Ondřej Trubač and Radka Čihulková on the limits of abuse of rights in tax matters

Ondřej Trubač and Radka Čihulková have published an article in the Bulletin of the Chamber of Tax Advisors of the Czech Republic (Issue 1/2026) examining the prohibition of the abuse of rights in tax matters. The article traces the development of this legal concept, its statutory basis, and the current case law of the Supreme Administrative Court.

A significant part of the article focuses on holding companies and the question of where current case law draws the line between legitimate tax planning and abuse of rights. The authors explain that neither the existence of a tax benefit, the chronological sequence of individual steps, nor the intra-group nature of transactions is, in itself, sufficient to establish an abuse of rights. Rather, each case must be assessed on its specific circumstances, with both the objective and subjective elements of abuse being demonstrated.

The concluding section explores the criminal law aspects of the issue. The authors emphasise that a finding of abuse of rights is primarily a tax law conclusion and does not, in itself, give rise to criminal liability. Criminal prosecution may arise only in exceptional circumstances, such as where the conduct follows a previously identified abusive scheme or conceals the true economic substance of a transaction.

The article was published in the Bulletin of the Chamber of Tax Advisors of the Czech Republic, Issue 1/2026, and is available here.