General information
Under Council Directive (EU) 2020/284 and Council Regulation (EU) 2020/283, payment service providers providing payment services in the European Union are obliged to keep records of payees who receive more than 25 cross-border payments per quarter and to transmit this information to the tax authorities.
The information collected by Member States' tax authorities is transmitted to the European Central Electronic System of Payment information (CESOP), where it will be stored, aggregated and cross-checked with other European databases.
The objective of CESOP is to give tax authorities of the Member States the means to detect possible e-commerce VAT fraud carried out by sellers established in another Member State or in a non-EU country.
In order to cover only those payments that may be related to economic activities, a threshold related to the number of cross-border payments received by the payee at the same payment service provider is established.
Data on the payers and the reasons for payment are not collected.
Legal basis
In force from 1 January 2024
Submission of data
Data must be submitted quarterly from 1 January 2024 by the end of the month following each quarter.
The data must be transmitted to the tax authority in XML format using a standard form which data fields are defined by the European Commission and which is common to all payment service providers in all Member States. This means that once a payment service provider has developed an XML format, it can be used to transmit data within all Member States where the payment service provider is obliged to provide data.
The Payment Data XSD User Guide and XML example file can be found on the CESOP technical information page. We have added additional comments to some of the data fields in the XML example file.
The European Commission has also developed a Validation Module, which allows the payment service providers to cross-check their XML file against the XSD schema to ensure that the file complies with requirements and can be submitted to CESOP. The same validation module is used by the Estonian Tax and Customs Board to validate XML files before the files are transmitted to CESOP.
Useful to know
Reports can be submitted in accordance with XML schema versions 4.02 and 4.03. Similar to the central CESOP system, we also use version 1.7.1 of the validation module in the national application, which corresponds to the XSD user guide for payment data and the XSD package v 6.00. To simplify the submission of reports and avoid errors, please validate the report using the aforementioned validation module before submission.
In order to facilitate the submission of the CESOP report, we have included in the technical information the main problems and possible solutions identified by the Commission with regard to the submission of the CESOP report.
You can find the necessary documentation on the technical information page.
The Estonian Tax and Customs Board allows payment service providers to start submitting data either:
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via the X-tee (automatic data exchange, ZIP file)
More information about the X-tee service.
- or by uploading a file (XML or ZIP) in the e-services environment e-MTA
The ZIP file can contain only one XML file. Both the XML as well as the ZIP file can be up to 1 GB in size.
Upon submission of the CESOP report to the Estonian Tax and Customs Board, the payment service provider’s Estonian commercial register registry code or non-resident code issued by the Estonian Tax and Customs Board must be entered in the field CESOP/PaymentDataBody/ReportingPSP/PSPId.
Additional information
European Commission webpage with links to CESOP-related documents
Preparing for submitting the CESOP report
To submit the CESOP report
- The payment service provider must be entered in the Financial Supervision Authority's register of supervised entities (see credit institutions and creditors or payment institutions and e-money institutions);
- the payment service provider must be registered in the Estonian commercial register;
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a person (natural person) submitting the CESOP report in the e-services environment e-MTA of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board must have the necessary access permission.
Access permissions for submitting the CESOP report:
- Editing reports on cross-border payments (CESOP),
- Viewing reports on cross-border payments (CESOP).
Access permissions can be granted to the report submitter by:
- a member of the company's management board or
- a person authorised by a member of the company's management board, who has the access permission “The right of the representative of a person to administer the user rights of applications (administering access permissions)”.
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Granting access permissions in the e-services environment
- in the menu item “Access permissions”
- enter the e-services environment e-MTA;
- select the represented legal person on whose behalf you want to grant access permissions;
- select from the menu: Settings – Access permissions – Access permissions of representatives;
- click the New access permission button in the upper right corner of the page;
- find the person to whom you want to grant the access permission by personal identification code;
- click Search;
- mark the check box in front of the name of the person and click Next;
- if you want to grant the same access permissions to several people, repeat the search;
- set the validity of the access permission, the start date is automatically prefilled with the current date;
find the desired access permission in the tab “Separate permissions” of the block “Permissions”, for example, enter the keyword “CESOP” in the box “Name” or “Code” and click Search; - mark the check box in front of the found access permission and click Add.
- in the menu item "Correspondence"
- enter the e-services environment e-MTA;
- select the represented legal person;
- select from the menu: Communication – Correspondence;
- click New message;
- select “Access permissions/Powers of attorney” as the subject of the message;
- write a request for granting the access permission in free form, indicating the name of the access permission and the period of validity of the permission, as well as the name and personal identification code of the person to whom you are requesting the access permission;
- click Send.
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Granting access permissions with a power of attorney
Send us a free form power of attorney for granting access permissions to the e-mail address [email protected].
Indicate on the power of attorney:
- name and registry code of your company
- name and personal identification code of the person to be authorised
- name and/or code of the access permission
- the validity period of the access permission
We ask the power of attorney to be digitally signed by a representative of the company.
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A person who has been granted the access permission “Editing reports on cross-border payments (CESOP)“, can submit the CESOP report in the e-services environment e-MTA, where, after signing in:
a. select the company on behalf which you are submitting the CESOP report;
b. select from the menu: Reports – Payment data reports – Report on cross-border payments (CESOP).
To submit the CESOP report
1. the payment service provider must have a permit for providing cross-border services in Estonia and the service provider must be entered in the Financial Supervision Authority's register of supervised entities (see credit institutions and creditors or payment institutions and e-money institutions);
2. the payment service provider must be registered as a non-resident with the Estonian Tax and Customs Board;
If the payment service provider is entered in the register of supervised entities of the Financial Supervision Authority and holds a non-resident code in Estonia, the payment service provider does not need to register as a non-resident again in order to submit the CESOP report. You can check the non-residency code from the Inquiry of non-residency.
Submitting an application for non-resident code
If the payment service provider does not have an Estonian non-resident code, an application must be submitted to the Estonian Tax and Customs Board for registration as a non-resident (form R_INFO).
The application can be submitted by a board member or an authorised person.
The application must be submitted with
- a copy of the registration certificate of the payment service provider, a copy of the registry card or other document certifying the existence of the legal person;
- in the case of an authorised person, a notarised power of attorney signed by a board member;
- copy of the authorising person’s (board member’s) document;
- in the case of a tax representative, a written agreement between the payment service provider and the tax representative.
To submit the application,
- sign it digitally and send it to the e-mail address [email protected], or
- go to a service bureau of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board, or
- mail it to Lõõtsa 8a, 15176 Tallinn.
The Estonian Tax and Customs Board sends the issued non-resident code to the e-mail address entered in the application form.
3. the payment service provider or its representative must have the access permission for submitting the report in the e-services environment e-MTA.
- If you have applied for the access permission with the non-resident code on the form R_INFO, your representative automatically has the access permission to submit the CESOP report.
- If your company has not previously given its representative the access permission for submitting CESOP reports, please check the instructions below.
Instructions for granting access permissions
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Entering e-services environment e-MTA
The Estonian Tax and Customs Board’s e-services environment e-MTA can be entered by a natural person who has one of the following authentication tools:
- Estonian ID card (including digital ID, residence permit card, e-resident’s digital ID and diplomatic card);
- European Union country electronic identity EU eID tool.
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Granting access permissions in the e-services environment e-MTA
NB! Please make sure in advance that the person to whom you want to grant the access permission has the possibility to enter the Estonian Tax and Customs Board’s e-services environment e-MTA.
a) in the menu item “Access permissions”
- enter the e-services environment e-MTA;
- select the represented legal person on whose behalf you want to grant access permissions;
- select Settings – Access permissions – Access permissions of representatives from the menu;
- click the New access permission button in the upper right corner of the page;
- find the person to whom you want to grant the access permission by personal identification code;
- click Search;
- mark the check box in front of the name of the person and click Next;
- if you want to grant the same access permissions to several people, repeat the search;
- set the validity of the access permission, the start date is automatically prefilled with the current date;
- find the desired access permission in the tab “Separate permissions” of the block “Permissions”, for example, enter the keyword “CESOP” in the box “Name” or “Code” and click Search;
- mark the check box in front of the found access permission and click Add.
b) in the menu item "Correspondence"
- enter the e-services environment e-MTA;
- select the represented legal person;
- select Communication – Correspondence from the menu;
- click New message;
- select “Access permissions/Powers of attorney” as the subject of the message;
- write a request for granting the access permission in free form, indicating the name of the access permission and the period of validity of the permission, as well as the name and personal identification code of the person to whom you are requesting the access permission;
- click Send.
If the representative of the company does not have the possibility to use e-MTA, they can also grant the access permission to the representative of the company
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E-mail with a digitally signed power of attorney
- Please make sure in advance that the person to be authorised has the possibility to enter the Estonian Tax and Customs Board’s e-services environment e-MTA.
- Send a free form power of attorney for granting access permissions to the e-mail address [email protected].
- Indicate on the power of attorney:
- name and registry code of the authorising company
- name and personal identification code of the person to be authorised
- name of the access permission (“Editing reports on cross-border payments (CESOP)” and/or “Viewing reports on cross-border payments (CESOP)”)
- the validity period of the access permission - We ask the power of attorney to be digitally signed by a representative of the company.
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By e-mail if it is not possile to give a digital signature
- Please make sure in advance that the person to be authorised has the possibility to enter the Estonian Tax and Customs Board’s e-services environment e-MTA.
- Send us a free form power of attorney for granting access permissions to the e-mail address [email protected].
- Indicate on the power of attorney:
- name and registry code of the authorising company
- name and personal identification code of the person to be authorised
- name of the access permission (“Editing reports on cross-border payments (CESOP)” and/or “Viewing reports on cross-border payments (CESOP)”)
- the validity period of the access permission - We ask the power of attorney to be signed by a representative of the company.
- Along with the power of attorney, please send a photo of the person signing the power of attorney holding their identity document and the completed and signed power of attorney. The text on the identity document and power of attorney must be clearly legible.
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A person who has been granted the access permission “Editing reports on cross-border payments (CESOP)“, can submit the CESOP report in the e-services environment e-MTA, where, after signing in:
a. select the company on behalf which you are submitting the CESOP report;
b. select from the menu: Reports – Payment data reports – Report on cross-border payments (CESOP).
Help information
If you have any questions about CESOP, please write to the e-mail address [email protected].
Last updated: 19.03.2026
