Since 2024, you can only claim the spouse tax credit (sleva na manželku) if you live with your wife in a joint household together with your dependent child under 3. The second condition is that your wife’s own income for the whole calendar year does not exceed 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD). The credit reduces your tax by 24,840 CZK (about 1,100 USD) a year, that is 2,070 CZK (about 95 USD) for each month at the start of which you lived together with a child under 3. It is governed by Section 35bb of the Income Tax Act (zákon o daních z příjmů) and applies equally to a husband.
You can only claim it once a year after the year ends, in the annual tax reconciliation (roční zúčtování) with your employer or in your tax return. Childless couples and parents of older children are not entitled, even if the wife has no income at all. The rules in this article are current as of 2 October 2026.
You are only entitled to the spouse tax credit with a child under 3
You are entitled for each month on the first day of which you live in a joint household (společně hospodařící domácnost) with your wife and your dependent child who has not yet turned 3 (Section 35bb(2)). The law defines a joint household as people who permanently live together and jointly cover the costs of their needs (Section 21e(4)).
A dependent child means your own child, an adopted child, a child in care substituting parental care, and also your wife’s child from a previous relationship if you support them. A grandchild does not count for this credit unless they are in your substitute care (Section 35bb(3)). The credit is only for spouses and registered partners (Section 21e(3)), and an unmarried couple is not entitled even with a small child.
The credit is 24,840 CZK (about 1,100 USD) a year, or 2,070 CZK (about 95 USD) for each month
For a full year, the credit reduces your tax by 24,840 CZK (about 1,100 USD). It only reduces tax and is never paid out on its own. If your wife has been granted a ZTP/P disability card (průkaz ZTP/P), it is 49,680 CZK (about 2,300 USD) a year, or 4,140 CZK (about 190 USD) a month (Section 35bb(1)). The card does not remove the condition of a child under 3 or the income limit, and foreign equivalents of the card are not accepted, according to Instruction D-59 of the General Financial Directorate (Generální finanční ředitelství, GFŘ).
For a partial year, you get 1/12 for each month on the first day of which the conditions were met (Section 35ba(3)). That is why the credit starts a month later than the child tax credit (daňové zvýhodnění na dítě), which applies from the month of birth. The situations in the table come from answers published by the Financial Administration (Finanční správa) and apply only if your wife’s income for the year does not exceed 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD).
| Situation in the year | Months with the credit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| child born on 15 May | June to December | 14,490 CZK (about 660 USD) |
| child born on 1 February | February to December | 22,770 CZK (about 1,000 USD) |
| child turns 3 on 21 June | January to June | 12,420 CZK (about 570 USD) |
| child turns 3 on 1 December | January to November | 22,770 CZK (about 1,000 USD) |
| wedding on 4 August, child born in March | September to December | 8,280 CZK (about 380 USD) |
Maternity benefit counts towards the 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD) limit, parental allowance does not
Your wife’s own income is the total of all her gross income, not reduced by expenses, including tax-exempt income (GFŘ Instruction D-59). The exceptions are listed in Section 35bb(4). Maternity benefit (peněžitá pomoc v mateřství) is a sickness insurance benefit, so it counts. Parental allowance (rodičovský příspěvek) is a state social support benefit, so it does not.
| Counts towards 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD) | Does not count |
|---|---|
| gross wages, including from work agreements (dohody) | parental allowance and birth grant (porodné) |
| business and rental income without deducting expenses | state social assistance benefit and extraordinary immediate assistance |
| all types of pensions | benefits for people with disabilities and foster care benefits, except the foster parent’s remuneration |
| sickness benefit, maternity benefit, carer’s benefit (ošetřovné) | care allowance and exempt income for caring for a person who receives it |
| wage compensation during sick leave | state contribution to pension savings and building savings (stavební spoření) support |
| unemployment benefit | student scholarship, maintenance and substitute maintenance intended for the child |
Under community property of spouses (společné jmění manželů), income that flows to you or is treated as yours for tax purposes is not attributed to your wife (Section 35bb(4)(g)). A typical example is rent from a jointly owned apartment, which under Section 9(2) only one of the spouses pays tax on. If you declare it, it does not count for your wife, more in our article on tax on renting out an apartment.
The limit applies to the whole year, not just the months with the credit
Your wife’s income is assessed for the whole calendar year, even if you claim the credit for only a few months. The Financial Administration says so explicitly in an answer dated 10 January 2025. So January wages before maternity leave, or earnings after returning to work once the child has turned 3, are added in too.
What matters is when the money arrived. Benefits paid in January belong to the year in which your wife received them, while December wages paid by 31 January still count towards the previous year (GFŘ Instruction D-59 and Section 5(4)). When adding up, work from the payslips and the dates on which the benefits were paid.
Worked example, when you get the full credit and when you get nothing
Three families in 2026. In each, the husband earns 45,000 CZK (about 2,100 USD) gross a month, 540,000 CZK (about 25,000 USD) a year, has no other income or deductions and lives with his wife and child in a joint household. The 15% tax is 81,000 CZK (about 3,700 USD), and after the basic taxpayer credit (sleva na poplatníka) of 30,840 CZK (about 1,400 USD), 50,160 CZK (about 2,300 USD) remains.
| Family | Child and wife’s income in 2026 | Months | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | child born on 10 November 2024, wife only on parental allowance all year | January to December | 24,840 CZK (about 1,100 USD) |
| B | child turns 3 on 20 May 2026, wife starts work on 1 November for 30,000 CZK (about 1,400 USD) gross, 60,000 CZK (about 2,800 USD) for the year | January to May | 10,350 CZK (about 470 USD) |
| C | same child as in B, wife starts work as early as 1 September, 120,000 CZK (about 5,500 USD) for the year | January to May | 0 CZK (about 0 USD) |
For family A, the credit reduces the tax from 50,160 CZK (about 2,300 USD) to 25,320 CZK (about 1,200 USD). Family C loses the full 10,350 CZK (about 470 USD) just because the wife started work two months earlier, even though no credit was due for September or October anyway. The child tax credit applies on top of this in all three families.
A similar trap awaits in the year of birth. A child born on 15 March 2026 would give a credit for April to December, which is 18,630 CZK (about 850 USD). But if the wife received more than 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD) in wages and maternity benefit combined that year, there is no entitlement for 2026. The credit may then only come in the following year, when she receives only parental allowance.
You claim the credit only after the year ends
You cannot claim the spouse tax credit monthly through your employer, because your wife’s income can only be assessed for the whole year (Section 35d(1) and Section 38h(6)). You have two options.
- Annual tax reconciliation. By 15 February, ask your last employer for the annual reconciliation and state in your tax declaration that your wife had no income above 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD) and that you live with her and a child under 3 in a joint household (Section 38ch and Section 38k(5)). You prove your wife’s identity and the child’s identity and age, and the ZTP/P card if applicable (Section 38l(2)). The law does not require proof of your wife’s income, but you are responsible for the truth of your declaration. The employer carries out the reconciliation by 31 March (Section 38ch(4)).
- Tax return. You file one if you also have income other than wages, run a business or missed the annual reconciliation. On paper by 1 April, electronically a month later, and for 2025 the deadline was 4 May 2026 (Section 136 of the Tax Code, daňový řád). The procedure is described in our guide on how to file a tax return electronically.
If you miss the 15 February deadline for the annual reconciliation or forget to claim the credit in it, you can file a tax return voluntarily, according to the Financial Administration. Both routes also let you claim other items, such as the mortgage interest deduction.
When the credit will not help you even if you meet the conditions
The credit can reduce your tax to zero at most, and the law provides a tax bonus only for the child tax credit (Section 35c(3)). You use it in full if your tax before credits is at least 55,680 CZK (about 2,600 USD), which is the sum of the basic credit and the spouse credit. For an employee with no other income or deductions, this corresponds to a gross wage of at least 30,934 CZK (about 1,400 USD) a month for the whole year.
With a gross wage of 25,000 CZK (about 1,100 USD) for the whole year, the tax is 45,000 CZK (about 2,100 USD). After the basic credit, 14,160 CZK (about 650 USD) remains, and that is all of the spouse credit you can use, so 10,680 CZK (about 490 USD) is lost. The child tax credit is applied only after the credits (Section 35c(2)), which is why it can be paid out as a bonus.
A self-employed person whose tax equals the flat-rate tax cannot claim the credit either. According to the Financial Administration, no tax credits can be claimed in the flat-rate regime, more in our article on the flat-rate tax (paušální daň). And if you claim the spouse credit, you cannot also split income and expenses with your wife as a cooperating person (spolupracující osoba, Section 13(4)(c)).
What the consolidation package and the new Sales Registration Act changed
Until the end of 2023, it was enough that your wife lived in the joint household and had income of up to 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD). The condition of a child under 3 was added by the consolidation package (konsolidační balíček), Act No. 349/2023 Coll., first for the 2024 tax period. According to a Financial Administration press release of 25 March 2026, a wrongly claimed spouse credit is among the most common mistakes, and the authorities then deal with thousands of such cases through the Tax Echo checks (Daňové echo).
Since 1 October 2025, the state social assistance benefit, the so-called super benefit (superdávka), no longer counts towards the wife’s income either (Act No. 152/2025 Coll.). The Sales Registration Act (zákon o evidenci tržeb), which the president signed on 17 September 2026, brings back the student tax credit and the nursery fee deduction (školkovné) from 2027. It does not change the spouse credit, so the return to the pre-2024 form that the government promised in its policy statement has not happened yet (Podnikatel.cz).
Check three things before you claim the credit
For the spouse credit, the Financial Administration mainly stresses two conditions, a child under 3 and the wife’s income of up to 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD) a year. Before the annual reconciliation or your tax return, go through three steps for the past year.
- Count the months on the first day of which you lived in a joint household with your wife and a child under 3. Each one is worth 2,070 CZK (about 95 USD).
- Add up all of your wife’s gross income paid out during the year, including maternity benefit, sickness benefit and unemployment benefit. Leave out parental allowance and child maintenance. Above 68,000 CZK (about 3,100 USD), there is no entitlement for even a single month.
- By 15 February, ask your employer for the annual reconciliation. If you have other income or run a business, claim the credit in your tax return.
This article describes the rules, not your specific situation. If you are unsure whether a particular income of your wife counts, ask your tax office (finanční úřad).
USD amounts are approximate, converted at the Czech National Bank rate of 21.80 CZK per USD on 2 October 2026.
