What Documents Does Your Estonian Accountant Actually Need From You Each Month?
Your Estonian accountant needs the same short list every month: sales invoices you issued, purchase invoices and receipts with VAT shown separately, statements for every account the company touches, payroll changes, expense receipts with a business-purpose note, and any new contract or asset purchase. Months rarely go wrong because a founder refuses to send documents. They go wrong because the founder sends the Estonian bank statement and forgets the Wise, Revolut, Stripe and PayPal balances where most of the money actually moved.
The short answer: what does your Estonian accountant need every month?
Sales invoices, purchase invoices and receipts with VAT shown separately, statements for every account, payroll changes, expense notes, new contracts and asset purchases — by the 5th of the following month.
Statements from EMIs and processors — Wise, Revolut Business, Payoneer, Stripe, PayPal — are the most-forgotten item and the top cause of reconciliation pain.
They feed four deadlines: TSD by the 10th, KMD plus KMD INF by the 20th, the OSS return by the last day of the month after each quarter, and the annual report within 6 months of financial-year end.
A missing purchase invoice means a lost VAT deduction: at Estonia’s 24% rate, a €1,000 net purchase carries €240 you do not get back.
VAT registration is mandatory once taxable supply passes €40,000 in a calendar year; apply to EMTA within three working days.
Source documents must be kept 7 years after the financial year ends. Digital originals are enough — no paper archive.
Why does your accountant ask for the same things every month?
Because Estonian bookkeeping is source-document bookkeeping. The Accounting Act requires every ledger entry to be backed by a source document (algdokument) proving the transaction happened and naming the parties, amount and date. Without the document, your accountant cannot make the entry. A bank line reading “STRIPE PAYOUT 4,182.60” proves money arrived — not what was sold, to whom, or at what VAT rate.
The second reason is reconciliation. Closing a month means matching every movement on every account to a document. If your accountant has 214 bank lines and 190 documents, the month is not closed — it is twenty-four questions long. Sending the complete set first time is the cheapest thing you will ever do for your Estonia compliance.
None of this changes because you hold e-Residency. It is a digital identity for running an Estonian company online from anywhere, not tax residency, and it does not shorten the document trail by a line. Running an OÜ from abroad usually multiplies the accounts involved. The myth itself is covered in why e-Residency does not let you avoid taxes.
What documents does your Estonian accountant actually need each month?
Nine categories, and the same nine every month. Rows four and five are the ones founders miss most.
Document | Why it is needed | What breaks without it | Deadline it feeds |
|---|---|---|---|
Sales invoices issued, plus credit notes | Revenue and output VAT by rate; feeds KMD INF Part A | Understated turnover; an amended return later | KMD, 20th |
Purchase invoices to the company, VAT shown separately | Supports the input VAT deduction | Deduction denied; you absorb the full 24% | KMD, 20th |
Bank statements, full month, every Estonian account | Reconciliation against every document | Guessed entries; the month cannot close | KMD, 20th; annual report |
EMI statements: Wise, Revolut Business, Payoneer | Real company money, often the main account | Cash and revenue wrong; annual report unusable | KMD, 20th; annual report |
Processor reports: Stripe, PayPal, Paddle | Splits gross sales from fees, refunds, chargebacks | Net payouts booked as revenue; VAT lost | KMD, 20th; OSS |
Payroll inputs: hires, leavers, sick leave, changes | Income tax 22%, social tax 33%, unemployment 1.6% and 0.8% | Wrong TSD; underpaid tax plus interest | TSD, 10th |
Expense receipts with a business-purpose note | Separates a business cost from a fringe benefit | Taxed at 22/78, plus 33% social tax | TSD, 10th |
New contracts and asset purchase invoices | Period allocation, place of supply, depreciation | Costs in the wrong year; wrong cross-border VAT | KMD; annual report |
Foreign-currency invoices, original currency | Books are in euros; transaction-date rate applies | Unexplained FX differences; wrong EUR base | KMD, 20th; annual report |
Dividend decision and payment date | Triggers 22% income tax as 22/78 of the net amount | Undeclared distribution; 0.06% daily interest | TSD Annex 7, 10th |
B2C sales split by EU country of consumption | Applies the destination country’s VAT rate | Wrong OSS return; exposure per member state | OSS, quarterly |
Sales invoices you issued
Send every sales invoice raised during the month, including credit notes and anything voided. Estonian VAT invoices must carry the details in § 37 of the VAT Act: sequential number, issue date, your name, address and VAT number, the customer’s details, a description of the supply, the amount excluding VAT by rate, and the VAT in euros. Invoices to VAT-registered EU customers also need the customer’s VAT number, which is what supports the 0% rate. If you apply a reverse charge or exemption, say so on the invoice.
Since 1 July 2025, a buyer registered as an e-invoice recipient in the Estonian Commercial Register can require a machine-readable e-invoice in the EN 16931 format rather than a PDF. Most small suppliers are never asked, but if a large corporate or public-sector customer does, it is not optional.
Purchase invoices and receipts — with VAT shown separately
This is where money quietly leaks. To deduct input VAT you need an invoice meeting the VAT Act’s requirements and made out to your company, not to you personally. A card slip in your own name showing one gross total will not support a deduction. Simplified invoices are allowed up to €160 excluding VAT in narrow cases such as parking meters and unattended fuel pumps.
Supplier’s name, address and VAT number
Sequential invoice number and issue date
Your company as the buyer, with your VAT number on EU cross-border purchases
Description and quantity of the goods or services
Price excluding VAT and the taxable amount by rate
The VAT amount in euros — the standard rate is 24% since 1 July 2025
A note of any exemption, 0% rate or reverse charge
Bank statements for every account — including Wise, Payoneer, Revolut, Stripe and PayPal
Send a full-month statement for every account the company holds, in a machine-readable format such as CSV or camt.053 rather than a screenshot. Not the main account. Every account. This is the number one cause of reconciliation pain for e-resident founders.
It matters more here than almost anywhere else, because non-resident founders rarely bank with LHV, Swedbank or SEB — those banks routinely decline companies whose owners have no genuine local ties. The practical route is fintech: Wise Business, Revolut Business, Payoneer. Those are not side wallets; they are the operating accounts, and founders who send only the Estonian statement usually send the emptier of the two.
Payment processors are the harder half, because Stripe and PayPal pay out net. A €5,000 payout is gross sales minus fees, refunds, chargebacks and currency conversion, settled over a window that straddles month-end. Booking it as revenue understates your turnover and your deductible costs at once. Send each processor’s balance report and payout reconciliation, not just the bank line.
Every euro sitting in a Wise, Revolut, Payoneer, Stripe or PayPal balance is company money, and no month can be closed until every line in those accounts is matched to a document.
Payroll inputs: new hires, sick leave and changes
Tell your accountant about people changes before payday, not after. Estonian payroll is declared on form TSD by the 10th, and every figure comes from data only you hold: 22% income tax, 33% social tax, unemployment premiums of 1.6% and 0.8%, plus funded pension contributions. In 2026 the minimum monthly social tax base is €886, a minimum employer liability of €292.38 — so a part-timer paid €400 still generates social tax as if they earned €886.
Registration has a harder edge. An employee must be entered in the employment register (töötamise register) at EMTA no later than the moment they start work, and the end of employment recorded within ten days. Send your accountant:
New hires: name, ID code, start date, gross salary, working-time rate, job title, workplace address
Leavers: last working day and unused holiday to be paid out
Salary changes, bonuses and commissions, with the month they belong to
Sick-leave certificates and parental-leave dates
Board member fees, which carry social tax but no unemployment premium
Contractor invoices, so subcontracting is not mistaken for undeclared salary
If you are the only person in the company, whether to run anything through payroll is a decision worth settling once — see salary or dividends from your Estonian company.
Expense receipts with a business-purpose note
A receipt answers “how much”. Your accountant needs “why”. One line is enough: client lunch, Berlin, prospect Acme or laptop for our developer. Without it, a borderline cost is classified conservatively, and conservative is expensive: expenses that cannot be linked to the business are taxed on the company at 22/78, with 33% social tax on top for fringe benefits.
Contracts for any new recurring commitment
Send the contract whenever you sign something that repeats: a twelve-month retainer, an office agreement, an annual SaaS plan, a loan, a lease, a revenue-share deal. Contracts decide period allocation — whether a fee invoiced in March is revenue in March or spread over the year — and the VAT place of supply on cross-border services.
Asset purchases
Flag anything durable the company bought: laptops, equipment, vehicles, real estate. These are capitalised and depreciated over their useful life rather than expensed in the month of purchase, which changes both your profit and your balance sheet. Vehicles bring rules on private use and partial VAT recovery; immovable property carries a multi-year input VAT adjustment period.
Foreign-currency documentation
Estonian books are kept in euros, so every non-EUR invoice needs conversion. Send the original document in its original currency and let your accountant apply the correct rate — normally the European Central Bank reference rate for the date the liability arose. Converting it yourself at your bank’s rate hides a foreign exchange gain or loss that belongs in the books.
Which deadlines do those documents feed?
Four, in a predictable rhythm: the 10th, the 20th, the quarter, and the six-month annual report. Everything on the checklist exists to make one of these four filings correct.
Filing | What it covers | Filed with | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
Form TSD and annexes | Income tax, social tax, unemployment premiums, pension contributions, fringe benefits, dividends (Annex 7) | EMTA, via e-MTA | 10th day of the month following payment; tax payable the same day |
VAT return KMD plus annex KMD INF | Output and input VAT for the month, with invoice-level detail per partner from €1,000 excluding VAT | EMTA, via e-MTA | 20th day of the following month; VAT payable the same day |
VD report on intra-Community supply | 0%-rated supplies to VAT-registered customers in other EU states | EMTA, via e-MTA | 20th day of the following month |
OSS return | B2C distance sales and services to consumers in other EU member states | EMTA, electronically only | Last day of the month after the quarter: 30 April, 31 July, 31 October, 31 January |
Annual report | Balance sheet, income statement, notes and management report | Business Register (RIK) | Within 6 months of financial-year end — 30 June for a calendar-year company |
Form TSD by the 10th
TSD is the monthly income and social tax return, due by the 10th day of the month following the month of payment, with the tax payable the same day. It covers salaries, board fees, fringe benefits, payments to non-residents and — on Annex 7 — dividends. Distributing profit triggers 22% income tax computed as 22/78 of the net amount paid, while retained profit stays untaxed: the Estonian tax point is the distribution, not the earning. From 1 October 2026, EMTA moves TSD to data-based submission straight from your accounting software.
The VAT return KMD and its annex KMD INF by the 20th
If your company is VAT-registered, the taxable period is one calendar month and the VAT return is due by the 20th of the following month, with the VAT payable that day. The annex KMD INF needs invoice-level detail for sales (Part A) and purchases (Part B) where the total per business partner reaches €1,000 excluding VAT — which is why your accountant wants the invoices themselves, not a summary. Announced e-reporting reforms would remove the €1,000 threshold from 2027, so check the current rules.
Registration itself is triggered by turnover. Once taxable supply exceeds €40,000 from the start of the calendar year, you must apply to EMTA within three working days — and EMTA registers you from the day the threshold was crossed, not the day you applied. That backdating is why your last few pre-threshold invoices matter.
The OSS return, once a quarter
If you sell to consumers in other EU member states through the One Stop Shop, the OSS return is quarterly, due by the last day of the month following the quarter: 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January. It is filed electronically through EMTA and needs sales split by member state of consumption and by that state’s VAT rate — a split that comes from your store or invoicing system, never from your bank. Our step-by-step OSS registration guide covers the setup.
The annual report, within six months of financial-year end
Every Estonian company files an annual report with the Business Register within six months of its financial-year end — 30 June for a calendar-year company — whether or not it traded. The report is assembled entirely from the twelve monthly closes. If four of those months are missing an EMI statement, that is where it surfaces.
What actually happens when a document is missing?
Most of the time you lose the VAT deduction, and the arithmetic is unforgiving. Estonia’s standard rate is 24%, so a €1,000 net purchase carries €240 of input VAT. Without a compliant invoice addressed to your company, that €240 stays with the tax authority. Ten forgotten invoices of that size in a year is €2,400.
Lost input VAT. No compliant invoice, no deduction: €240 on every €1,000 net purchase at 24%.
Reclassified expenses. An unexplained cost can become a fringe benefit, taxed at 22/78 plus 33% social tax.
Amended returns. A late document means correcting a KMD or TSD already filed.
Late-payment interest. Tax arrears accrue 0.06% per day, which is 21.9% a year.
A stalled annual report. Unreconciled accounts cannot become a balance sheet; persistent late filing risks fines and deletion from the register.
Banking friction. EMIs ask what a payment was for, and founders who cannot answer get frozen.
Your monthly checklist
Send this on or before the 5th of the following month. That gives your accountant working days before the 10th and the 20th rather than hours.
All sales invoices issued, plus credit notes and voided documents
All purchase invoices and receipts, addressed to the company, VAT shown separately
Bank statements for the full month, every Estonian account
EMI statements: Wise, Revolut Business, Payoneer, any other fintech account
Processor reports: Stripe, PayPal, Paddle — balances plus payout reconciliation
Payroll changes: hires, leavers, sick leave, salary changes, board fees
Expense receipts with a one-line business-purpose note
New contracts, especially anything recurring
Asset purchases, flagged separately, with the invoice
Foreign-currency invoices, unconverted
Any dividend decision and the date the money left
B2C sales by EU country of consumption, if you sell across the EU
Anything unusual: a refund, a dispute, an owner loan, an internal transfer
How long do you have to keep all of this?
Seven years. Estonian accounting law requires source documents and accounting records to be preserved for seven years after the end of the financial year they relate to. Electronic retention is explicitly permitted, so digital originals in cloud storage are sufficient and no paper archive is required. Keep contracts for as long as they remain in force plus seven years.
How do you make this take twenty minutes instead of two days?
List every account the company holds — banks, EMIs, processors, card providers, marketplaces. Most founders find one they had forgotten.
Turn on automatic monthly statement exports, or a direct feed, from each of them.
Route every business purchase through a company card, never a personal one.
Forward each receipt the day you get it, with the business purpose in the same message.
Use one shared folder per month and one channel for your accountant’s questions.
Announce hires, leavers and new contracts in advance, not in the monthly dump.
Frequently asked questions
What is the single most-forgotten document?
Statements from EMIs and payment processors — Wise, Revolut Business, Payoneer, Stripe and PayPal. Founders treat them as payment tools rather than bank accounts, send the Estonian bank statement, and stop. Every one of those balances is company money, and every line has to be reconciled.
Can I send everything once a year instead of monthly?
No, if your company is VAT-registered or pays anyone. The VAT return is monthly and due on the 20th, and form TSD is due on the 10th of the month after any taxable payment. A dormant company with no payroll and no VAT registration has far less to send, but still files an annual report.
Is a card receipt enough to deduct VAT in Estonia?
Usually not. Input VAT deduction requires an invoice meeting § 37 of the VAT Act: the supplier’s VAT number, the taxable amount by rate, the VAT amount in euros, and your company named as the buyer. A retail slip in your personal name does not qualify. Simplified invoices are accepted up to €160 excluding VAT in narrow situations such as parking meters.
What if I have lost an invoice completely?
Ask the supplier for a duplicate before giving up. Most SaaS providers, airlines and marketplaces keep every invoice permanently downloadable in your account’s billing section. If no document can be obtained, the cost may still be booked as an expense, but the input VAT is not deductible.
What happens if I file a VAT return or TSD late?
Interest accrues on the unpaid tax at 0.06% per day, which is 21.9% per year, and EMTA can impose penalties for non-submission and assess the tax itself. Late filing also affects your publicly visible tax-arrears status. Filing on time with imperfect numbers and correcting later beats filing late.
Does e-Residency change what documents I owe?
Not at all. e-Residency gives you a digital ID to sign and file online, so it changes how you submit documents, not which ones. Your Estonian OÜ carries the same source-document, TSD, KMD and annual report obligations as a resident-owned company.
My company earns income abroad — does my accountant need anything extra?
Yes: withholding tax certificates from foreign payers, residence certificates you obtained, and any treaty forms you filed. Foreign tax withheld at source may be creditable or relieved under Estonia’s network of roughly 60 double tax treaties, but only with documentary proof. Start with how to check whether your country has a tax treaty with Estonia.
