Setting up your Estonian company with its own bank account details is now much easier with 1Office’s recent cooperation with
international money transfer provider Wise. Customers can now establish a company, open a bank account and add other
necessary services from one place. And all this can be done online and with only a few clicks.
Estonia is the first digital borderless nation that believes no business should be bound by physical location. Therefore, e-Residency was founded in 2014. It means that anyone can access Estonia’s public services fully online and operate within its EU business environment from anywhere in the world.
1Office Group, an Estonian company that has operated for more than a decade now, launched a Company Formation Portal for Estonian e-residents. It’s a fully online platform that is automatically connected with the Estonian company register and therefore does not need any additional action after filling the application, all happens automatically. By the way, company formation inside the portal is one of the easiest things – just fill in some information about yourself and your company and you are done in 15 minutes! Fully online and in English.
It is also possible to add a local legal address, contact person and accounting to your Estonian company without any hassle. Just mark the services you need while filling in the application and you are ready to go. If you don’t know for who and why these services are necessary, then don’t worry, we’ll explain it soon in more detail. But as many of you have definitely heard, one of the problems that many e-Residents have struggled with is opening a bank account.
A bank account is not a problem for e-Residents anymore, because we have some very good news for you!
As of January 2019, it is possible to use a credit or payment institution in the European Economic Area when registering a share capital. Before it was only possible to use an Estonian bank account for that. In light of this change that makes running a business much easier for Estonian e-residents, business services provider 1Office and online international money transfer company Wise are happy to announce their cooperation.
Founded by the first employee of Skype and used by over 4 million customers, the Wise multi-currency account gives you access to unique bank account details for the UK, Eurozone, US, Australia and New Zealand. Wise is a better alternative to international business banking. You can open your free multi-currency account to send, spend and receive in over 40 currencies, with the real exchange rate. International payments are up to 14x cheaper than PayPal and you can receive international payments with zero fees.
What’s even better, now it’s possible to add it directly to your order while establishing a company in 1Office Company Formation Portal. This means that after you have received your e-Residency, you just have to go to the Portal, fill in some information and at the end of the application you can choose to add the Wise account to your order! You’ll then receive an email from 1Office with a link to Wise to create your account. Typically it takes up to 3 working days for your account on Wise to be verified. Once verified you can activate the various currency accounts you need all within a few clicks and it’s free. The only fees you’ll pay is a small upfront fee when you withdraw currency into a bank account or a fee when you make a cross currency conversion.
If you are interested in expanding your business to Estonia and operating within its EU business environment, we
have prepared a step-by-step guide for you:
How to start an Estonian company with banking?
Step 1 – Do your research on running an Estonian business
Before applying for Estonian e-Residency please make sure that you have done your research and know enough about Estonia and doing business in Estonia or in a relevant country. What’s most important – e-Residency is not a way to avoid paying taxes in your home country. It also is not an opportunity to get visa, citizenship or social rights. It is first and foremost created for foreign entrepreneurs and digital nomads who wish to run a business in Estonia, in the EU or worldwide.
Step 2 – Apply for Estonian e-Residency
After you have done your research and are confident that e-Residency is for you, apply for it. You can do it here: e-resident.gov.ee. Be sure that you provide all necessary information to the application and after you have submitted it, you’ll need to wait up to 30 business days for the Estonian Police and Border Guard to complete your background check. After receiving confirmation you just need to pick the digital ID card from the location that you chose in the application. The state fee for applying for e-Residency is 100€.
Step 3 – Start an Estonian company online in 15 minutes
When you have received your e-Residency card, the next step is to start your Estonian company. The easiest and quickest way to do this is in 1Office Company Formation Portal. It takes only 15 minutes to fill the application and thanks to the direct connection with the Estonian Business Registry your company will be officially registered by the next working day. Starting your company in Portal costs 265€+VAT (price includes state fee of 190€).
Step 4 – Add a legal address and contact person to your order
Every company in Estonia needs to have a local legal address and if your company’s management board is located outside of Estonia, it is also mandatory to have a contact person. It’s possible to add these services to your order while filling in the application and it won’t require more than one click. Legal address + contact person service for a year costs 290€+VAT (~24€ per month).
Step 5 – Add a bank account to your order
It’s easier than ever to start your Estonian company with a banking solution. After filling the application in the Company Formation Portal you get a choice to add a Wise account to your order (account includes IBAN and debit card – please note that there are some restricted countries in which users are not able to open multi-currency account details. For full details see here). Just tick the option that you are interested in accessing multi-currency account details with Wise and you’ll receive an email later on with a link to fill out your company details on Wise. Once you’ve completed your application on Wise, which takes a matter of minutes and is all done online, you’ll just have to wait for your account to be verified (can take up to 3 working days). Once verified you can start using your international account details.
This unique fintech solution makes it much easier for e-residents to start their business activity. Having access to international account details without any hassle and from the distance. You’ll need the account when paying in the share capital and in your everyday transactions.
Wise is an online international money transfer company that is up to 8 times cheaper than banks and up to 14 times cheaper than PayPal. Always converting money with the real exchange rate. Their mission is to make it cheaper, more transparent and convenient for users to send, receive and spend money worldwide. With over 4 million customers and registered as an e-money institution they keep bank-level security.
The benefits of Wise
Their multi-currency account solution is ideal for business users who need to pay international invoices for goods and services or for those needing to receive payments in multiple currencies. With a Wise account you can:
- Hold 40+ different currencies within the one account and convert between them at the mid-market exchange rate
- The only cost is a small, upfront fee on the value of a transfer
- Pay invoices, buy inventory and handle payroll with the real exchange rate in over 70 countries
- Receive international payments with no fees
- Manage your payments online and on mobile
- Global customer support via phone, email and chat
- Made for business owners doing business across borders
Step 6 – Run your Estonian company from anywhere in the world
Now that you have started a company, ordered a legal address and contact person and opened an account with Wise, you are ready to run your business! If you need help with accounting or any consultations, just contact 1Office and they help to find a perfect solution for you.
Important information:
- If you already have a company but need a banking solution you can open your free Wise bank account here.
- Not all users will be able to open multi-currency account details as Wise has some country restrictions where the account is not available. A full list of countries and more information is available here.
- Currently, the debit card option for business users is only available within the European Economic Area. More information is available here.
If you have any additional questions about applying for e-residency, starting your company or opening a bank account we are more than happy to answer them: sales@1office.co
