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Estonia e-Resident Company Cost Calculator (2026)

As of 2026, an Estonian e-resident company costs €415 in one-time state fees (€150 e-Residency + €265 registration, minimum share capital €0.01), roughly €1,000–2,000 a year in accounting and address services, and corporate tax of 22/78 only when profit is distributed — retained profit is taxed at 0%, and the planned 2% defence tax was scrapped before it ever applied.

The link reproduces your exact inputs.

The three cost layers of an Estonian OÜ

Estonia’s pitch gets compressed into “0% corporate tax”, which is both true and misleading. The real structure has three separate layers. First, fixed entry costs: the €150 e-Residency state fee, €265 to register the company, and a share capital requirement that has been a symbolic €0.01 since 2023. Second, recurring services: because the company is managed from abroad, Estonian law requires a local contact person and registered address, and in practice you will want a licensed accountant — together €1,000–2,000 a year at market rates.

Third — and only third — tax. Estonia taxes distributions, not profits. While earnings stay in the company, whether as cash or reinvested in the business, the tax authority’s own guidance says there is no tax liability. When you pay a dividend, the company pays 22/78 of the net amount — equivalently, 22% of the gross distribution. The reduced 14/86 rate for regular dividends was abolished in 2025, and the much-discussed 2% defence tax on corporate profits was cancelled by Parliament in June 2025 without ever taking effect. What remains is a clean binary: 0% inside, 22% on the way out.

The calculator keeps the layers apart because they answer different questions. Fixed costs tell you the minimum viable scale — at €10,000 of revenue, €1,300 of services is a 13% drag; at €100,000 it is noise. The distribution slider tells you what the structure costs at your actual payout behaviour: a founder who reinvests everything runs at near-zero tax, while one who distributes every euro is paying an effective ~28% on take-home before their own country’s dividend tax. That last clause is the one to underline — the Estonian side is usually the smaller half of the bill.

Frequently asked questions

What does e-Residency actually give me?

A government-issued digital ID that lets you establish and run an Estonian company entirely online — sign documents, file reports, manage banking relationships remotely. It is emphatically not tax residency, not citizenship, not a visa and not a right to live in Estonia or the EU. Your personal taxes stay wherever you are tax-resident; e-Residency changes where your company lives, not where you do.

Is the famous 0% corporate tax real?

Yes, with a precise meaning: Estonia charges no tax while profit stays in the company — the tax authority states plainly that if the company invests its profit rather than distributing it, there is no tax liability. The moment you pay dividends, 22/78 applies: 22% of the gross distribution, which works out to about 28.2% on top of the net amount you receive. The 0% is a deferral tool, not an exemption — powerful if you reinvest, ordinary if you live off the profits.

Where will I pay personal tax on the dividends?

Estonia adds no withholding on dividends paid to non-resident individuals — the 22/78 at company level is the whole Estonian bill. But your country of tax residence almost certainly taxes foreign dividends, and that is where most of the real cost hides. Worse, many countries apply place-of-effective-management rules: if you run the OÜ single-handedly from your sofa in Berlin or Seoul, your local tax office may treat the whole company as domestic. This structure works cleanly only when you check the home-country side first.

Salary or dividends — how do e-residents usually pay themselves?

Two channels with different treatment. A board-member fee for managing the company carries 22% Estonian withholding. A salary for actual work performed physically outside Estonia is generally not taxed by Estonia at all — it is taxed where you live and work. Many e-residents therefore pay themselves a work salary (taxed at home) plus occasional dividends (22/78 in Estonia). The right mix depends entirely on your home country’s rates and social security rules.

What about VAT?

Estonia’s standard rate is 24%, made permanent in July 2025. Registration becomes mandatory at €40,000 of Estonian-taxable turnover — but B2B services sold to businesses in other countries are generally reverse-charged to the customer or outside Estonian VAT scope entirely, so a typical e-resident consultancy invoicing foreign clients may register voluntarily (to reclaim input VAT) or not at all. Selling to Estonian or EU consumers is a different story and brings OSS registration into play.

Assumptions & limits of this estimate

Data sources & verification