The Ultimate Guide to Estonian E-residency, Banking, and Taxes

Thank you so much for this detailed article!

I’m just getting started on my digital nomad journey and I’m considering to become an e-resident of Estonia mainly to get access to Transferwise (I don’t have it in my country).

So I was wondering if:

a) I’d need to open up a bank account separately with Estonia.
b) If I’d need to pay any monthly fees for anything (if I want to be an e-resident + access Transferwise)

I know the questions were partly covered in the article, but I would just like to confirm and get advice.

Thank you!

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Hi @Prakhar and welcome to the community!

a) No, you don’t need any additional bank account.
b) You need at least a legal address and contact person, which often will cost you 300-500 EUR per year. The cheapest offer I’ve seen is from Nordic Consult, which charge 125 EUR per year.

In addition you need to do accounting for the company and submit an annual report. It’s possible to do both on your own, at least if you have some accounting background, but it’s not recommended. If you only have a few transactions per year, then it might not be so expensive to outsource. If you go over the VAT threshold it gets more complicated as you’ll have to submit monthly reports.

Finally, I’m not sure if you can open a TransferWise account if you don’t qualify personally. Normally you’ll open a personal TW account, and then from there open one for your business. Business accounts are always tied to your personal account. So before going ahead and opening an Estonian company, I’d recommend that you contact TransferWise to see if you would actually be able to open an account.

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Hi,

I am totally new to this topic, read quite a bit about the Estonian e-residency now, and have a simple question left.

I am from Austria, therefore my home residence is within the EU. I am looking for a way to live location-independent. What could be my motivation to go with the e-residency and registering a company in Estonia if I have the disadvantage of paying taxes on both countries then?

Thanks for taking the time to answer, Thomas. :slight_smile:

Hello everyone,

I am a new e-resident and I’m waiting for my card to arrive. It’s a great article, LeapIn was my first choice, but since I’m opening an online shop and they don’t provide this kind of services, can you recommend me someone else? It would be great to read an article about opening Estonian company that deal with physical goods and what to do next. I’m new to all this and beside building a websites and working as a web designer, I don’t have idea how to run a company, so any advice is welcome and useful. I wish you all a nice day :hugs:

Very good question, I would like to know a little bit more about that also?

Hi, I want to know if there is a minimum share capital requirement for opening a private LLC company in Estonia.

thanks.

Yes, assuming you’re referring to an Estonian OÜ (private corporation), the minimum capital is €2,500, although you don’t have to pay it upfront (it can be delayed for several years).

Several years? Are you sure?

Leapin says it’s one year.

Yes, it’s 10 years to be exact. See e.g. https://learn.e-resident.gov.ee/hc/en-us/articles/360000798017-Share-capital-contribution

It is possible to defer the payment of share capital up to 10 years. However, when doing so, all founders of the company will be held personally liable for the deferred amount.

You also cannot pay dividends until the capital in contributed (but you can pay yourself a salary).

Awesome

Can anybody tell me about starting a new construction company in Estonia.I am already running a construction company in Pakistan,with successful completion of various projects.E-Residency will be helpful in this regard?
Thanks

Starting a new construction company in Pakistan with Estonian corporation based on e-Residency card? This will be impossible. As Eesticonsulting.ee - we do not recommend this solution, because the solution may be risky - ready bilateral agreement concerning “Permament Estabilishment”. Your company can constitute PE in Pakistan when the place of business activity will be in Pakistan ( bulding, construction activities ).

I recently applied e residence program waiting to pick up my card. Thanks for sharing useful information I just want ask you. in my residence country I’m not obligated to pay any income tax. Will I need to prove that for Estonian tax officials ?

Hi, did you figure out what the answer is on your question? I believe you’re referring to the (social) contributions an employer normally has for an employee, right?

I’m also really curious to know what happens with this part?..

Thank you for an informative article.

Quick question: If a company is paid in other value than cash (like options or shares in return for consulting services), would there be any corporate tax payable by the company at the end of its fiscal year, based on the value of the shares (the value is likely determined by a third party)?

If I understood the article correctly, you only pay corporate tax on distributed profits. Since options or shares cannot be distributed in cash per say, is it correct that the company would not pay corporate tax for “revenue” of non-cash character?

Thank you.

I also want to know an answer on this question. Tia

Yes tax is charged on the value of consideration received in return for services provided, irrespective of the nature of consideration. For further reading kindly refer here

What if you are currently not a resident in any country?

Hi Thomas,

I hope you can help me. I am part of an Estonia company. We have been dormant last year.

The annual return is due on 30 June 2020. We have some very serious problem at the moment
and may not be able to submit the tax return by the 30 June.

I read from reliable source that a late submission penalty will probably be applied. Would
you happen to know approximately how much the penalty is? There are probably two elements.
A fixed penalty and/or then a penalty with a percentage of the due cooperation tax.

I did my best to google but only managed to find the late submission for VAT for Estonia companies which is a max of 2000 euros.

Thank you for your help.