Applying for certificates

In the e-services environment e-MTA you can compile:

If you need a certificate that cannot be drawn up in the e-services environment e-MTA, you can apply for the certificate using the online form.

The online form can be used to apply for a certificate for yourself or on behalf of another natural person or a company if you have a valid authorisation.

Certificates will be issued by the method you choose in the application, either via the e-MTA, by e-mail, by post or at a service bureau within 5 working days.

• Certificates containing public data are issued by e-mail, by standard letter, via the e-MTA or at a service bureau.
• Certificates containing information subject to tax secrecy are issued by e-mail in the form of a digitally signed and encrypted document, via the e-MTA or at a service bureau.

At a service bureau, upon presentation of an identity document, you can apply for a certificate for yourself or on behalf of another natural person or economic operator if you have a valid authorisation.

At a service bureau, it is possible to apply for the same certificates that can be compiled in the e-services environment e-MTA – the certificate of average earned income, certificate of average earned income for public procurements of construction, taxation data certificate, certificate on absence of arrears, certificate of registration as a person liable to value added tax, certificate of residence and tax liability, and balance statement.

Information on the location and opening hours of service bureaus of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board.

A certificate of residence and tax liability confirms that a person is a resident of Estonia and is therefore liable to declare their worldwide income in Estonia.

In order to avoid double taxation, Estonia has concluded double taxation avoidance agreements with many countries. In order for an Estonian resident to be able to benefit from the tax incentives and reductions arising from a tax agreement concluded between Estonia and a foreign country in the foreign country, it is necessary to submit a certificate of residence issued by the Estonian Tax and Customs Board to the relevant country.

Compiling the certificate of residence and tax liability

The certificate of residence and tax liability can be issued for a specific date, a selected period, or a year. The start date of the certificate may be set based on the start of residency and the need for the certificate; however, the end date cannot be later than the date on which the certificate is issued. The certificate can also be issued without specifying the end date. Depending on the selected period, the certificate will display information on a person’s residency.

It is not possible to compile a certificate of residence and tax liability for a future period.

If the certificate is to be submitted to a country that has entered into an agreement with Estonia for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of tax evasion with respect to income and capital taxes, the respective country must be selected as the tax treaty country in the e-services environment e-MTA. In this case, a certificate is issued that provides grounds for avoiding double taxation. Countries with which no agreement has been concluded cannot be selected, and the certificate drawn up does not provide grounds for avoiding double taxation.

Pursuant to subsection 2 of § 6 of the Income Tax Act. Therefore, funds and other asset pools cannot prove residency and are not issued a certificate of residence and tax liability, with the exception of pension funds or common investment funds under tax agreements concluded with certain countries.

The certificate of registration as a person liable to value added tax (VAT) confirms whether the legal person is or is not liable to VAT or is liable to VAT with limited liability.

The certificate is generated as of the present moment, indicating the beginning of a valid registration. Exceptions occur with new registrations. For example, if the VAT registration takes place today, the certificate can be drawn up in the morning of the following day. The data is updated at 00:00 at night.

If the person is a representing person or member of a VAT group, please contact us in the e-services environment e-MTA (Send message), by e-mail [email protected] or contact the service bureau. In this case, an official will compile the certificate manually.

Taxation data certificate gives an overview of all a company's declared economic activity data (payouts of labour wages, data of the value added tax return, etc.) and arrears.

Taxation data certificate contains information subject to tax secrecy which can be disclosed only by legal persons themselves, by the Estonian Tax and Customs Board with a written consent of the company or in cases specified in §§ 27–30 of the Taxation Act. Therefore, always consider carefully before you forward your data to other parties or print out the document.

Certificate data

Certificate contains the following data of a legal person:

• data of workforce, wages, salaries and payments (based on the employment register and declaration TSD);
• VAT return data;
• information on transaction partners declared in part A of VAT return annex (by fields of activity);
• information on transaction partners declared in part B of VAT return annex (by fields of activity);
• data of intra-Community turnover reports (VD reports), to which countries and in what amount have goods and services been sold on the basis of VD reports;
• the amount of arrears for the months in which the person has had tax arrears starting from 100 euros as of the first date of the month.

The certificate of a self-employed person shows all the blocks of the tax data of the natural person and, if the person is an employer or a person liable to value added tax, also the data from value added tax returns and declarations of income and social tax (form TSD).

Compiling a certificate

When compiling a certificate, you can choose which data blocks are displayed on the certificate – all, one or several. When compiling a certificate in the e-services environment e-MTA, all data blocks are selected by default.

The starting period of the data cannot be earlier than 36 months prior the date on which the certificate is drawn up. The end date of the period cannot be later than the date on which the certificate is compiled.

Data on the certificate is displayed in the income tax return block by years, in the other blocks by months. If there is no data in the selected data blocks, a corresponding text is displayed on the certificate.

Further information about the data displayed in the data blocks can be found on the certificate.

Compile a certificate

According to the Restrictions on Acquisition of Immovables Act, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (ETCB) must issue certificates to persons who have engaged in the production of agricultural products or forest management in Estonia in accordance with the requirements provided by law.

The certificates issued by the ETCB are:

• the certificate of engagement in the production of agricultural products and
• the certificate of engagement in forest management.

Content of the certificate

According to the Restrictions on Acquisition of Immovables Act, the acquisition of agricultural or forest land is possible in the following cases:

1. a legal person of a Contracting State has the right to acquire an immovable which contains ten hectares or more of agricultural land if the legal person has been engaged, for three years immediately preceding the year of making the transaction of acquisition of the immovable, in production of agricultural products listed in Annex I to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, except fishery products and cotton (hereinafter agricultural product) (subsection 3 of § 4 of the Restrictions on Acquisition of Immovables Act);
2. a legal person of a Contracting State has the right to acquire an immovable which contains ten hectares or more of forest land if the legal person has been engaged, for three years immediately preceding the year of making the transaction of acquisition of the immovable, in forest management within the meaning of the Forest Act (hereinafter forest management) or production of agricultural products (subsection 4 of § 4 of the Restrictions on Acquisition of Immovables Act);
3. a legal person of a Contracting State has the right to acquire an immovable which contains less than ten hectares of agricultural land and less than ten hectares of forest land, but ten hectares or more of agricultural and forest land in total, if the legal person has been engaged, for three years immediately preceding the year of making the transaction of acquisition of the immovable, in production of agricultural products or forest management (subsection 5 of § 4 of the Restrictions on Acquisition of Immovables Act).

Issuing of a certificate

The ETCB will issue a certificate only if it is convinced that a company registered in Estonia is engaged in the production of agricultural products or forest management in Estonia in accordance with the requirements provided for in subsections 3 to 5 of § 4 of the Restriction on Acquisition of Immovables Act.

If no such conviction arises on the basis of the application submitted to the ETCB and on the basis of facts, the ETCB will not issue the certificate.

The ETCB does not only verify the formal fulfilment of the conditions provided by law, but essentially assesses whether a legal person actually engages in the production of agricultural products or forest management in a volume that can objectively be considered a sector-specific business.

If the ETCB does not issue the applicant with the certificate specified in subsection 3 of § 9 of the Restriction on Acquisition of Immovables Act, the applicant still has the opportunity to acquire agricultural or forest land. For this purpose, an authorisation must be applied for from the council of the local government of the location of the immovable to be acquired pursuant to subsection 6 of § 4 and subsections 1 and 3 to 6 of § 6 of the Restriction on Acquisition of Immovables Act.

Apply for a certificate using the online form

A certificate of tax behaviour includes the tax compliance rating and/or the tax behaviour adequacy rating subject to tax secrecy as of the date of compiling a certificate.

The certificate of tax behaviour containing the ratings given to a company by the ETCB can be drawn up in the e-services environment e-MTA.

• Certificate for your own company can be compiled in the e-MTA under the menu item Ratings – Certificates of tax behaviour.
• For a company of interest to you, you can compile a certificate in the e-MTA by selecting Ratings – Search company – Generate certificate.

Compile a certificate

More information

The Estonian Tax and Customs Board also issues the following certificates:

• about payment of social tax,
• about declaration or payment of taxes of a legal person.

Apply for a certificate using the online form