In short
- Estonia VAT rates: 24% standard, 13% on accommodation, 9% on books, listed medicines and press, 0% on exports and on goods sent to EU businesses.
- Registration is compulsory once supplies taxed in Estonia pass €40,000 from 1 January, with the application due within 3 working days.
- Services sold to businesses abroad carry no Estonian VAT and do not count towards the €40,000.
- Every applicant proves that it trades in Estonia or is about to start, and the Tax and Customs Board refuses a company that does neither.
In this guide
Estonia VAT rates in 2026: 24%, 13%, 9% and 0%
Estonia has four VAT rates, set in § 15 of the Value-Added Tax Act. The standard rate rose from 22% to 24% on 1 July 2025 and has no end date. It covers every sale that no lower rate or exemption reaches, food and drink included.
| Rate | What it covers | In force |
|---|---|---|
| 24% | Every taxable supply without a lower rate | From 1 July 2025 |
| 13% | Accommodation, with or without breakfast | From 1 January 2025, up from 9% |
| 9% | Books and educational literature, printed or electronic; medicines and medical aids on the list of the Minister of Social Affairs; press publications | Press back at 9% from 1 January 2025 |
| 0% | Exported goods; goods sent to a VAT-registered business in another EU state; services supplied outside Estonia | Standing rule |
| Exempt | Health care, education, financial and insurance services, renting out a dwelling | Standing rule; no VAT deducted on the costs |
The 9% rate covers an e-book that reads like the printed book. Computer games and publications that are mostly advertising stay at 24%. A company that keeps its books with accounting in Estonia has each rate in its own line of the return from the first invoice.
The €40,000 threshold: what counts and when the application is due
The obligation to register arises on the day the company's supplies with Estonia as their place of supply pass €40,000, counted from 1 January. Supplies made abroad and sales of the company's own fixed assets stay out of the count.
Since 2025 the count includes 0% supplies, real estate deals, and loans or other financial services the company provides as its trade. A company whose whole turnover is exempt or taxed at 0% never has to register, unless it sends goods to businesses in other EU states.
- Day 1: an invoice takes the year's Estonian supplies past €40,000. The company is a VAT payer from this day, and that invoice already carries VAT.
- Within 3 working days: the company applies in e-MTA, the Board's portal, or through a notary or a service bureau.
- Within 5 working days of the application: the Board decides, and it tells the company by the next working day.
- Afterwards: invoices issued in the gap are corrected, so that customers can deduct their VAT.
When an Estonian company must register for VAT: five cases
Entry in the commercial register does not make a company a VAT payer. Take the cases in order: the first that fits decides.
- Supplies taxed in Estonia have passed €40,000 since 1 January: registration is compulsory.
- Sales of goods and electronic services to consumers in other EU states pass €10,000 a year: the customer's VAT applies. The One Stop Shop return through Estonia needs an Estonian VAT number.
- The company buys consulting, software licences, data processing or another service of § 10 (5) of the Act from abroad: it registers with limited liability. Goods from other EU states above €10,000 a year do the same.
- It sells only services to businesses abroad, or only exempt supplies: no registration is due, and it may register by choice.
- Business in Estonia is about to start, with a contract or a lease: registering before the first sale lets the company deduct VAT on its start-up costs.
With limited liability the company pays Estonian VAT on the services and goods it brings in, charges none on its sales and deducts none. For services the duty starts on the day the service is received, with no threshold. A company with Estonian sales ahead can register in full instead and deduct this VAT.
Estonia VAT registration by choice, and the proof the Board asks for
A new company can ask for its Estonia VAT number in the application that founds it in the e-Business Register. A company that exists applies in e-MTA, by e-mail, at a service bureau or through a notary. Registration runs from the day the Board receives the application, or from a later day the company names.
Every applicant proves that it already does business in Estonia or is about to start. The Board names the proof it accepts: a business plan, a preliminary contract, a lease, a contract of supply or work. It may ask for more and decides within 5 working days of receiving it. Under § 20 (4¹) of the Act it does not register a person that neither does business nor is about to start.
A return is due every month, a month with no sales included, and a company that files none for six months in a row can lose its number.
We do this for you Accounting services in Estonia TSD by the 10th, VAT by the 20th
What changes once the company has a VAT number
From the first day of registration the company adds VAT to every supply taxed in Estonia. It deducts the VAT on what it buys for its taxable business in the month of the purchase, once it holds the invoice.
It pays the difference with the monthly return, the KMD, by the 20th of the next month. Invoices to or from one partner that reach €1,000 before VAT in a month go into the annex KMD INF. The calendar of returns and the levies for a late one stand on our accounting page.
Clients in other EU states check the number in VIES, the European Commission's search. The Board's own search shows the name, the VAT number and the date of registration.
Selling to other EU states: reverse charge for businesses, OSS for consumers
A service sold to a business in another EU state is taxed where the customer is, and the customer accounts for the VAT by reverse charge. The Estonian company shows the sale at 0% in its KMD and lists the customer's VAT number in the report VD by the 20th. Goods sent to a VAT-registered business in another EU state take the same path.
Sales to consumers work the other way. Distance sales of goods and electronic services to consumers in all other EU states share one limit of €10,000 a year. Up to it, the company may apply the Estonian rate. Above it, each sale bears the VAT of the customer's state, declared in one quarterly return through the One Stop Shop.
| One Stop Shop return for | Due |
|---|---|
| January to March | 30 April |
| April to June | 31 July |
| July to September | 31 October |
| October to December | 31 January |
The Union scheme of the One Stop Shop takes a company established in Estonia that already has its Estonian VAT number. It applies from the quarter after the application. Card payments count towards the €10,000 like any sale.
Three invoices of an Estonian company, worked out
One registered company, one month: a web project for an Estonian client, consulting for a business in Germany and online courses for consumers in France. Its EU consumer sales of the year are past €10,000. Rates from the European Commission's table: Germany 19%, France 20%.
| Invoice | Net | VAT on the invoice | Who pays the VAT | Declared in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web project, client in Estonia | €2,000 | 24%: €480 | The company | KMD, and KMD INF |
| Consulting, business in Germany | €5,000 | None | The customer, 19% in Germany | KMD at 0%, and VD |
| Online courses, consumers in France | €1,000 | 20%: €200 | The company, to France | One Stop Shop return |
The same month the company bought software from an Estonian supplier for €500 plus €120 of VAT. Its KMD shows €480 on sales less €120 of input VAT: it pays €360 by the 20th. The €200 for France goes with the One Stop Shop return of the quarter. Had the course sales of the year stayed within €10,000, the €1,000 would have carried Estonian VAT of €240 in the KMD.
We file the registration that fits the company's sales and purchases, and accounting in Estonia covers the KMD, the reports and the One Stop Shop return. A company not yet founded starts with company formation in Estonia, where the VAT request goes into the founding application.
