Rental income under §9: expenses, records and the 30 % option

Long-term rental is taxed in its own attachment, with its own expense rules and no social or health insurance. The one decision that shapes the whole year is flat expenses or real ones.

Deadline: With your income tax return

Reported in the §9 attachment for the previous year.

Open the rent-yield calculator

What belongs in §9

§9 is for renting out property you hold as private assets. Short-term accommodation with services is a business activity and belongs in §7 instead.

Long-term lease of a flat, house, land or non-residential space held as private property.
Recurring short-term stays with cleaning and linen are §7 business income, with insurance to match.
§9 income carries no social security and no health insurance premiums.

30 % or real expenses

You pick one method for all of your §9 income for the year and you cannot mix. The flat option is simple, the real one is usually larger once a mortgage and depreciation are in play.

Flat expenses are 30 % of rental income, capped at 600 000 CZK a year.
With flat expenses you keep records of income and receivables only, not of costs.
Switching methods between years can require adjusting the previous year's base for receivables and payables.

What real expenses include

Real expenses need records, and they add up quickly on a financed unit.

Depreciation of the unit, and separately of a technical improvement.
Mortgage interest on the rented unit, in full and with no §15 cap.
Repairs and maintenance, insurance, contributions to the building's repair fund, property tax and the cost of finding a tenant.

Keeping it clean per unit

The attachment is filed as one figure, but the tax office can ask which unit each cost belongs to.

Keep income and costs separated by unit, so a sale or a change of use does not force reconstruction later.
A security deposit is not income. It is money held and later returned or settled.
Utility advances you collect and settle are not rental income, so keep them out of §9 and settle them separately.

Common questions

Can the rental make a tax loss?

With real expenses it can: depreciation and interest can push the §9 base below zero. The loss offsets your other partial bases apart from employment income, and what is left can be carried forward. Flat expenses can never produce a loss.

Two flats. Flat expenses on one, real on the other?

No. The method covers all of your §9 income for the year, so a financed unit and an unencumbered one share whichever method you choose.

The flat is in joint ownership. Who reports the rent?

Each co-owner reports their share of income and expenses following the ownership shares, unless the income from the whole unit is taxed by one of them under an agreement.

Check the unit, not just the tax base

The rent-yield calculator turns price, rent and running costs into gross and net yield and monthly cash flow for the unit.