The limited liability company is the most common form of business corporation in the Czech Republic. How to establish a Czech LLC in 2021?

A Czech limited liability company is established by a Memorandum of Association, which is signed by all the founders, i.e. the future shareholders or just one future shareholder. In both cases, it is essential that it is executed in a form of notorial deed of a Czech notary. The notary fee usually does not exceed CZK 5,000 (180 EUR) and is depending on the amount of the registered capital. In case of basic Memorandum of Association which contains only the mandatory provisions required by the Czech Civil Code and Czech Business Corporations Act und if all contributions to the registered capital will be monetary and registration of the company to the Commercial Register will be performed by the notary, the notary fee was decreased to CZK 2,000 (75 EUR).

The founding deed must contain basic information about the company, e.g. the business name, registered address, identification of the shareholders, types of interests (shares) held by each shareholder and specification of rights and obligations attached to such interests (assuming various types of business interests are allowed), list of company’s business activities, number of executives and how they will act on behalf of the company, amount of registered capital, amount of contribution of each shareholder to the company’s registered capital, identification of the initial executives and appointment of contribution administrator.

The business name must not be interchangeable with any already existing name of another company registered in the Czech Commercial Register. This is why the business name being considered by the founders should be checked out in this regard in advance at the website www.justice.cz. If the company’s business name contains the name of a living natural person, the founders must obtain the consent of such person.

 

Obtaining a Czech trade licence

Once the founding deed was drawn up, the initial executives need to obtain the trade license at the Czech Trade License Office unless the company’s business activity includes only management of own property, letting of real estate, residential units and non-residential units or a special permit is required. The administration fee for obtaining the trade license at the Trade License Office amounts to CZK 1,000 (EUR 40).

Interests (shares) of LLC in Czech Republic

The founding deed of the Czech limited liability company may allow formation of various types of interests (shares) held by shareholders of the company. Furthermore, the interest of the shareholder could be represented by a common certificate  issued as registered security. Shareholders of the limited liability company can own more than one business interest in the company.

Registered capital and payment of contributions into the registered capital of Czech LLC

The minimum requirement for the registered capital of the limited liability company is CZK 1. However, it is recommended that founders agree on the higher amount of the company’s registered capital than the minimum amount.

A shareholder’s contribution into the registered capital is either in monetary or in-kind form whereas all contributions of founders are administered by the contribution administrator who is usually one of the founders. Monetary contributions are deposited to a special bank account established for this purpose. The in-kind contributions must be appraised in the expert’s opinion drafted by the expert choosen by the founders from the official list of experts. Before submitting the application for entry the company into the Commercial Register, any in-kind contribution must be fully paid up, while at least contribution premium (if any) and 30% of each monetary contribution must be paid.

Entry of the Czech limited liability company into the Czech Commercial Register

The application for entry of the company into the Czech Commercial Register has to be submitted either by all executives of the company on the prescribed form with their officially verified signatures or the registration can be performed through the notary who can register the company into the Czech Commercial Register directly. The application must be submitted to the competent court depending on the location of the company’s registered office within 6 months from the foundation of the company; otherwise the founding deed is considered as withdrawn. The founding deed may stipulate another period.

The registration court fee amounts to CZK 6,000. The fee amounts only to CZK 2,700 (EUR 100), if the registration is performed by the notary on the basis on the notarial deed which would contains only mandatory provisions and all contributions to the registered capital of the Company would be monetary the registration of the company is for free.

Irrespective of FFwhether the application is submitted by the company’s executives or through the notary, the following documents must usually be presented:

-          a notarial deed containing the founding deed,

-          a trade licence or licence for other type of business activity,

-          a deed attesting the legal basis for use of the premises at which the company’s registered office is situated, e.g. a written consent of the owner (such consent may not be older than 3 months and signatures on the document must be legally certified), together with the decision of the company’s statutory body on the company’s registered office location,

-          a document attesting the fulfilment of the obligation to pay prescribed contributions into the registered capital. This fact could be proved by a declaration of the contribution administrator and confirmation from the bank that the relevant monetary sums have been credited to the bank account of the company,

-          documents attesting the fact that persons who are to be registered as members of the company’s bodies satisfy the requirements set forth by law, i.e. that they are at least 18 years old, have legal capacity, are without a criminal record related to the business, and that there are no impediments to their operating of a trade in accordance with the Trades Licensing Act and other legal regulations (such as an affidavit concerning such facts and an extract from the criminal record or equivalent document issued by the relevant authority of the EU Member State in which they were last residents in the case of citizens from another than EU Member State)

-          the consent of the person being registered to their registration in the Commercial Register.

The necessary forms for entering the company into the Commercial Register can be found in Czech on the website of the Commercial Register at the Czech Ministry of Justice. Documents presented to the Commercial Register must be in Czech, including all their attachments; any deeds in a foreign language must have a legally certified translation unless it is drawn up in one of the official languages of the European Union (in that case a simple translation is sufficient). For certain types of foreign deeds (e.g. an extract from a criminal register or commercial register) a special form of higher authentication is required, one that certifies the authenticity of the issuing authority, generally identified as an apostille or ‘super-legalisation’, depending on whether the country issuing the deed is a signatory to the so-called Hague Apostille Convention.

The statutory deadline for registration of the company is five working days from submission of the application. If, within this period, the court does not register the company or request additional documents from the applicants, the company is considered as registered. The notary can register the company into the Commercial Register almost immediately.

In order to submit an application to the Czech Commercial Register or Czech Trade Register, it is not mandatory to be represented by a lawyer. Nonetheless, with respect to fulfilment of formal requirements, we recommend that an attorney-at-law is engaged.

The average amount of time needed to establish a limited-liability company in the Czech Republic is approximately 19 days but registeration within couple of days is also possible.

After the new Czech company is registered in the Czech Commercial Register you can check the registration at the web page of the Czech Ministry of Justice and the company shall ensure for all mandatory registration at the Czech Financial Authority.

Czech Data Box (e-box)

The executive of the new Czech company will receive access details to the data box. The Czech data box is an electronic storage site used for delivery of official documents and for communication with Czech public authorities. Data boxes are established and managed by the Czech Ministry of Interior. More detailed information about the Czech data box (e-box) and the e-delivery information system can be also obtained at the www.datoveschranky.info website, established and operated by the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, which is an administrator of the e-delivery information system. By law, in Czech Republic an e-box is an electronic data container used for delivery of documents via data messages. E-boxes are mainly used for secure and free communication with the authorities (courts and various offices) in the Czech Republic. The e-box can replace registered mail and other forms of conventional mail, it can make your communication easier and cheaper, the data box is not obligatory for citizens and private individuals carrying out a business activity.The establishment of a data box is obligatory for all Czech legal entities. A document (data message) sent to a data box is delivered at the moment when the authorised person logs into the data box. In the case of the data box, the delivery fiction applies. If you do not log into the data box within a period of 10 days from the day of delivery of the document, this document is deemed to have been delivered on the last day before the expiry of this period. Delivery of the document has the same legal effects as personal service. For more information, see Datove schranky, unfortunately in Czech language only.

Delivery of access data to the Czech Data Box abroad

Access data can only be sent to following countries, which allows the delivery service exclusively to the addressee's own hands. In the event that the Authorized Person (eg Company Executive) has an address of residence in one of the countries that do not allow the service to be delivered solely to the addressee, a data box and access rights are created, but an explanatory letter is sent to that person. stating the reasons why access data cannot be sent. This letter also includes a proposal for how to obtain access data using Czech POINT at embassies of the Czech Republic.

In such cases, the recipient of a letter at the Czech POINT office will ask the embassy to revoke the original access data and issue new ones. The application will specify the e-mail address to which the activation link is sent. With its help and using the data in the application confirmation, it then collects new access data to its data box on its computer (see instructions for collecting access data using the so-called virtual envelope).

For more information, please contact:

JUDr. Mojmír Ježek, Ph.D.
Managing partner

ECOVIS ježek, advokátní kancelář s.r.o.
Betlémské nám. 6
110 00 Prague 1
e-mail: mojmir.jezek@ecovislegal.cz
www.ecovislegal.cz/en

About ECOVIS ježek advokátní kancelář s.r.o.
The Czech law office in Prague ECOVIS ježek practices mainly in the area of Czech commercial law, Czech real estate law, representation at Czech courts, administrative bodies and arbitration courts, as well as Czech finance and banking law, and provides full-fledged advice in all areas, making it a suitable alternative for clients of international law offices. The international dimension of the Czech legal services provided is ensured through past experience and through co-operation with leading legal offices in most European countries, the US, and other jurisdictions. The Czech lawyers of the ECOVIS ježek team have many years of experience from leading international law offices and tax companies, in providing legal advice to multinational corporations, large Czech companies, but also to medium-sized companies and individual clients. For more information, go to www.ecovislegal.cz/en.

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