Chapter 4: Supporting Documents

In Estonian accounting, every transaction in your bank account must be supported by a valid primary document. These supporting documents are what justify the movement of money — both for tax authorities and for your financial reporting. This section outlines what counts as a proper accounting document, what doesn't, and how to handle edge cases.

Types of Acceptable Accounting Documents

Below are the core document types required for different kinds of transactions.

1. Invoices

Invoices are the most common and essential documents in accounting. There are two types:

Outgoing (Sales) Invoices

Must be issued by your company for each sale and contain:

• “INVOICE” label clearly stated

• Unique invoice number

• Buyer’s full legal name (company or person)

• Buyer’s VAT number (if applicable and valid)

• Buyer’s address

• Date of issue and service delivery period

• Description of goods or services

• Total amount, VAT rate, and final price

⚠️ Important: All invoices must be issued in the same month as the delivery of goods/services. Late invoices may lead to corrections in tax declarations — and frequent corrections raise audit risk.

Incoming (Expense) Invoices

Must be issued by your supplier and contain your company’s:

• Legal name

• Address

• VAT number (ideally)

⚠️ Receipts are not invoices. Many suppliers (like Google, OpenAI, Meta) send a payment confirmation instead of a proper invoice. You must download the actual invoice from the platform dashboard. In some U.S. cases only, a receipt may be accepted if:

• The supplier does not issue invoices at all

• The receipt includes full vendor details, amounts, and description

• Enty’s accountants confirm the document’s acceptability

📌 Best practice: If your supplier generates hundreds of small receipts, try to consolidate them (e.g., by raising limits on billing thresholds in your dashboard). For example, raise your limits with Meta or Google Ads, contract with Bolt if you have to make a lot of business related taxi rides. Each receipt is counted as a separate document and extra documents are charged from €5 per item over plan.

2. Sales Reports

If you sell goods or services through platforms (e.g. Shopify, Amazon, Stripe, PayPal), you must provide platform-generated sales reports.

Requirements for Sales Reports:

• Reporting period (e.g., March 2025)

• Currency

• Customer location (mandatory)

• Itemized list of transactions including:

  • Date

  • Receipt or invoice number

  • Description of sale

  • Quantity and unit price

  • Total price and VAT (if applicable)

  • Payment method

⚠️ Most frequent mistake: missing country of customer. If this field is absent, the report is rejected.

Number of Reports:

• 1 report = 1 platform account

• 4 Amazon stores = 4 reports

• Stripe only = 1 report

Access options:

Give Enty read-only access to your e-commerce/payment platforms
(Here is a guide on how to do it in Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, Shopify)

3. Trip Reports

Trip reports are mandatory for all travel-related expenses — even if you paid using the company card. This report connects expenses to a business trip and is required by Estonian tax law.

What the trip report must include:

• Destination and purpose of the trip

• Dates of departure and return

• Currency used (with ECB rate if relevant)

• List of expenses with:

  • Date

  • Supplier

  • Description

  • Amount

  • Document reference (invoice/receipt)

Reimbursable expenses:

• Transportation (plane/train/bus)

• Accommodation (reasonable)

• Local SIM cards, taxis, fuel

• Representation meals

• Daily allowances:

  • €75/day for first 15 days

  • €40/day after day 15 (both tax-free)

⚠️ You or your employee don't need to collect receipts for meals you had, its all covered by the daily allowance, and the excess won't be covered. 

Tip from accountant: transfer daily allowance for the whole trip to your personal (your employee's personal) bank account before the trip - they can use the money freely

🧾 Representation expenses (e.g. lunch meetings): The €50/month exemption accumulates month to month. Exceeding it triggers taxation.

📌 Generate your trip report via Enty’s form: https://trip-report.enty.io and upload it to Enty’s accounting service for a corresponding period

4. Contracts

Contracts are needed when there is no invoice but a financial obligation exists, such as:

• Freelancer or consulting services

• Salaries and board member remuneration

• Loans to/from the company

• Long-term rent

Requirements for a valid contract:

• Legal names of all parties

• Terms of service or obligation

• Payment amount and conditions

• Signatures and dates

📄 Best practice: Create contracts using Enty’s Contracts service — they follow Estonian accounting standards by default and eliminate compliance risks.

5. Bank Statements

For every reporting period, Enty must receive a complete bank statement from all your company’s accounts.

The statement must show:

• Account number and currency

• Start and end balance for the period

• All transactions with dates and counterparty names

• Currency (especially for multi-currency accounts)

⚠️ Even if no transactions occurred, you must still upload a PDF statement — this serves as proof that the account was inactive.

📌 If your account has EUR and USD balances, provide separate statements for each currency.

📌 It is more efficient to connect your bank to Enty to sync your transactions and balances and auto-generate bank statements for each accounting period.

Documents That Are Not Accepted

Certain files look like accounting documents but are not legally valid and will be rejected:

Document Practices Worth Knowing 

Don’t Mix Personal and Business Payments

Even if it’s “just €10” — paying for business expenses with a personal card (or vice versa) complicates accounting. It can:

• Create the need for reimbursement documents

• Raise red flags in audits

• Be seen as undeclared fringe benefit (taxable)

🟢 Best to use your company card for all business payments — even subscriptions or travel.

Always Check What the Document Actually Says

Many founders forward a PDF thinking it's an invoice — but it’s just a “payment confirmation” or “thank you page.”

• These documents often lack buyer/seller info, invoice numbers, or descriptions

• They are not acceptable, even if they look “official”

🟢 Open the file and verify: Does it say INVOICE? Does it show your company name and the breakdown of service/product?

Clarify Documents in Unusual Cases

If you have:

• A shared invoice (e.g. hotel for two people, one is not part of the company)

• A partial payment

• A foreign receipt in a different language
  → Add a short comment when uploading to Enty or explain in the transaction note. It helps your accountant interpret the case correctly and avoid delays.

PDF Is the Gold Standard

Always prefer PDF over screenshots, DOCs, or JPGs. It’s more verifiable, often includes metadata, and is easier for auditors to review later.

Number Your Internal Docs (if you issue them manually)

If you generate documents outside of Enty — like service agreements, credit notes, etc. — always:

• Give them a unique number

• Use chronological order

• Include the company name, address, and date

Estonian accounting systems can’t accept multiple documents with the same number from the same sender.

Lifehack: How to Use a Restaurant Receipt for Business Lunch

By default, restaurant receipts are not accepted. But there’s a workaround:

✅ Ask for the itemized receipt (not the payment slip)
✅ The company director can handwrite:

• Names of attendees

• Date and time

• Business purpose

Then scan or take a photo of the annotated receipt.

⚠️ Writing on the terminal slip doesn’t help — it will still be rejected. Only annotated receipts with itemization and restaurant info can count as valid documents.

In summary, your company’s accounting is only as strong as the documents behind it. Providing complete, valid, and timely supporting documents ensures compliance, avoids costly declaration corrections, and protects you in the event of an audit.

Enty’s platform is designed to guide you through this process — with automatic matching, reminders, and accountant checks. If you're ever unsure whether a document qualifies, ask us before uploading.