Estonian annual report without an accountant: guide for e-Residents

Part of the guide: Filing the Estonian annual report

This guide is for e-Residents and non-resident owners of an Estonian micro-enterprise OÜ who want to file the annual report (majandusaasta aruanne) themselves. The general steps for any owner are on file your annual report yourself. This page covers what is different when you live outside Estonia and do not read Estonian.

Who has to file, and by when?

Every company registered in Estonia, including those owned by e-Residents, submits an annual report to the Business Register (Äriregister) within six months of the fiscal year end: 30 June for a calendar-year company (Äriseadustik paragrahv 179). There are no exceptions for dormant companies, for companies with zero revenue, or for companies whose owner lives in another country. What happens if you are late: annual report deadline in Estonia.

If at least two of these three thresholds are not exceeded on the balance sheet date — total assets of 450,000 euros, annual income of 900,000 euros, an average of 10 employees (Raamatupidamise seadus paragrahv 3, punkt 14) — your OÜ is a micro-enterprise and files the simplified report: a balance sheet, an income statement and notes. What each part contains: micro-entity annual report in Estonia.

Is an e-Resident's report different?

In substance, no. An e-Resident-owned OÜ files exactly the same report as a local owner, on the same deadline and under the same thresholds. What differs is the practical side: how you log in and sign, the language, and the terminology.

What documents do you need before you start?

The same three as any owner: the bank statement as a CSV file for the full year, last year's balance sheet figures (unless this is your first year), and EMTA data if you paid salary or board member fees. The full list is on file your annual report yourself. Points that matter when you are abroad:

• Bank statement. LHV, SEB, Swedbank, Coop Pank, Revolut Business and Wise Business all export CSV. Download each account separately. PDF and Excel do not work for automated processing.
• Last year's report. If you do not have a copy, every filed annual report can be downloaded from the Business Register information system (ariregister.rik.ee) for a small fee.
• EMTA data. In e-MTA, under Arvestus, export the "Nõuete toimingute otsing" (claim transactions report) for the full year as CSV, and the "Saldopäring" (balance query) as of 31 December. If no salaries or board fees were paid, skip EMTA: the average number of employees is zero.

How to file on ettevõtjaportaal — step by step

The Business Register portal (ettevotjaportaal.rik.ee) is the only way to submit the report. It is entirely in Estonian; there is no English interface. The steps below use the Estonian labels you will see.

Step 1. Log in. e-Residents use their e-Residency digital ID card and a card reader, the same one used for other e-services. Smart-ID and Mobiil-ID are not always available to e-Residents, so plan on the card. Residents can also use an Estonian ID card, Mobiil-ID or Smart-ID.

Step 2. Select "Aruande esitamine" (Report submission), then "Lisa uus aruanne" (Add new report). Pick your company and check the fiscal year dates.

Step 3. Select "Mikroettevõtja" as the report category. The portal also checks that the shareholder is a board member; this is a portal requirement, not a legal one.

Step 4. Enter the balance sheet and income statement field by field, or upload a ready XBRL/XML file. Manual entry works, but it is slow and error-prone when you have many transactions to summarise. You also choose the income statement scheme here; see scheme 1 vs scheme 2.

Step 5. Enter the revenue breakdown by EMTAK activity codes, up to the 10 largest activity areas (Äriseadustik paragrahv 179). The portal also requires at least 90 percent of revenue to be allocated across those codes; that is a portal rule, not a statutory one. No activity? Select "Majandustegevust ei toimunud."

Step 6. Enter the profit distribution proposal (kasumi jaotamise ettepanek). For most micro-enterprises the full profit goes to "Eelmiste perioodide jaotamata kasum" (retained earnings from prior periods).

Step 7. Generate the final PDF, review it, sign with your digital ID, and submit.

Where e-Residents and non-residents typically get stuck

The portal is in Estonian and the terminology is accounting-specific. These are the friction points that come up most often in e-Resident communities.

The language barrier. Every field label, dropdown option and error message is in Estonian, and so are the RTJ standards, the Raamatupidamise seadus (Accounting Act) and the EMTA guidance. Browser translation helps with navigation but can mistranslate accounting terms: "kohustised" (liabilities) and "kohustused" (obligations) are different things, and a mistranslation can send you to the wrong field.

The "Labour Expense" field. This trips up almost everyone. The tööjõukulud (labour costs) line in the income statement is not the net salary payment from your bank statement. It is the total employer cost: gross salary plus employer social tax (33 percent), plus, for a salaried employee, employer unemployment insurance (0.8 percent). A board member's fee is different: no unemployment insurance is charged on it (Unemployment Insurance Act paragrahv 3), only social and income tax. So if you paid yourself a 1,000 euro gross board member fee, the income statement line is 1,330 euros: the 1,000 plus 330 in employer social tax. The authoritative source is your EMTA data, not your bank statement.

The profit distribution proposal. Common mistake: leaving it blank or entering the wrong amount. It is a forward-looking proposal, not a record of what was paid during the year. If you paid dividends during the year, state the gross dividend amount (net payment plus the 22/78 income tax the company paid). Dividend tax is not an expense; it reduces equity. More: the profit distribution proposal and dividends.

The balance check. Total assets must equal total liabilities plus total equity, to the cent. The portal validates this, and an imbalance of one cent blocks submission.

Prior-year comparatives. The balance sheet has a current-year and a prior-year column. If you filed last year, those numbers must match your previous submission exactly. A mismatch, even from rounding, will cause problems.

The accrual principle. Estonian accounting uses the accrual basis (tekkepõhine arvestus), not the cash basis. Your bank statement is cash-based. If you invoiced a client in December but received payment in January, that revenue belongs in the current year's income statement and appears as a receivable on the balance sheet. The same applies to unpaid supplier invoices at year end: the expense is this year's, even though you pay next year. How the numbers get from the statement to the report: from bank statement to annual report.

How long does it realistically take?

Filing manually on the portal, from scratch, for a simple micro-enterprise with fewer than 50 transactions: 4 to 8 hours the first time. That includes understanding what each field means, categorising transactions, computing the balance sheet, and verifying that everything balances.

If you have done it before and the business is simple: 2 to 4 hours.

Over 100 transactions, or with fixed assets, loans or employee salaries to account for: 8 to 16 hours. This is where the categorisation work — deciding whether each bank transaction is revenue, an operating expense, a loan repayment or an owner payment — becomes the bottleneck.

What does it cost?

Accountant. An accountant charges €120–430 for a micro-company report. Many accountants who work with e-Residents sell a monthly package instead, typically 100 to 300 euros per month (1,200 to 3,600 euros per year), covering monthly bookkeeping and the annual report. If your company is simple and you only need the annual report, that is 12 months of service for something you need once.

Xolo. The widely known e-Resident service provider charges a minimum of 59 euros per month (708 euros per year), with bookkeeping and annual report preparation included in the package. Suitable if you want ongoing monthly accounting support.

DIY on the portal. Free in money. It costs time, and it requires that you understand Estonian accounting terminology well enough to fill in the fields correctly.

nosweat.finance. 49 euros, one time. Not a subscription. Upload your bank statement CSV, review the categorised transactions, check the numbers, download the XBRL file. The report is ready to upload to ettevõtjaportaal in about 15 minutes. You review everything, sign it yourself, and submit it to the Business Register.

All options side by side: annual report cost.

Frequently asked questions

How do I file an annual report in Estonia without an accountant?

You submit the majandusaasta aruanne yourself on ettevõtjaportaal.rik.ee, the Business Register portal run by RIK. Log in with your e-Residency digital ID and a card reader (or an Estonian ID card, Mobiil-ID or Smart-ID), select "Mikroettevõtja" as the report category, enter the balance sheet and income statement figures, then sign and submit. No accountant is legally required for a micro-enterprise.

How much does it cost to file without an accountant?

Filing on ettevõtjaportaal.rik.ee itself is free; there is no state fee. The cost is your time, unless you use a service. An accountant charges €120–430 for a micro-company report, or 100–300 euros a month for a bookkeeping package; Xolo charges from 59 euros a month. nosweat.finance charges 49 euros once, with no subscription, for the same simplified report.

How long does it take to file the report yourself?

For a simple micro-enterprise OÜ with fewer than 50 transactions and no employees, expect 4 to 8 hours the first time, mostly spent categorising bank transactions rather than filling in fields. Companies with fixed assets, loans or salaries, or more than 100 transactions, should budget 8 to 16 hours.

Can e-Residents file the annual report the same way as Estonian residents?

Yes. The Raamatupidamise seadus and Äriseadustik apply the same filing deadline and thresholds regardless of where the owner lives. e-Residents log in to ettevõtjaportaal.rik.ee with their e-Residency digital ID card and a card reader, using the identical Mikroettevõtja workflow. There is no separate process or extended deadline for non-residents.

Can e-Residents use Smart-ID or Mobiil-ID?

Not always. Smart-ID and Mobiil-ID are not always available to e-Residents, so have your e-Residency digital ID card and a card reader ready, both for logging in and for signing the report.

What happens if I file the annual report late?

Under Äriregistri seadus paragrahv 57, the registrar can repeatedly fine a company up to 3,200 euros (Tsiviilkohtumenetluse seadustik paragrahv 46), without a prior warning. If the report is still missing three months after the statutory deadline, paragrahv 58 allows the registrar to strike the company from the register.

Legal references

• Raamatupidamise seadus (RPS) — paragrahv 3, punkt 14 (micro-enterprise definition, thresholds updated 17.01.2025); paragrahv 15 (simplified report); paragrahv 18 (balance sheet and income statement formats); paragrahv 21 (notes requirements); paragrahv 22 (comparative data requirement).
• Äriseadustik (ÄS) — paragrahv 176 (net assets requirement); paragrahv 179 (filing deadline, revenue breakdown by EMTAK codes, profit distribution proposal).
• RTJ standards — RTJ 1 (general framework), RTJ 5 (fixed assets and depreciation), RTJ 15 (notes disclosures). Issued under Finance Minister regulation no. 105; latest amendments RT I, 19.02.2025, 12.
• Registrite ja Infosüsteemide Keskus (RIK) — the Centre of Registers and Information Systems, which operates the Business Register and ettevotjaportaal.rik.ee.
• Filing deadline: six months after the fiscal year end. For calendar-year companies, 30 June.

Or skip the manual work. nosweat.finance builds your report from a bank statement in about 15 minutes, even if you do not live in Estonia. You review everything, sign it yourself, and submit it to the Business Register.