Business | All stories

The coalition government has approved a draft bill that is to serve as a crucial instrument in curbing tax evasion. The bill should give tax administrators the right to inquire about the origin of property in connection with tax returns and level a high tax on illegally acquired assets.

ČEZ has ditched its long held dividend policy to become a much more generous payer to its shareholders. Different arguments are advanced, but the basic one is that this is what the finance minister wants.

The biggest Czech telecoms companies are now witnessing an improvement in their fortunes as cost cutting efforts of recent years start to outpace the slide in earnings from mobile and other telecom services.

Times are good for the biggest banks in the Czech Republic. Despite low interest rates, the top three – Česká spořitelna, Komerční banka and ČSOB – have been making higher profits than at any time in the last three years, the newspaper Hospodářské noviny reported on Wednesday.

New legislation, drafted by the Czech Ministry of Environment, may introduce a new environmental tax on cars that are more than ten years old. The proposal, which is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions, is set to be presented to the government on Wednesday.

Minister of Finance Andrej Babiš appears to be well on the way to opening up a new front in his attempt to make the state machine operate more on the lines of one of his companies.

In a dramatic about turn, finance minister Andrej Babiš says he now wants to halt tax support for biofuel from July. He has been stung by charges that prolonging support puts him in a clear conflict of interest with regards to part of his agro-chemical business empire.

World coal prices are depressed and that could push the fate of the remaining handful of Czech mines producing hard coal to the top of the political agenda again. A lot will depend on price developments in the next weeks.

Hungarian refinery giant MOL owns more than 300 petrol stations in the Czech Republic and is looking to further strengthen its position on the Czech market, the Czech daily Hospodářské Noviny reported on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has made a U-turn on a thorny issue that concerns thousands of women working abroad who are planning a family. After years when mums who commuted to work abroad were refused maternity benefits in the Czech Republic, the ministry has reviewed its policy on the matter and even make a small retro-active amendment. The decision was taken following criticism from the Ombudsman’s Office.