If you are a Czech tax resident and sell stocks, ETFs or crypto you hold privately, most of the time you owe nothing. Two exemptions do the work: the value test (all your sales in the year brought in no more than 100,000 CZK) and the time test (you held the position for more than three years). What is left is taxed as other income under §10 of the Income Tax Act, usually at 15%, after netting gains and losses within the year. Dividends follow their own rules: Czech ones are taxed before they reach you, foreign ones belong in your tax return.
This article walks through both exemptions with a worked example, explains what is different for crypto and CFDs, how foreign dividends and the US withholding tax work, the 5 million CZK reporting duty that applies even when you owe no tax, and how MoneySky works out the numbers for your return.
The two exemptions
Both apply to securities (shares, ETFs, bonds, fund units) and, since 15 February 2025, to crypto, as long as you hold them privately and not as business assets.
The value test. If the gross proceeds of all your securities sales in a calendar year add up to 100,000 CZK or less, all of them are exempt. It counts proceeds, not profit, so a sale at a loss uses up the limit just like a sale at a profit. If you go over by a single crown, the test fails for the whole year, not only for the part above 100,000 CZK.
The time test. A sale is exempt, whatever the amount, if more than three years passed between buying and selling. Every purchase has its own clock. If you invest monthly, each month's purchase becomes exempt three years after that month.
The order matters. The value test comes first, and its total includes sales that would be exempt under the time test anyway. Only when you are over 100,000 CZK do you check the time test purchase by purchase. Whatever passes neither test is taxable.
For 2025 only, income exempt under the time test was capped at 40 million CZK a year. From 1 January 2026 the cap no longer applies to securities, so long held shares and ETFs are again exempt without any upper limit. Crypto keeps the cap, as described below.
A worked example
An illustrative investor, not a real one, sells three positions in 2026:
| Sale | Bought | Proceeds (CZK) | Cost incl. fees (CZK) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World ETF | March 2022 | 180,000 | 120,000 | exempt, time test |
| Apple shares | February 2025 | 60,000 | 40,000 | +20,000 |
| Tesla shares | May 2024 | 35,000 | 47,000 | −12,000 |
| Total | 275,000 |
Total proceeds of 275,000 CZK are over the limit, so the value test fails. The ETF was held for more than three years, passes the time test and stays out of the return. The Apple and Tesla sales are taxable together: 95,000 CZK of proceeds minus 87,000 CZK of costs gives a tax base of 8,000 CZK, which is 1,200 CZK of tax at 15%.
Now the same year without the ETF sale. Proceeds are 95,000 CZK, the value test passes, and there is nothing to pay or report. The ETF sale was tax free on its own, yet it cost 1,200 CZK by pushing the short term sales over the limit. Selling it in January 2027 instead would have avoided that. If you are close to 100,000 CZK in December, look at the whole year before you sell.
Losses
Within one year, a loss reduces a gain of the same kind, which is why the Tesla loss lowered the tax on the Apple gain above. Beyond that, losses are of little use. The §10 tax base cannot go below zero, a loss cannot be set against your salary or business income, and an unused loss cannot be carried forward to the next year. Securities and crypto are treated as different kinds of income, so a crypto loss does not reduce a stock gain.
Sales that are exempt under either test do not enter the return at all, so a loss on them does not count either.
Crypto: the same tests, three differences
Separate limits. Crypto has its own 100,000 CZK value test, independent of securities. The 275,000 CZK of stock sales in the example has no effect on crypto, and the other way round.
The 40 million CZK cap stays. Crypto proceeds exempt under the time test are capped at 40 million CZK a year. Anything above is taxed, with costs counted in proportion.
More things count as a sale. Swapping one coin for another and paying for something with crypto are transfers too, and their value adds to your proceeds. Electronic money tokens, a type of stablecoin, are excluded from the value test exemption.
An example: Bitcoin bought in 2022 and sold for 150,000 CZK is exempt under the time test. Ether bought in 2025 and sold for 40,000 CZK with a cost of 30,000 CZK is not, because total crypto proceeds of 190,000 CZK are over the limit. The 10,000 CZK gain is taxable, which is 1,500 CZK at 15%. Income from staking, lending or mining follows different rules and is outside this article.
CFDs and other derivatives
CFDs, offered for example by eToro or XTB, are derivatives, not securities. Neither the value test nor the time test applies to them, so gains and losses go into the return from the first crown and are reported separately from stock sales.
Dividends
Czech companies. The company or your broker withholds 15% before paying you, and that is final. Czech dividends do not go into your return.
Foreign companies. Foreign dividends are capital income under §8. You report the gross amount, converted to CZK, and it is taxed together with your other income. Tax withheld abroad is credited against the Czech tax, but only up to the rate allowed by the tax treaty with that country and only up to the Czech tax on that income.
US shares and the W-8BEN. With a W-8BEN form filed with your broker, the US withholds 15%, which matches the Czech 15%, so there is nothing more to pay. You still report the dividend. Without the form, the US withholds 30%, you can only credit 15%, and the other 15% is lost unless you reclaim it from the US.
Accumulating ETFs pay no dividends, so there is nothing to report until you sell.
In the return, foreign dividends go on line 38 as capital income, and the foreign tax credit is claimed in Annex 3.
Exchange rates and records
Amounts in foreign currency are converted to CZK either at the Czech National Bank rate for the day of each transaction or at the single annual rate (jednotný kurz) the Financial Administration publishes after the year ends. Pick one approach for the year. Keep your broker and exchange statements: to claim the time test you have to prove when you bought, and to deduct a cost you have to prove what you paid.
Do you need to file, and by when
Exempt sales do not count toward the filing threshold. For 2026, you file a return if your taxable income exceeds 50,000 CZK. An employee who signed the taxpayer declaration can have up to 20,000 CZK of other taxable income, including investment gains and foreign dividends, without filing. From 2027 income these limits rise to 100,000 CZK and 40,000 CZK. Freelancers usually file anyway, and the investment income goes into the same return.
The return for 2026 is due on 1 April 2027 on paper, 3 May 2027 electronically and 1 July 2027 with a tax adviser. Freelancers with a data box must file electronically. All deadlines are in What Changes for Czech Freelancers in 2027.
Exempt does not mean silent. If a single exempt income exceeds 5 million CZK, for example one large sale of shares you held for years, you must notify the tax office by the return deadline, even if you file no return at all. A late notice made on your own costs 0.1% of the amount, but the fine can reach 10% if you only file after the tax office asks, and 15% if you never do.
When these rules do not apply
Investments in business assets. If a freelancer includes securities or crypto in their business assets, the exemptions generally do not apply. Most people hold investments privately, and keeping them separate from the business is the simple way to stay there.
Investing through an s.r.o. Gains of a company are corporate income. There is no time test and no value test.
Gifts, inheritance and shared marital property have their own rules for the holding period, the purchase price and who declares the income.
How MoneySky works it out
Matching sales to purchases. MoneySky takes the trades from your tracked holdings and connected exchanges and matches every sale to its purchases, oldest first (FIFO), in CZK.
Both tests, both asset classes. It runs the value test separately for securities and for crypto. If you are over the limit, it checks the time test purchase by purchase and applies the 40 million CZK cap to crypto, with the taxable part above it.
CFDs. eToro CFDs are computed separately, fees included, without exemptions.
Ready for the return. The result is the set of rows for the §10 table in Annex 2 of the personal income tax return (DP7). On the Everything plan they go straight into the return MoneySky prepares, and MoneySky can also prepare the notice of exempt income over 5 million CZK.
Honest about the edges. Where the law is not settled, such as swapping a coin for its staking variant, MoneySky leaves the case out and tells you to check it. Investments in business assets, shared marital property, gifts and inheritance and derivatives other than eToro CFDs are listed as cases for your tax adviser rather than computed. Foreign dividends and their tax credit are not part of this calculation.
Your AI assistant. Realised gains are available to Claude and ChatGPT through the MoneySky MCP connection, so you can ask "what did I realise this year and how much of it is taxable?" and get the answer from your own data. Read how the assistant connection works and what is safe.
FAQ
Do I have to report sales that are exempt?
No. Exempt sales stay out of the return. The only exception is the notice for a single exempt income over 5 million CZK.
I sold at a loss. Do I owe anything?
Not on a net loss. But the proceeds still count toward the 100,000 CZK value test, and the loss cannot be carried into next year.
Is the first 100,000 CZK always tax free?
No. The value test is all or nothing. At 100,001 CZK of proceeds it fails, and every sale that does not pass the time test is taxable.
Which purchase am I selling when I bought the same ETF many times?
The law does not prescribe a method. Most investors use FIFO, so the oldest units are sold first, which also gets you to the time test soonest. MoneySky uses FIFO. Whatever you use, keep it the same from year to year and never deduct the same purchase twice.
Is swapping Bitcoin for Ether a sale?
Yes. It is a transfer of the coin you give up, and its value counts toward your crypto proceeds for the year.
Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial of everything, no card needed. Add your holdings, connect your exchanges and see what this year's sales mean for your return. Compare plans.
As of 23 October 2026. This is a simplified overview, not tax advice. For larger amounts or the special cases above, check with a tax adviser.