The year 2026 brings several significant legislative changes to the Czech legal order, affecting both private and public law. Many of the amendments are aimed primarily at reducing the administrative burden on businesses and individuals, increasing flexibility in employment relationships, and continuing the gradual digitalisation of public administration.
Family Law – Reform of Divorce Proceedings
A major change effective from 1 January 2026 is the amendment to the Civil Code in the area of family law (Act No. 268/2025 Coll.), which reforms divorce proceedings. The new legislation aims at greater procedural simplicity, particularly in cases where spouses have reached an agreement on the arrangements for their minor children and on property matters. Among other things, the amendment introduces closer coordination between divorce proceedings and custody proceedings concerning minor children, with the aim of making the court process faster and less adversarial.
Labour Law – the Flexi-Amendment and the Unified Monthly Employer Report
In labour law, significant changes were introduced by the so-called „flexi-amendment“ to the Labour Code, the main part of which came into force on 1 June 2025. This amendment revised, in particular, the maximum length of probationary periods, certain rules governing the termination of employment, and introduced greater flexibility in employment relationships overall. From 1 January 2026, the second phase of the flexi-amendment took effect, covering revised rules on unemployment benefits.
The genuine 2026 novelty in this area is the introduction of the Unified Monthly Employer Report (Czech: JMHZ), which replaces dozens of separate forms previously submitted to the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSA), the tax authorities and the Labour Office with a single consolidated monthly submission. This represents one of the most significant changes for employers as part of the ongoing digitalisation of communication with public authorities.
Tax Law
Partial changes have also been made in the area of tax law. The legislative amendments focus in particular on reducing the administrative burden on businesses – for example, the threshold for creating a 100% bad-debt provision for minor receivables has been raised from CZK 30,000 to CZK 50,000. In addition, a new tax regime has been introduced for employee share and option programmes (ESOPs): income arising from the exercise of so-called qualified employee options will now be taxed as other income and will not be subject to mandatory social security and health insurance contributions, with the aim of strengthening employee motivation and employer competitiveness.
Immigration Law and Criminal Law
Further legislative changes concern immigration law and the employment of foreign workers, where the ongoing transposition of EU legislation and adjustments to certain procedural rules are intended to streamline administrative proceedings. Legislative attention has also been directed at criminal law, particularly with regard to combating extremist speech and protecting the democratic rule of law.
Conclusion
The practical impact of these changes is expected to be felt primarily in the day-to-day affairs of employers, businesses and private individuals alike. For legal practitioners, 2026 will be a year in which the new rules must not only be carefully monitored but, above all, correctly applied in specific legal relationships.