Paying yourself
How to pay yourself from an Estonian OÜ — salary, board member fee or dividends — with payroll taxes calculated and the monthly TSD return prepared for you.
Money leaves an Estonian OÜ for its owner in three main ways: a salary, a board member fee, or a dividend. Each is taxed differently, and many founders use a combination. The Payroll & Dividends section (its dashboard is titled Pay Yourself) handles all three, along with the monthly TSD declaration — the combined income and social tax return filed with EMTA (the Estonian Tax and Customs Board) — that follows whenever you pay anyone.
The three ways out
Salary is pay under an employment contract. Income tax of 22% is withheld after any basic exemption, the company pays 33% social tax on top, and unemployment insurance applies — 1.6% withheld from the employee plus 0.8% paid by the employer. If the person has joined the II pillar funded pension, that contribution is withheld too.
A board member fee (juhatuse liikme tasu) is pay for managing the company. It carries the same 22% income tax and 33% social tax, and the II pillar contribution is withheld if the person has joined — but no unemployment insurance on either side.
A dividend is a distribution of approved profit to shareholders. The company pays corporate income tax of 22/78 on the net amount distributed. No social tax applies, and no further income tax is withheld on regularly taxed dividends paid to resident individuals — but no social-security record or health-insurance cover is built from dividends either.
What Arvello does for you
- Calculates every payroll run with the full Estonian tax breakdown, down to the cent
- Generates PDF payslips in Estonian or English and emails them out
- Prepares your monthly TSD return automatically from approved payroll runs and dividend distributions
- Handles dividend declarations, including the shareholders' resolution document
- Compares the total cost of paying yourself each way, side by side
In this section
- People — add board members, employees and shareholders, with the details the TSD needs
- Running payroll — calculate a run, review the taxes, produce payslips
- TSD returns — the monthly declaration, prepared for you and due by the 10th
- Dividends — declare a distribution and see exactly what tax it triggers
- Pay yourself optimizer — the same take-home amount, costed four ways; in the sidebar it's Pay Strategy