“It is important to include income earned in 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 on platforms and people earning rental or lease income,” said Aune Maria Marjapuu, Leading Specialist in the ETCB’s Income Tax Department.
The ETCB emphasises that if there is income that needs to be declared on an already submitted income tax return, the submitted income tax return can be corrected until 30 April.
Earning income on platforms is becoming more popular. From 2023, platform operators transmit data on income of sellers and service providers operating on platforms to the ETCB. This allows the ETCB to check the declared data more effectively. While in 2023, private persons earned a total of over 73 million euros on platforms, in 2024, the amount of private persons' platform income reached 102 million euros.
The most well-known platforms on which income is earned in Estonia are Amazon, eBay, Yaga, Facebook Marketplace, auto24, osta.ee, Etsy, AirBnB, Booking, EstRent Cottages, Uber, Bolt, Wolt, Onlyfans, UpWork, Freelancer, Stebby, Twitch, Youtube Instagram, TikTok, City Bee, GoMore, Autolevi and Turo.
So far, 244 platform operators, including 28 Estonian platforms, have sent data to the ETCB on income earned on their platforms. The data submitted to the ETCB are on transactions to which an Estonian private person or company has been a party.
“If a platform operator has paid taxes for an employee, the paid taxes are indicated in the person’s income tax return. If the tax return is not pre-filled, it means that the platform has not withheld income tax from the paid fee. In this case, the person must add the data of the received income to the tax return,” said Aune Maria Marjapuu.
Completing the tax return is easy. The fee received for providing services, 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 on platforms or renting out movable property (such as vehicles or equipment), on which the payer has not withheld income tax, must also be declared. Income from providing accommodation services or renting out movable property must be declared in the second part of table 5.4 under the category “other income from lease and rent (immovable property, movable property)”.
Income from the sale of goods and products on platforms must be indicated in table 6.3 of the income tax return with the income type “other property (excl. securities)”. In this table, you can also take into account the purchase costs and transfer costs of the goods.
“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, update the pre-filled data,” emphasised Aune Maria Marjapuu.
If income earned on platforms has been received on 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. People who have earned income on platforms and who have opened an entrepreneur account in the middle of the year need to review the data. This means that previous income, i.e. income earned in the period prior to using the entrepreneur account, must also be indicated in the income tax return.
Read more about the income earned on platforms on the ETCB’s website.
Who must declare platform income?
- Service providers such as influencers, 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 earned income. Read more about declaring income received from providing services on the ETCB’s website.
- Recipients of rental income from immovable property. If the person paying the rent is 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, enter the income data on your income tax return. Find out 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 about the taxation and declaration of additional income on the ETCB’s website (in Estonian).
