Estonian company annual fees: no state bill, one hard deadline

Compared with most company homes, the Estonian year is short. There is one fixed date, one renewal and one return that only appears when money leaves the company.

The report is the company's accounts for the year, a balance sheet and an income statement with notes, in the register's own format. A micro company doesn't need a management report. The shareholders approve it, a board member signs it digitally with an e-Residency or Estonian ID card, and it is submitted through the e-Business Register within six months of the year end. Once filed, anyone can read it.

The first one depends on when the company was formed. A first financial year can't run past 18 months, so a company formed in the second half of the year can stretch its first year to the end of the next one and skip a short first report.

Assumes a calendar financial year, which almost every small OÜ uses, with the longer first year chosen where it is allowed.

Estonia sets its thresholds high. Under §§ 91 and 92 of the Auditors Activities Act, a review by an auditor starts when a company passes two of three lines: €2 million revenue, €1 million assets, 24 employees. A full audit starts at €5 million, €2.5 million and 50. Passing a single line by a wide margin triggers them too. Put in your figures.

These limits apply from 17 January 2025. One line at three times the size also counts: €6 million, €3 million or 72 staff for a review, €15 million, €7.5 million or 180 for an audit.

Retained profit isn't taxed in Estonia. The tax arrives when profit leaves: a dividend carries 22/78 of the net amount, which is 22% of the gross. The company reports it on a TSD return and pays the tax by the 10th of the following month. In a month with no payout, there is nothing to file. A non-resident shareholder pays no further Estonian tax on the dividend.

Gifts, non-business costs and hidden profit distributions are taxed at the same 22/78 on the same return. Your home country can still tax the dividend.

Your own country may tax that dividend too. Where you live: pick it

Every OÜ needs a legal address. Use one in Estonia, or the board's address abroad; but with an address abroad §§ 24 and 58 of the Commercial Register Act require a contact person in Estonia to receive official documents. Only certain people may act: a notary, an advocate, a sworn auditor or audit firm, a tax representative, or a licensed trust and company service provider.

e-Residency's own cost guide puts a contact person at about €200 to €400 a year on the open market. Ours, with the Estonian legal address, is €159 a year, one payment and no monthly subscription. An Estonian address also helps show the company isn't simply run from wherever the board lives, though where it is managed from is what decides tax residence.

The register doesn't remind you first. Here is the order things happen in once 30 June passes without a report.

The report is public, and so is whether it was filed on time. Banks and payment providers look at that record before they renew a relationship, so a late report can cost more than the fine. Where the company can bank in the first place is in our Estonian company bank account guide. How others read your record, and the warning a late report adds to it, is in our Estonia company search guide.

Fine amounts are set case by case and aren't published as a fixed scale.

The state's share of an Estonian company's year is nothing. What you pay for is the address and contact person, and an accountant to keep the books and prepare the report.

• Year one€444
• Year two€159
• Year three€159
• Three years together€762

Year one is the €265 state fee for online registration plus our €179, with the address, contact person and articles inside. From year two, €159. Filing the annual report has no state fee.