Do you have an unpaid tax refund? You could lose it after 6 years

A tax overpayment can sometimes tempt you to treat it as a nest egg for a rainy day. However, if you don’t request a refund in time, it will expire after six years and the money will be forfeited to the government. A new ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court clearly shows that you must carefully monitor the balance of your tax account yourself.

Every tax refund has its own deadline

Many business owners treat a tax overpayment as money set aside for later. However, the tax office does not function like a bank with a savings account. If you leave the money there for too long and do not file a claim for its return, you may lose it permanently.

According to Section 160a of the Tax Code, a clear rule applies: if you do not request a refund of the overpayment within 6 years from the end of the year in which it arose, the amount is forfeited to the state. This procedure was also recently confirmed by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) in its ruling 9 Afs 18/2025-44.

Why not let overpayments sit with the tax office?

The court also pointed out another important detail: an overpayment often does not consist of a single large lump sum. It can also arise gradually from multiple payments, and each individual amount has its own six-year statute of limitations.

In practice, this means that your tax account may typically hold overpayments with different expiration dates for claiming their refund.

Furthermore , the tax office is not required to actively notify you that you have money on file with them or that the deadline for its payment is approaching. The Constitutional Court added that, as taxpayers, you have plenty of options for checking the status of your tax account, for example:

This leads to a clear recommendation: check the status of your tax account regularly, ideally at least once a year after filing your tax return.

When will you receive your tax refund?

Regarding income tax for the year 2025, the deadline for electronic filing of returns was May 4, 2026. If you filed your return on time and immediately filled out the request for a refund, the Financial Administration will send you the money by June 3, 2026, at the latest.

But watch out for a common mistake: just because you have an overpayment doesn’t mean the money will automatically be deposited into your account. You must always actively request a refund —either by checking the appropriate box directly on your tax return or by submitting a separate request.

Before sending the money, the tax office will also verify whether you have any outstanding tax liabilities on record. If so, the overpayment will be used primarily to settle those liabilities.

How to avoid losing your money to the tax office?

The easiest way is to regularly check your tax account on the MOJE daně portal, where you can get an immediate online overview.

We recommend that you adopt these simple habits:

• After submitting each tax return, check the status of your personal tax account,
• double-check that you have filled out the request for a refund of the overpayment in your return,
• don’t let older overpayments sit with the government without a specific purpose,
• for businesses, delegate the monitoring of deadlines and tax accounts to your accountant or tax advisor.

Don’t let your overpayments go to the government

Tax overpayments often don’t arise solely from mistakes. They commonly occur if you pay multiple types of taxes, make advance payments, handle VAT, or employ people. And the more tax obligations you manage, the easier it is to overlook amounts that may remain in your tax account unnoticed.

Want to put your tax and accounting worries behind you? Leave your tax obligations to us. We’ll take over your accounting and tax affairs so you can be sure you’re not needlessly leaving your money with the government. Contact us using the form below, and we’ll take a look at your situation.