An example of an active approach of financial authorities is the case of additional taxation of income generated through Airbnb. Thanks to the data received from Airbnb, the financial administration can easily find out what income taxpayers should tax, and if they have not done so, it can ask them to remedy that. Uber also promises direct cooperation; for both electronic platforms, the tax office profits from the fact that the platforms record all the information necessary for additional tax assessment. We could continue in this way in many other areas, including e.g. the mediation of trade via Aukro and similar companies or portals facilitating paid car sharing.

However, sometimes all the financial administration has to do is wait and the information will come on its own: thanks to international initiatives such as FATCA (from the US), the Common Reporting Standard (adopted by the OECD) and the directive on administrative cooperation of the European Union, the financial administration suddenly receives specific information about the income of natural persons. Based on practical experience, it then asks employees who have forgotten e.g. about income from an option programme of their Czech employer’s parent company to file a tax return and pay the tax owed, including a penalty for additional tax assessment and default interest for late payment.

It therefore becomes increasingly worthwhile not to forget about any kind of income arising from any source – if you are not sure about the correct way to tax your income, we recommend seeking advice from a tax advisor before the tax office contacts you.

The article is part of dReport – September 2018, Tax news; Grants and investment Incentives.