Tax representatives of non-residents

A decision on the grant of an activity licence shall be sent to an applicant in digital form, if possible, or on paper at the request of the applicant.

If a tax representative of a distance seller of excise goods is concerned, a special code of a tax representative of a distance seller of excise goods shall be assigned to him/her in addition to the code of the activity licence of the tax representative.

An activity licence is termless.

On the website of the ETCB there shall be published the name and address of a tax representative, area of activity and place of business indicated in the application, registry code and activity licence code, as well as the date of the beginning of the validity of the activity licence and the notation concerning the operation as a distance seller of excise goods. The information shall be published on the website of the ETCB in Estonian, Russian and English.

The ETCB shall decide on the grant of an activity licence to a tax representative within twenty calendar days as of the receipt of an application.

When deciding on the grant of an activity licence, the person’s compliance with the requirements set for a tax representative shall be verified, whereas the person’s performance of earlier obligations arising from acts concerning taxes may be taken into consideration as well.

Resulting from subsection 8¹ (4) of the Taxation Act, a tax representative:

1. must be solvent;
2. must have an impeccable reputation;
3. must not have tax arrears.

The information required from an applicant to furnish proof concerning the applicant’s solvency is the following:

1. the last approved balance sheet of the terminated financial year (if it is not available from the commercial register);
2. the balance sheet on the actual state;
3. the bank statement of all bank accounts on last six months (a statement of accounts taken from an internet bank suits as well).

The tax authority may request that the applicant furnish supplementary proof concerning the applicant’s financial situation in order to verify the applicant’s solvency.

Information concerning existing tax arrears shall be documented as at the moment of the submission of a request. The tax arrears that are less than ten euros and the tax arrears that are being paid in instalments shall not be regarded as tax arrears.

A tax representative shall submit a security at the request of the tax authority if it has good reason to doubt about the applicant’s solvency or reputation.

A person who submitted an application shall choose a type of security himself/herself in general. The tax authority shall prefer a bank guarantee with a reasonable scope as a security of a tax representative. As a rule, not more than 50 per cent of the amount of one-month tax obligations of the principal(s) shall be considered as the reasonable scope. The tax authority has the right to reassess the amount of the security required.

The tax authority shall make a reasoned decision upon the refusal to satisfy an application for an activity licence of a tax representative of a non-resident, wherein the reasons with explanations for refusal to issue the activity licence of the tax representative shall be indicated.

An application shall be declared inadequate as well, if the required documents are lacking or do not correspond to the ones required.

An activity licence of a tax representative shall be suspended or revoked on the basis of a written request (signed on paper or signed digitally and forwarded by e-mail) by the tax representative or by the ETCB.

The tax authority may initiate the proceedings of suspension or revocation of the activity licence of the tax representative:

1. if bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings have been initiated against the tax representative;
2. if the tax representative violates the obligation to ensure that the principal’s monetary and non-monetary obligations arising from the Taxation Act or an act concerning taxes are performed within the set term and in full;
3. if the tax representative does not meet the requirements which enabled the issue of the activity licence of the tax representative.

The validity of the activity licence shall be suspended for the set term until the circumstances requiring the suspension are eliminated. If the circumstances requiring the suspension of the activity licence of the tax representative have not been eliminated upon expiry of the suspension term indicated in the decision, the activity licence of the tax representative shall be revoked.