Arvello for e-residents and owners abroad

Plenty of Estonian companies are run by people who don't live in Estonia — e-residents, and founders who have moved away. Arvello works the same wherever you sign in from, but a company run from abroad meets a few rules that a company run from Tallinn doesn't. This page collects them: what Arvello handles, what it leaves to you, and where the official text lives.

Running the books from abroad

Everything in Arvello happens in the browser, so the books don't care which country you're in.

• Language. The interface is in English or Estonian, set per person in Your profile. Invoice PDFs print their labels in each client's invoice language, and payslips come in Estonian or English, chosen per person.
• Banking. Connect the company's euro accounts, or import a CSV statement — see Connect your bank. For a multi-currency account such as Wise, connect or import the EUR balance: Arvello's books are kept in euros.
• Your accountant. Invite them from Settings → Company → Members with their own login — as a Member if they run the books, or an Advisor if they only review them. See Team members & roles.
• Questions. Arvo, the built-in assistant, answers questions about Arvello and Estonian rules in English or Estonian, with links to its sources.

The company's address and the contact person

If your company's address is outside Estonia, the Commercial Register Act requires a contact person (kontaktisik) in Estonia: someone who receives the company's procedural documents and other declarations addressed to it (ÄRS § 24 lg 1–2). Not just anyone qualifies. In that case the contact person can only be a notary, an advocate or law firm owner, a sworn auditor or audit firm, a non-resident's tax representative, or a trust and company service provider (lg 4).

The Business Register needs the contact person's name, personal ID or registry code, an Estonian address and email address for deliveries, and their digitally signed or notarised consent (lg 5). It also needs the term of the arrangement. When that term runs out, the contact person's details are removed from the register automatically (lg 6), so an extension has to be reported before then.

Arvello doesn't keep a record of the contact person: it's a Business Register matter, handled in the company registration portal. The Registered address in Company settings holds the company's own address, country included.

Official text: Commercial Register Act § 24.

Paying a non-resident board member or employee

Each person in Payroll & Dividends → People has an Estonian Tax Resident switch. Turn it off for a non-resident and choose their Country of Residence: Arvello won't calculate payroll for a non-resident without one, because their payments are declared under it. There's also a Foreign Tax ID field. See People.

For a non-resident, Arvello calculates each payment in a run like this:

• No II pillar contribution: the funded pension applies to Estonian residents only.
• No basic exemption — an Arvello limitation, not the law. A non-resident who lives in another EEA country can have the basic exemption deducted from Estonian payments, on a written application to the employer (TuMS § 42 lg 1). Arvello doesn't apply it to non-residents yet, so for such a person the exemption has to be handled outside Arvello for now.
• Income tax and social tax on every payment, and unemployment insurance on salaries, as for anyone else.
• No A1 exemption. The payroll calculation has no A1 certificate setting, so social tax is always calculated. The Pay Strategy comparison does have an A1 option, for comparing scenarios.

EMTA's guidance for companies founded by e-residents, which Arvello's calculation follows for board fees:

EMTA's own example: a €100 monthly board fee to an e-resident has 22% income tax withheld and 33% social tax on top. The company's cost is €133 and the e-resident receives €78. Arvello's calculation gives the same figures.

Arvello can't tell where the work behind a payment was done: every payment in a run gets Estonian taxes. A salary that EMTA wouldn't tax in Estonia therefore doesn't belong in an Arvello payroll run.

Declaring non-resident payments on the TSD

The TSD no longer has separate annexes for residents and non-residents: Annexes 1 and 2 were replaced by a single Väljamaksed (payments) part that covers payments to everyone (Ministry of Finance regulation no. 60, amended by RT I, 02.10.2026, 6). EMTA applies it from October 2026 payments; the return for September 2026 and earlier months still has payments to non-residents on Annex 2 and payments to residents on Annex 1.

Arvello doesn't fill in non-resident payments yet. When a month includes them, the TSD return shows a note saying how many were left out — add them in e-MTA: in the Väljamaksed part from October 2026, on Annex 2 for September 2026 and earlier. The return's totals already include their taxes. See TSD returns.

EMTA also expects a board member who receives a taxable fee to be entered in the employment register (töötamise register), like an employee.

Health insurance

Estonian health insurance follows social tax and living in Estonia. Under the Health Insurance Act, insured persons are people living in Estonia permanently or on a residence permit, or staying and working here lawfully, for whom social tax is paid (RaKS § 5 lg 1). For a board member, the company has to pay social tax on at least the monthly rate (lg 2 p 4) — €886 in 2026. Dividends carry no social tax, so they build no cover. Official text: Ravikindlustuse seadus.

Dividends

The company pays corporate income tax of 22/78 on a dividend, and no further Estonian income tax is withheld when it goes to an e-resident individual. EMTA notes that the e-resident usually can't use the company's Estonian tax as a credit in their own country, because a different person paid it. See Dividends.

Tax residency and permanent establishment

A company founded under Estonian law is an Estonian tax resident, wherever its owner lives. EMTA is clear that this doesn't settle everything:

• If the company's business is carried on only outside Estonia, or the company is managed from abroad, its income is taxed abroad, and Estonia prevents double taxation.
• In EMTA's words, Estonian tax residency "does not automatically exempt companies from taxation elsewhere".
• A board member running the company from another country is likely to create a permanent establishment there, with corporate tax on its profit in that country.

Arvello doesn't assess permanent establishment risk. The one place it raises it is the home office agreement form, which warns before an agreement is set up for a non-resident.

Your own tax residency is determined by EMTA, not by you or by Arvello. Under EMTA's guidance you're an Estonian resident if your permanent home is in Estonia or you stay here at least 183 days in 12 consecutive months, and residency is recorded through form R. Arvello calculates with the Estonian Tax Resident switch as you set it on the person.

EMTA's pages: tax liabilities of companies founded by e-residents, determining residency, taxation of permanent establishment profit.

Giving your accountant access to e-MTA

A board member with sole right of representation gets access to e-MTA, EMTA's online portal, automatically from the Business Register's data. Your accountant needs access granted by you:

This is separate from the permissions you grant Arvello itself for filing, described in Submitting to EMTA. EMTA's instructions: granting and termination of access permissions.