If you are starting a business in the Czech Republic (does not matter if under the trade license as a freelancer or under the s.r.o. – limited liability company), one of the documents you always need is a business address in the Czech Republic. That is basically a permission to run business at some particular address. This article talks about everything you need to know about getting a business address, changing it and everything around that. Read on!
Why do you need a business address in Czech Republic?
There are a few things to this question. Firstly, it is a law requirement for setting up a trade license or an s.r.o. It also has some practical reasons. For your customers, the business address is a place where they can find you/the company in case they need to do so, it is where they can send letters etc. Related to this, the business address is also generally your contact address for all the authorities. That means if for example the Tax Office wants to send you a physical letter, they will send it to the business address you use.
Two types of business address in Czech Republic
There are generally two types of business address in the Czech Republic – real and so called “virtual”. Generally speaking, and especially for freelancers, trade license holders, it is best to have the same address for where you live and where your business is placed. It makes things simple.
You can generally use a lease agreement as your business address as long as it does not forbid you from doing so (+ it must be signed by all the owner of the property) or you can get a special consent of all the owner to use the property as your business address.
In some cases though, you either can not use your real address (i.e. the landlord does not want you to) or you do not want to use your real address (i.e. the business address can be found online and you do not want people to know where you live). In this case, you can go for so called “virtual business address”.
What is a virtual business address and why to get it?
Virtual business address means, that you pay someone to provide you with a consent with using their address as your business address. This process is completely legal and is used a lot in real life. Why? A few of the reasons were mentioned above but we list the most common ones below as well:
- your landlord does not want you to use their apartment as your business address,
- it would be too complicated to get the consent – i.e. if you live in a flat owned by “housing cooperative”, it might take long to get the consent from the housing cooperative,
- you do not want all people on the Internet where you live,
- you move a lot and/or can not really receive mail at your address,
- and more.
If you find yourself among the cases listed above, it might be good solution for you to get a virtual business address.
What to be careful about when getting a business address in the Czech Republic?
As with probably all services, there are good providers and not that good providers of the virtual business address in the Czech Republic. These are the things ou should look out for when considering getting a business address:
- you should get a physical consent with using an address as your business address – you will need this for the trade license office or for the courts when setting up an s.r.o.,
- you should make sure your business name and business number will be placed on the building where the business address is placed – this is a law requirement for both trade license and s.r.o. but many providers do not do this for you which can cause some serious trouble for you in some cases,
- you should get a mail box – if you do not have a mail box at the address and/or the provider does not inform you about new mail, you might easily miss some important letter from authorities and get yourself into trouble,
- there should be a place to meet in the property – even though it is “virtual”, the address is real for all the authorities. That means that if for example the Tax Office wants to meet you, they would meet you at the business address. If there is no space to meet in the property (i.e. a real office, cafe etc.) it might create trouble for you.
There is a bit more into the business address requirements but the above are the main things to look out for if you are considering getting a virtual business address in the Czech Republic.
Move To Prague offers a business address in our own property, with guarantee of having your name placed in the building and mailbox with your name so you do not miss any mail.
If you are interested in getting a virtual business address, fill in the form below and we’ll be happy to speak with you about your needs. Article continues below the form.
How long does it take to get a virtual business address in Czech Republic?
If you want to get a virtual business address from us at Move To Prague, we can usually provide the consent the same business day or the next one at last. We use a property we own so the process can be swift.
How does the virtual address work in real life?
The first step to get the virtual address is to cover the yearly fee. Once it is done, we prepare the consent and extract from the Land Register. If you use our services to get your trade license, we keep the documents and submit them to the trade licensee office on your behalf. If you are dealing with the trade license or the s.r.o. yourself, we hand over the documents to you.
Then we place your business name on the property and on a mailbox. If we receive any letter for you, we notify you and either scan the letter for you or you can pick it up from our office in person. The consent with the business address is valid for a year so we send you a notification around a month before expiration asking you if you want to extend it. If so, you cover the yearly fee and we deliver the extension to the trade license office. If you do not want to extend it, you just change the business address to another one (i.e. your own apartment).
Changing the business address in Czech Republic
The virtual business address consent is not meant only for newly set up trade licenses or s.r.o. s, even though that is when it is used the most. You can switch to the virtual business address anytime (i.e. if you move and your new landlord does not agree with you placing the business address to their apartment) and the other way around (i.e. your old landlord did not agree so you got a virtual business address but the new one is fine with that).
Changing the business address is pretty simple with the trade license office – you just go there, submit the new consent and pick up your updated trade license couple days later. Changing the business address under s.r.o. is a bit more complicated since it must be done through the courts so if you want to do this, get in touch and we’ll be happy to explain further.
We hope this article helped you to understand the business address topic but if something remains unclear (or you want to get the virtual business address), get in touch using one of the forms on this page or give us a call.
Yours, Move To Prague relocation experts
