What to remember when you stop trading

Do you need to take a break from your business, either for another job or a change in priorities? It is not necessary to close your business straight away. A temporary break is much more practical. When you want to start again, just renew it and you can continue as self-employed. See how a business break works and what you need to do it.

Suspend or terminate your self-employed business?

There are a number of reasons why entrepreneurs discontinue a trade. Some are dealing with health issues, financial difficulties, transitioning to a business or even the end of the summer season.

Taking a break is especially worthwhile if you plan to resume your business activities over time. Because cancelling and re-establishing your business would mean unnecessary paperwork and paying a new administrative fee.

Do you know you don't want to go back to business? Read our article on closing a business.

How long can you suspend your business for?

You cannot suspend a business indefinitely, but you must always give a specific date. Whether it's a few months or years is up to you. You determine the length of the break depending on how long you need.

It's practical to give yourself a break for, say, 100 years. A long term will save you the trouble of watching the dates and having to extend the break.

Who must be notified when I stop working as a self-employed person?

As soon as you decide to stop your trade, let the authorities know as soon as possible. The sooner the better. If you delay, you'll probably add to your worries. The authorities will also ask you to pay social security and health insurance for the period when you were without income from the business.

What institutions do you have to report the business interruption to?

• The Czech Social Security Administration and your health insurance company within 8 days
• to the tax office within 15 days

Once you stop your trade, you will no longer be a member of the pension insurance scheme and this period will no longer count as working time for your pension. You can, however, simply submit an Application for Voluntary Participation in Pension Insurance on the ePortal of the Social Insurance Institution.

Discontinuing your trade is not just about filling in a form. You must file a tax return for the previous year even if you were only in business for a few days or weeks.

How and when to contact the trade office?

Once you have made the final decision to suspend your trade, you should also report your change in business to the trade office. The start date of the suspension will be the date on which the authority receives the notice from you, or a later date that you specify in the notice - you cannot report the suspension retrospectively.

Suspension of trade in person at the office

You can give notice of a business interruption in person at any trade licensing office or Czech POINT office. Have your ID number and personal document ready for verification.

Business interruption form

In other cases, you cannot do without filling in and printing the so-called change sheet, which is one of the versions of the Unified Registration Form.

In addition to the basic information about yourself and your trade, you will fill in the 05 period of interruption from-to.

In box 16 of the change sheet you can tick that the trade office should also inform the social security, health insurance and tax office. This will save you having to go round to other institutions. Even so, you should check afterwards that the notification has been received and processed by the authorities.

Suspending a trade online

After completing the information, send the form by post or online with an electronic signature, or to the data box of the relevant trade licence.

To speed up and facilitate the work, it is advisable to use the application used to create and then send an electronic version of the form - you can find it on the Trade Business Portal. You will not have to print the completed application, but send it directly from the application to the trade office's data box.

When dealing with the authorities, you should use the data box that you have legally established as a self-employed person. While some offices, such as the trade licensing office, still accept submissions by email, a data box is more reliable, secure and the official method of communication.

What is the process for reinstating a suspended trade?

You do not need to report the resumption of your trade if you are returning to the business within the time limit you specified when you suspended it. However, if you decide to start earlier, you must notify your intention in advance again via the change sheet of the Uniform Registration Form. Only then can you resume business.

You must also remember to notify the Social Security Administration and the health insurance company of the resumption of your business, again by the 8th of the following month.

You can stop your business without going to the authorities

Temporarily suspending a trade is not rocket science. However, not everyone wants to be bothered with entering all sorts of data into forms or deciding whether it is better to send a temporary business interruption notice by post or by data box.

If you need help with suspending or cancelling your business, we're here to help. Give us a call, send us an email or fill out the form below and we'll get back to you.

Contact information

Write to us and we’ll get back
to you within 24 hours.

+420 226 224 724

info@jake-james.cz

Revoluční 736/15, Praha 1

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