“It is important to include income earned through both online environments and social media on the tax return. Income tax must be paid by food couriers and ride-sharing service providers, as well as, for example, people selling goods through platforms and people earning rental income,” said Aune Maria Marjapuu, Leading Specialist in the ETCB's Income Tax Department.
As working through platforms is becoming increasingly popular, the ETCB is also paying increasing attention to the taxation of income earned through them. From 2023, platform operators are required to provide the ETCB with information about sellers and service providers operating on platforms and the income they earn. This allows the ETCB to check the declared data more effectively.
So far, 169 platform operators, including 20 Estonian platforms, have sent data to the ETCB on income earned on their platforms. The data submitted to the ETCB concerns transactions to which an Estonian private person or company has been a party.
“If a platform operator has paid taxes for an employee and the data has been transmitted to the ETCB, it will be pre-filled in the first table of the income tax return along with salary income. If the table is not pre-filled, it means that the platform has not withheld income tax from the fee paid. In this case, the person must add the data of the income received to the tax return themselves,” said Aune Maria Marjapuu.
Completing the tax return is easy. Income type, payer’s data and the income amount received during the year must be indicated in the second part of the salary table 5.1.
Income earned from providing accommodation services through platforms, on which the payer has not withheld income tax, must also be declared. Income from the provision of accommodation services must be declared in the second part of table 5.4 with type “income from rent”
”If the platform operator has submitted the data to the ETCB, the table is already pre-filled. However, we ask you to make sure that the data is correct and, if necessary, supplement the pre-filled data,” emphasised Aune Maria Marjapuu.
If income earned through platforms has been received on an entrepreneur account, the data will be pre-filled in table 7.2 of the income tax return and all taxes on this income have already been paid. The people who have earned income through platforms and who have opened an entrepreneur account in the middle of the year certainly need to review the data. This means that previous income, i.e. income earned in the period prior to using the entrepreneur account, must be indicated in the income tax return.
The number of entrepreneur account users has increased significantly in recent years. While there were 1092 active entrepreneur accounts in 2019, by the end of 2024 there were already 18 309.
Read more about income earned through platforms on the ETCB’s website.
Who must declare platform income?
- Service providers such as influencers, delivery drivers, couriers, ride-sharing service providers, cleaners, designers, language editors, painters, etc. Income received for services is subject to all labour taxes. If the payer has not declared the payments made to you or the provision of the service is your business activity, you must declare the income earned yourself. Read more about declaring income received from providing services on the ETCB’s website.
- Recipients of rental income from immovable property. If the rent is paid by a platform, then as a rule, the platform operator withholds income tax itself when making the payment. However, rental income from foreign platforms must be declared yourself. When declaring your income, make sure that your rental income has been declared or, if necessary, indicate the income data in your income tax return yourself. Find out more about the taxation of rental income on the ETCB’s website.
- Online sellers of goods or crafts. If you have sold new or used goods purchased for the purpose of resale, you must declare the income yourself. Selling belongings of personal consumption is exempt from tax. Find out more about the taxation and declaration of additional income on the ETCB’s website (in Estonian).
