When You Need a Service Provider for an Estonian Company: Making a Better Choice

There is an outstanding e-Residency program for foreign entrepreneurs to start and run their own company in Estonia remotely. The application form is user-friendly and straightforward. You can find a lot of guides on the topic as well. Everything is online, in English, and super easy.

Lots of people usually get stuck on the second paragraph. A company founded by foreigners must have an official address and contact person in Estonia which may be challenging for an alien. This requirement is designed to provide your customers with a reliable place to apply some legal issues.

This address and the person accompanied are often called ‘Virtual Office’. It’s the most basic pain that service providers cover. Others are the administration side of the incorporation process and then the daily management.

It’s not impossible to register a company or to open a business bank account by yourself. But it takes your time and energy out of making a profit. Thus, it’s better to delegate. A choice of the providers depends on how much you’d like to delegate.

Rule number zero: find a service provider listed on the e-Residency Marketplace. Listing is the official website is not a guarantee, but a seal of approval. The e-Residency department ‘knows these guys’ and checks their expertise and business track.

For the rest, think ahead about your company’s needs. Service providers don’t leave their customers just after the registration of a legal person. They eventually help newcomers meet local requirements for contracts, invoices, VAT returns, and so on.

They provide entrepreneurs with tools to streamline routine administration such as integration with a bank, invoicing, accounting, and so on. It may take a form of a la carte services or a subscription.

If this option provides you only a ‘Virtual Office’, it’s nearly always an irrelevant offer. Maintaining the legal address (doesn’t have to be a physical office) and resending your post (comes once in a while) hardly cost even 3 cups of coffee.

Therefore, good providers enhance their minimum set with other valuable tools like invoicing, for example. Invoicing services can be unlimited or limited by some amount of invoices per month.

Another thing to pay attention to is the cost of the standard set and what is included in it. Even if you run a lifestyle business and do not pursue extensive growth, still, at any moment a ‘big fish’ might come. And then you will need to obtain VAT or something like this. So, in this case, you will be able to count on your service provider will cover a raised admin.

The biggest difference is whether your company will be VAT liable or not. Depending on this, you will have monthly (VAT returns) or yearly (annual report) needs in the accounting service.

You might have side questions such as registration of VAT, OSS, paying dividends, etc. thus, it’s better to have a consultation with an accountant included. There’s also a standard limit to the number of invoices/ transactions handed - check it.

Some providers present multicurrency accounting as an advantage, but we believe that having several currencies and bank accounts is essential for international companies and provide it ‘be the default’.

Sure, you’ll appreciate a feature to create invoices and keep track of your transactions, earnings, and expenses in one place.

As long as you will need a business bank account for your Estonian company, many service providers offer support to get it. Some providers even partner with Estonian banks, but there are many reasons to prefer a fintech provider to a traditional bank.

Take a look at whether a service provider is used to working with Wise, Revolut, Paysera, and other top online banks. They usually help to open the account there and integrate it with other back-office tools.

Where banking and accounting come together, payroll management arises. Some service providers offer a payroll tool—to generate a salary payment and account for the taxes applied. If you hire yourself as a shareholder, it’s also the case.

Subscription plans usually limit payroll service to the number of employees or tax reports per period. Broadened offers of service providers may include recruitment, marketing and market analyses, visa services, and so on.

With an Enty subscription, you get an extra tool to create legally correct contracts for your Estonian company. And also you get access to one-time services such as trademark registration or legal advice.

Some service providers don’t support e-commerce (dropshipping, Amazon FBA, etc.) and cryptocurrency businesses. They usually mention it on the websites, but it’s always better to clarify.

Meanwhile, there are many offers for e-commerce companies. For example, Enty has a subscription plan with e-com accounting. In contrast, physical product sellers are a rare case, so, there’re 1-2 service providers in this niche only.

Anti-slavery clause. Some service providers don’t take on the service of those who opened a company via another provider. Some providers can charge you for switching to another provider. We don’t do that ;)

Our mission is to create seamless and well-organized back office for SME companies in Estonia and broader in Europe. We are now offering invoicing, accounting, contract management, HR, banking, and other services in a single subscription.

We challenge back office routines by transforming repetitive manual tasks into automated tools. However, sometimes there is human advice that nothing could replace. Thus, accounting consultations are already included in the subscription plans and you can apply for more if needed.

Enty welcomes both newcomers to be incorporated and existing companies in Estonia. And yeap, we don’t charge if you want to switch a service provider. We want our customers to grow business with us because of the best service, not a painful buyout fee.