During November last year, the financial administration announced its intention to communicate with tax subjects in a new way – through tax echoes. A tax echo is a less formal way of communication where the financial administration, through a personalized letter, informs tax subjects of discrepancies in their tax obligations and thereby motivates them to voluntarily correct them.
In implementing the tax echo, the financial administration was inspired by other countries where this informal method of communication has already proven effective. For example, in Belgium, a similar form of communication increased the number of voluntarily filed additional tax returns by 15 to 18%.
In January, the financial administration evaluated the first phase of the tax echo project. In this phase, it focused on taxpayers who prematurely canceled their pension savings products in 2022, which were subject to tax benefits. Following the receipt of the tax echo, 47% of the contacted taxpayers filed additional tax returns, contributing 2.1 million CZK to the state budget.
After the success of the first phase, the financial administration continued to send out tax echoes in February. In the second phase, the financial administration, through tax echoes, targeted taxpayers who incorrectly claimed a spouse tax relief for the 2022 tax year. In total, 3,502 taxpayers were contacted. The second round of tax echoes was sent on February 14, 2025, and the evaluation is expected in July 2025. The financial administration anticipates that the second phase of tax echoes could bring up to 80 million CZK into the state budget. If successful, the financial administration plans to continue using this method of communication in the future.
Seminars, webcasts, business breakfasts and other events organized by Deloitte.
