Before submitting the income tax return for the first time, it is necessary to determine whether you are a resident or a non-resident in Estonia. To determine your residency, submit an application to the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (ETCB). We recommend submitting the application by the end of January, then the income declaration process will be faster.
If you have already submitted the application for the determination of residency when you arrived or started working in Estonia, and you have been determined to be an Estonian tax resident, you do not need to submit the application again. However, if you remained a non-resident when you arrived in Estonia, but the conditions for becoming a tax resident have been met later, the application for the determination of tax residency must be submitted as soon as possible.
How to submit the application
If you have an ID-card (also residence permit card), mobile-ID, Smart-ID or EU eID, you can submit the application for determination of residency in the ETCB’s e-services environment e-MTA.
The application can also be submitted
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with a digital signature to the e-mail address [email protected]
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by mail to Lõõtsa 8a, 15176 Tallinn
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in all of the service bureaus of the ETCB
If you do not know whether you are a resident or a non-resident, you can check it using the inquiry of non-residency.
More information
If you are a tax resident of Estonia, you must submit an income tax return if:
- you have used basic exemption in a larger amount during the year than your earned income allows;
- you have received income from abroad or business income from Estonia, gains from transfer of immovable property, made contributions to or withdrawals from an investment account, owned shares in non-cooperative jurisdictions or received income from it;
- you have earned income, but your employer has not registered your employment or withheld taxes from your wages or salaries. For example, if you have worked without an employment contract and received wage or salary either in cash or by bank transfer.
Submitting an income tax return is also important if you have earned income from which income tax has been withheld and deductions can be made from (e.g. you have paid training expenses, made donations, etc.). In this case, you have the right to receive a refund of a part of the paid income tax based on the submitted income tax return.
A non-resident usually does not have to submit the income tax return, because income tax is usually withheld by the person making the payment, for example the employer when paying salary.
As an exception, those residents of the European Economic Area who wish to make deductions from their taxable income earned in Estonia must declare their worldwide income in Estonia.
By a resident
If you are an Estonian tax resident, you must declare in the Estonian income tax return both the income earned in Estonia as well as in other countries.
By a non-resident
A non-resident must declare their income if they benefited from the transfer of property, rental income from a natural person or business income.
Income tax returns of resident natural persons can be submitted from 16 February.
It is most convenient to submit the returns electronically in the e-services environment e-MTA. You need an ID-card (also residence permit card), mobile-ID, Smart-ID or EU eID for signing in to the e-services environment e-MTA.
If your employer has correctly declared the payments made to you, then this information is already pre-filled on the tax return. If your income data is not on the return, you must enter it on the return yourself.
If you cannot submit the return electronically, you can ask for a paper tax return at a service bureau. Please bring your identity document with you when going to the service bureau.
The deadline for submitting the tax return is 30 April.
The right to a refund of income tax
Overpaid income tax can be refunded on the basis of an income tax return if you have received income (e.g. salary, wage) in Estonia and the employer has withheld income tax from your income, and
- during the year, basic exemption has been calculated from your income in a smaller amount than the law allows and/or
- you can make deductions from your taxable income (e.g. you have paid your child's kindergarten fees, made donations, paid training costs, etc.).
Deadlines
- To people who have submitted their tax returns in the e-services environment e-MTA and whose declared data does not require additional verification, we will start refunding overpaid income tax from 5 March 2026.
- From 18 March 2026, we will start refunding overpaid income tax to people who have submitted their tax returns on paper.
- We will refund overpaid income tax to bank accounts indicated in the income tax returns by 1 October 2026 at the latest.
- If additional income tax has to be paid on the basis of income tax return, the deadline for paying income tax is also 1 October 2026.
All services of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board are available electronically in the e-services environment e-MTA. In addition to submitting applications for determination of residency and income tax returns, you can also do all other activities related to taxation and customs in e-MTA. All e-services are available in Estonian, Russian and English.
You can also conveniently write to the Estonian Tax and Customs Board in the e-services environment e-MTA.
You can also send your questions by email to [email protected] or call +372 880 0811.
In addition to Estonian, we can usually find a way to communicate in Russian and English.
We do not recommend visiting the service bureaus in February and March, as there may be long queues there at this time.
Income tax returns can be submitted until 30 April, so there is no reason to rush in the first days of the income declaration.
Last updated: 11.05.2026
