Rozsudek Nejvyššího správního soudu k zákonným rezervám

In its judgment, case no. 21 Afs 271/2025, the Supreme Administrative Court confirmed a strict interpretation of the rules for depositing funds allocated to statutory provisions for repairs of tangible assets.

In the case at hand, the company deposited funds into a reserve account, but at the same time also carried out other transactions from that account that were unrelated to the creation and use of the reserve. It argued, among other things, that the account balance had never fallen below the amount of the reserve created. However, the Supreme Administrative Court rejected this argument.

The Court confirmed that the conditions laid down in the Act on Reserves are not met if funds in the reserve account are also used for purposes other than the creation and use of the reserve. In this respect, it is not decisive that sufficient funds corresponding to the reserve created remain in the account.

The judgment is also interesting in light of the older Coordination Committee conclusion No. 279/24.06.09, which dealt with depositing funds in special accounts and allowed interest income arising on those accounts to be taken into account in the value of the funds transferred. In practice, the focus was therefore not placed solely on a mechanical comparison between the amount of funds deposited and the reserve created. The new judgment, however, also emphasizes another aspect: for the statutory conditions to be met, it is not only the amount of the balance that matters, but above all the fact that the account serves exclusively the purpose of creating and using the reserve.

It cannot be inferred that the Supreme Administrative Court questioned the Coordination Committee conclusions concerning interest income on a special reserve account. However, the judgment confirms that the argument that “there was always enough money in the account” is not sufficient in itself if transactions unrelated to the reserve are carried out on the account.

Practical impact: Taxpayers should regularly review not only the amount of funds in reserve accounts, but also the nature of all transactions carried out on those accounts. The purpose of individual transactions may be decisive for assessing the tax deductibility of reserves.

Author:

Hana Cicvárková