Estonian companies do not get a VAT registration or any other tax number automatically when incorporated. Estonian company not registered for VAT only has an 8-digit registration code for tax purposes.
Registering a company for VAT in Estonia is either obligatory or voluntary.
An obligation to register for VAT shall arise as of the date on which the taxable supply in Estonia exceeds 40 000 euros calculated from the beginning of a calendar year.
Please note that when selling goods your place of supply needs to be Estonia to register for VAT in Estonia.
You will not be granted voluntary VAT registration in Estonia if you cannot prove that the place of supply will be Estonia and explain your business model with foreseeable revenue sources. Questions asked via email need to be answered by the deadline set by the Estonian tax office staff member handling your registration.
So if you would like to register for VAT in Estonia you can apply for voluntary registration with no turnover or wait until your taxable turnover in Estonia is going to surpass 40 000 euros per calendar year.
Generally, the supply of goods is in Estonia if the location of the goods sold or dispatched is Estonia. The determination of the place of supply of services depends on the type of service.
The value-added tax rate in Estonia is 20% since 1 July 2009.
You can register for VAT in Estonia online via the Estonian Tax and Customs Board web service here. You can also read more from the e-Residency knowledge base here.
We always advise using a professional accountant in Estonia for calculating your VAT and filing mandatory monthly VAT reports. For Unicount virtual office clients, we recommend our monthly accounting service. Our accountants would also register your company for VAT in Estonia if the place of supply is Estonia.
There is a special EU VAT scheme available for e-commerce and services. You can read more about it here or on our blog.