Running payroll

Run Estonian payroll in Arvello: 22% income tax, 33% social tax and unemployment insurance calculated per person, with PDF payslips and TSD-ready figures.

A payroll run is one month's worth of salaries and board fees, calculated with full Estonian taxes. You enter gross amounts; Arvello works out what each person receives, what the company owes EMTA (the Estonian Tax and Customs Board), and what the month really costs.

One run covers one calendar month, and a confirmed run feeds straight into that month's TSD return.

Creating a run

Choose the period

Go to Payroll & Dividends → Payroll Runs, select Create Payroll Run, and pick the year, month and payment date. The payment date matters: it determines which tax rates apply. If a run already exists for the period, Arvello points you to it instead — one run per month.

Pick people and amounts

Arvello pre-fills a payment for every active person: their monthly board fee, their salary, or both if they hold both roles. Edit any gross amount, remove people who aren't being paid this month, or add extra items — bonus, holiday pay, or employer sick pay.

Review the calculation

The review step shows a per-person tax breakdown, the totals, and a tax payment summary — the exact amount to pay EMTA. Create payroll run saves it as a draft: nothing is posted yet.

Approve the run

On the run's page, click Approve Payroll Run. This locks the run, posts the journal entry to your accounts, and generates the payment month's TSD return draft. Locked means locked — approved runs can't be edited.

How the calculation works

Take an employee on €2,500 gross in 2026, an Estonian resident applying the €700 monthly basic exemption, not enrolled in the II pillar pension:

Step	Amount
Gross salary	€2,500.00
Basic exemption applied	−€700.00
Taxable amount	€1,800.00
Income tax (22% of taxable)	€396.00
Employee unemployment insurance (1.6% of gross)	€40.00
Net paid to employee	€2,064.00
Social tax (33% of gross, employer-paid)	€825.00
Employer unemployment insurance (0.8% of gross)	€20.00
Total employer cost	€3,345.00

Payroll run breakdown

Everything between net pay and total employer cost — €1,281.00 in the example above — goes to EMTA. If the person is enrolled in the II pillar, their 2%, 4% or 6% contribution is also withheld from gross. Board member fees follow the same pattern minus unemployment insurance: income tax and any II pillar contribution withheld, social tax on top.

ℹ️Minimum social tax

For employees, social tax is due on at least the minimum base — €886 in 2026, so a minimum of €292.38 a month. Pay an employee €400 gross and Arvello tops the social tax up to the minimum automatically, flags that it has done so, and prorates the base when employment starts or ends mid-month. The minimum is skipped for people marked exempt on their person form (state pension recipients, students and the other Social Tax Act exemptions), and it does not apply to board member fees — a board member who wants health insurance needs an actual fee of at least the base.

Payslips

Once a run is approved, the Payslips tab appears. Generate PDF payslips for everyone in one click, download them individually, or email them out — each in the person's chosen language, Estonian or English.

After approval

When the bank transfers have actually gone out, use Mark as Paid to record it. The run's status moves through draft → approved → paid, and the journal entry is linked from the run page if you want to see the accounting.

The run's taxes then appear on the month's TSD return, due by the 10th of the following month — see TSD returns for filing.

⚠️Disclaimer

For informational purposes only. Not tax advice. Consult a qualified advisor.