The VAT identification number (VAT number) is an individual and personal identification number for companies registered for VAT in the EU. In the Czech language it is called “daňové identifikační číslo” or abbreviated as “DIČ”. It consists of the country code CZ and eight, nine or ten digits.
Example of a Czech VAT ID number is CZ8163295218.
This VAT identification number means not only the VAT under which the VAT payer is registered, but also the tax number that is assigned, for example, for income tax purposes, i.e. even a customer who is a non-taxpayer but carries out an economic activity (e.g. a business) should be registered at least for income tax and should therefore have a tax number assigned. In some specific cases, the customer may not actually be assigned a Czech VAT number (the customer may be a taxable person not established in the Czech Republic who has received a taxable supply for which the place of supply is not determined by the residence of the recipient of the taxable supply).
Each enterprise receives only one VAT number in the Czech Republic, even if it has several enterprises or pursues several activities.
The VAT number applies only to the business sector. If a company makes deliveries or services to another company, the purchaser or recipient must communicate his/her VAT number as well as company data, such as name and address. The VAT ID number must be always stated on the tax invoice when delivering the goods or providing a service in the Czech Republic. You can find mor information about the Czech VAT in our blog.
With the indication of the VAT number the enterprises give to recognize that they refer achievements as enterprises and not as final consumer. The VAT number is used by cross-check through the control statement. For more information about the control statement in the Czech Republic please see our blog. The VAT ID number is also used for cross-border trade in the EU or for the importation of goods in the Czech Republic (see more information about the import VAT in our blog).
If goods or services are purchased for private purposes, no VAT number may be provided.
The Czech VAT number is also used by companies which are importing goods to the Czech Republic. The VAT ID No. is given to the Czech Customs for the declaration of the import VAT.
To verify the validity of a business partner’s UID number, official websites of the Czech financial administration can be consulted: https://adisspr.mfcr.cz/cgi-bin/adis/idph/int_dp_prij.cgi?ZPRAC=FDPHI1&poc_dic=2.
On this website you can find all important information about business partners registered for VAT. Thus one can check quite simply not only the validity of the UID number, but also e.g. the address, the bank account number or the responsible tax office. But also the date, when the partner made the VAT registration in the Czech Republic or the VAT de-registration.
The validity and correctness of the VAT number can also be checked on the website of the European Commission https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vatRequest.html.
For more effective control by the tax administration, all VAT payers are obliged to keep the VAT number of the supplier in their records for the received taxable supplies for which they claim a VAT deduction.
The Czech Tax Code with effect from 1 January 2021, allows a person who is a natural person who has not yet been allocated a tax number, to apply for its allocation. Such an allocated VAT number will then form the basic part of the VAT number. In practice, this possibility applies only to natural persons whose tax number is made up of a birth number as a general identifier of the natural person. Another persons cannot ask for this change.
The procedure for the allocation of the tax number is initiated by the submission of an application by the tax subject. The application may be submitted in either of the following ways
- at the same time as the application for registration in the case of tax entities not yet registered, or
- at any time after the tax entity has already been registered.
In the event that a not yet registered tax entity applies for the allocation of the tax number at the time it applies for the VAT registration, the allocation of the tax number shall be part of the ongoing registration procedure and the tax administrator in the registration decision shall immediately assign a tax number, the principal part of which shall be the VAT number.
