply monitor the situation. If a cancellation occurs, then you deal with it (the company will receive a notification in its Datová schránka demanding proof of new permission or a change one). If you do not receive such a notification, there is essentially no problem. Address providers often do not strictly monitor this, and a company can remain it for a long time without any issues.
- The legal address was provided WITH a formal service contract. In this case, it is important to examine the specific terms of the contract, as our experience shows they can contain ‘risky’ terms. People frequently sign these contracts without reading them. We want to highlight that these agreements almost always state: if the address fee is not paid on time, if the company representative is unreachable, and if the address is not transferred elsewhere, the provider can demand payment from the private individual who signed the contract. It’s not rare for address providers to actually do this. This creates a debt for the using legal address, which they legally demand from the individual who signed the contract. The address providers do not hesitate to send this to debt collectors, causing the amount to multiply. The situation is very different for someone who is not in the Czech Republic and cannot be located, compared to someone who resides there; many people have fallen for this trick. The provider may or may not initiate the formal proceedings. Anyway, we strongly advise avoiding this situation entirely. If it does occur, do not ignore it: you should proactively contact the provider and try to work something out. In our experience, if you communicate openly and do not hide, they are usually willing to cooperate. They won’t write off the debt, but they might agree to a practical solution. Ultimately, it is far better to simply renew the legal address. The annual fee is not very expensive, while the money troubles you could face from the contract breach can be much bigger.
In summary, our recommendation is to always renew your company’s legal address on time. This services is not very expensive, whereas the problems arising from not having a valid one can be severe.
Requirements for changing a Czech company’s legal address
The procedure requires two basic components:
- Permission from the property owner for the company to use the address
- Filing the application with the Czech Trade Register to record the change.
If the legal entity is moving to a different city, amending the company’s charter via a notary is also mandatory. A comprehensive guide on how to change your company’s address LINK SOON in the Czech Republic is available on this page.
Can I change the legal address remotely, without a personal visit?
Yes, absolutely, the legal address of a company in the Czech Republic can be changed remotely. This is done either by using a power of attorney from the company director or via the company’s Datová schránka. In any case, we encourage you to get in touch with us, and we will advise you on a course of action for your particular situation. The most important aspect for the address change is the permission for the new address – a step that can be arranged remotely.
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