Road tax and new system of reduced rates

Cars for transportation of persons or cargos of up to 12 tons that have a hybrid drive or use LPG, CNG or mixture of petrol and E85 ethanol shall be exempt from tax. The system of tax rates reduction for environmentally friendly cars or corresponding to stricter technical norms should simultaneously be administratively simpler; to apply the reduced rate, it is sufficient to demonstrate only the date of the first registration of the car in the Czech Republic or abroad. Thus the tax rate is reduced by 48% for a period of 36 months following the first registration, by 40% for a period of the following 36 months and by 25% for a period of further following 36 months. This also includes cars that do not meet EURO emission limits. On the contrary, tax rates for cars registered for the first time up to 31 December 1989 increase from the current 115% to 125%.

Cars for transportation of cargos (also belonging to persons not engaged in business) will newly be taxed with the weight of more than 3.5 tons. The amendment also deletes the provisions of Section 17, subsection 1 on reduction of the road tax on the grounds of hardness of the act, since the general provisions of the Tax Administration and Collection concerning tax forgiveness should be applied to the relevant cases.

The amendment took effect on 4 July 2008 and its provisions shall be applied for the first time to the 2009 taxation period, except for the new regulation of reduction of rates, which shall be applied as soon as the 2008 taxation period.