How to register an s.r.o. (LLC in the Czech Republic)

Opening a limited liability company in the Czech Republic is not difficult. There is an option for a so-called “simplified” registration, which takes 1-2 days and costs around 5,000 CZK (administrative fee for the notary and the Commercial Court).

We will explain the process of opening an s.r.o. to you in the smallest detail:

1. Choose a company name.
2. Check on justice.cz to see if a company with the same name already exists.
3. If you plan to create a brand in the Czech Republic or Europe, you must check if a trademark with the same name as your company is already registered. You can check it here. A company with the same name might not exist in the Czech Republic, but an eponymous trademark could be registered for all of Europe.
4. Determine who will be the company’s director (jednatel) and who will be the co-founder (společník) or sole owner (jediný společník).
5. A director who does not have permanent residence or Czech citizenship must provide a criminal record certificate from their country of citizenship.
6. Determine the amount of registered capital. In the Czech Republic, the minimum registered capital for an s.r.o. is 1 CZK. However, it’s better to set it at a minimum of 10,000 CZK. For companies that later want to work with investors, it’s advisable to increase the registered capital to a reasonable amount. Investors are not very keen on investing in a company with a registered capital of 10,000 CZK.
7. Find a registered office (sídlo společnosti) and obtain a confirmation from the owner (you can find the form at the link). This must be a confirmation that the property owner agrees to have your company registered at this address. This can also be your apartment or house, in which case you sign the permission yourself. The signature must be notarized.
8. Arrange a meeting with a notary. Our partner notary is Šárka Tlašková. Contact information and a sample letter template are available here.
9. The notary will ask you whether they should submit the company information automatically or if you will do it yourself. I recommend entrusting all of this to the notary. It costs a little more, but it’s not the kind of money you should save by trying to figure out what to do with the founding documents yourself.
10. You go to the Trade Licensing Office (živnostenský úřad) to register the company’s business activities. Find your activity in the list of trades. At any Trade Licensing Office (živnostenský úřad) in a municipal office (městský úřad), you must state that you are registering an s.r.o. and registering a trade license for this company. You provide the documents given to you by the notary – the founding document. The registration of the trade license takes about 3–7 business days. After that, you pick up the confirmation from the Trade Licensing Office and take it to the notary.
11. The final step – the notary sends your information to the state authorities, particularly the tax authority. In a few business days, your company will appear in the list of companies in the Commercial Register.
12. After some time, you will receive confirmation that your company has its data box (datová schránka) (the company’s official email, through which you can communicate with state authorities or they can send your company notifications). Keep in mind that the access details are sent to your registered address of residence, even if it is in another country. You can also get access to the data box by visiting any Czech post office branch and requesting new access credentials. Only the company director has the right to access the data box.