Payroll and employer changes in 2027: the big overview

2027 brings several changes for employers and payroll accountants at once: a record rise in the minimum wage, the abolition of withholding tax on agreement work, new rules for employee benefits, the return of the childcare and student tax credits, and higher self-employed contributions. Here is an overview of the essentials: what has already been published in the Collection of Laws, what is still missing, and what to prepare before the end of 2026. Update as of 10 October 2026: since this article was first published, all the key regulations we were waiting for have appeared in the Collection of Laws. The minimum wage was announced by MPSV notice No. 171/2026 Coll. The parameters for self-employed contributions are set by Government Regulation No. 177/2026 Coll., whose recalculation coefficient is lower than in the draft (1.0565 instead of 1.0623), so self-employed contributions come out lower than we originally reported. The tax changes (benefits, tax credits, EET 2.0) were enacted by Act No. 180/2026 Coll. The 2027 non-seizable amount remains open: from 1 October 2026 the normative rent is set by district (Act No. 152/2026 Coll.), but the regulation on non-seizable amounts still refers to the abolished municipality category (updated 11 October 2026). All figures are based on official sources only (Collection of Laws, MPSV, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice).

On 7 September 2026 the government approved Government Regulation No. 164/2026 Coll. on the coefficients for calculating the minimum wage for 2027 and 2028. For 2027 the coefficient is 0.446 (44.6% of the average wage). The exact amount was announced by MPSV notice No. 171/2026 Coll. (in the Collection of Laws since 24 September 2026): the monthly minimum wage rises from CZK 22,400 to CZK 24,900, and the hourly rate is CZK 148.30 for a 40-hour week. The notice also sets the range of the difficult-working-environment surcharge for employees paid a salary (state and public sector, Section 128 of the Labour Code): CZK 1,245 to 3,735 a month for 2027. In the private sector the surcharge for a difficult working environment is at least 10% of the minimum wage (Section 117(2) of the Labour Code). For employers this is not just +CZK 2,500 gross. With employer contributions (33.8%), the cost increase for a minimum-wage employee works out at roughly +CZK 3,345 a month. A number of other amounts are tied to the minimum wage, such as the difficult-working-environment surcharge, the minimum health-insurance premium and now also the maximum childcare tax credit (see below). Night-work and weekend surcharges, by contrast, are calculated from the employee's average earnings (at least 10%, Sections 116 and 118 of the Labour Code), so the minimum wage does not affect them. See our article Minimum wage 2027 for details. All 2027 payroll limits (DPP, decisive income, insurance ceiling, 23% tax threshold, reduction thresholds) are summarised in Payroll limits and amounts 2027.

A major change in the taxation of work income: from 1 January 2027, withholding tax on work-performance agreements (DPP), work-activity agreements (DPČ) and small-scale employment is abolished and replaced by a tax advance at a 15% rate. The wording of Section 6(4) of the Income Tax Act in force from 1 January 2027 explicitly treats this income as a separate base for calculating an advance (at the rate under Section 38h), no longer for withholding tax. If the employee has not signed a tax declaration, the advance is calculated separately at 15%. Importantly for agreement workers, this change will not require them to file a tax return. For payroll accountants, however, it means adjusting the payroll software and advance records. JMHZ reflects the change too (see below). Source: Financial Administration. Benefits, childcare and student tax credits: enacted by Act No. 180/2026 Coll. The tax changes that were only a proposal when this article was first published have been approved. On 9 September 2026 the Chamber of Deputies overrode the Senate, and the Act on Sales Records and on amending certain other acts was published as Act No. 180/2026 Coll. (valid from 7 October 2026, mostly effective from 1 January 2027). For payroll, it means:

Both tax credits apply for the first time to the 2027 tax year, but they are claimed differently. An employee with a signed tax declaration can claim the student tax credit already in monthly advances from January 2027 (one twelfth, i.e. CZK 335 a month, under Sections 35ba(3) and 35d). The childcare tax credit cannot be claimed monthly, only annually in the tax reconciliation or tax return for 2027. See Childcare and student tax credits 2027 for details. Source: Ministry of Finance and Act No. 180/2026 Coll.. Self-employed contributions 2027: the coefficient is lower than the draft assumed The minimum self-employed contributions for social and health insurance are recalculated each year from a new "average wage" (the general assessment base multiplied by a recalculation coefficient). On 21 September 2026 the government issued Regulation No. 177/2026 Coll., setting the general assessment base for 2025 at CZK 48,900 and the recalculation coefficient at 1.0565 (the draft assumed 1.0623). The "average wage" for 2027 insurance purposes is therefore CZK 51,663. Under Act No. 589/1992 Coll., the minimum assessment base for self-employed people in their main activity stays at 35% of the average wage in 2027 too. Applying the statutory rules to the new parameters (rates of 29.2% and 13.5%, rounded up), the minimum social-insurance contribution comes to CZK 5,281 (assessment base CZK 18,083) and the minimum health-insurance contribution to CZK 3,488 (assessment base CZK 25,832). That is CZK 8,769 a month in total, CZK 458 more than in 2026 (the earlier draft implied +CZK 506). These are our calculations from the official parameters; as of 10 October 2026 the Social Security Administration (ČSSZ) and the health insurers had not yet published the amounts themselves. More on the calculation and on the retroactive cut of the 2026 contributions in our article Self-employed contributions 2027.

The individual subsistence minimum rose from CZK 4,860 to CZK 5,500 on 1 October 2026. In the calculation of the non-seizable amount for wage garnishment and debt relief, however, the new value only takes effect on 1 January 2027, because Government Regulation No. 595/2006 Coll. (Section 4) uses the values valid on 1 January of the year in which the wage is paid. So the higher subsistence minimum will first help debtors with wages paid in January 2027. The exact 2027 figure, however, cannot yet be reliably determined. From 1 October 2026 Act No. 152/2026 Coll. changed the normative rent from municipality categories to individual districts, while Government Regulation No. 595/2006 Coll. still refers to the rent "in a municipality with at least 70,000 inhabitants". Nothing changes for 2026 (CZK 14,101.50 for the debtor); for 2027 we need to wait for an amendment to the regulation or an official interpretation. See our article Non-seizable amount 2027 for details.

The minimum monthly health-insurance premium for an employee (where the minimum assessment base applies) and the payment by people without taxable income (OBZP) are both derived from the minimum wage and equal 13.5% of the minimum wage. At the CZK 24,900 minimum wage announced by notice No. 171/2026 Coll., that works out at CZK 3,362 a month in 2027 (CZK 3,024 in 2026).

On 5 October 2026 MPSV announced that, following the finalisation of the government regulation, it had completed the changes to the Unified Monthly Employer Report (JMHZ) taking effect on 1 January 2027, and published the final technical documentation for payroll-software vendors. The changes respond among other things to the Income Tax Act amendment (the end of withholding tax), the Employment Act and the transposition of the platform work directive. JMHZ data will also become available to the Ministry of Justice and the State Labour Inspection Office. A concrete impact for employers: compliance with the mandatory quota for employing people with disabilities for 2027 will no longer be reported on a form; all employers report the data on an ongoing basis in JMHZ. For 2026 the quota is still reported on the form (employers with more than 25 employees) by 15 February 2027. We explain how JMHZ works in our articles JMHZ 2026: complete guide and JMHZ in practice.

Two government bills with a proposed effective date of 1 January 2027 have passed their first reading in the Chamber of Deputies: a Labour Code amendment on pay transparency and a new definition of dependent work (print 300) and the platform work act (print 301). Their content and status are covered in What is being prepared for 2027 in Czech labour law and payroll.

Need your payroll and HR agenda for 2027 in order? We are happy to help. You can work out net pay, wage-garnishment deductions and maternity length in our calculators. Sources (as of 10 October 2026): Government Regulation No. 164/2026 Coll. on the minimum-wage coefficients, MPSV notice No. 171/2026 Coll. announcing the 2027 minimum wage, MPSV — the 2027 minimum wage rises to CZK 24,900, Government Regulation No. 177/2026 Coll. on the 2025 general assessment base and recalculation coefficient, Act No. 180/2026 Coll. on sales records and amending certain other acts, Ministry of Finance — the Chamber overrode the Senate and confirmed EET 2.0, Financial Administration — abolition of withholding tax on employment income from 2027, MPSV — the 2027 JMHZ changes are final, MPSV — reporting the disability employment quota, MPSV — subsistence and existence minimum, Government Regulation No. 595/2006 Coll. and Acts No. 589/1992 Coll., 592/1992 Coll. and 151/2025 Coll.