FAQ

The answers to the questions asked most frequently from us
  • null

    Estonia

  • null

    Sweden

  • null

    Finland

  • null

    UK

  • null

    Latvia

  • null

    Lithuania

  • null

    General

Company Formation

Who can register an Estonian company in 1Office Company Formation Portal?

The portal can be used by Estonians and Estonian e-residents with ID card. The portal is designed for company registration for private persons and companies with one founder.

Do I need to pay in the share capital while establishing a company?

According to the law the minimum share capital of Estonian company is 0,01 EUR. Capital must be paid before company is registered. Payment of capital between 0,01-50 000 EUR must be confirmed by the board of the company. Payment of capital above 50 000 EUR must be confirmed by the bank certificate.

How can I use ID card?

The instructions about ID card can be found in here.

Are there some additional expenses to cover after my company has been established? Monthly or quarterly?

There are no extra payments necessary to maintain your Estonian company. If you have a VAT number and/or you pay salaries, then you need to do your monthly accounting. Other than that you are only required to submit Annual Report once a year.

Who is Politically Exposed Person (PEP)?

A Politically Exposed Person is an individual who is or has been entrusted in the past twelve months with a prominent public function. Politically exposed persons are:

– Head of State

– Head of Government

– Minister, Deputy or Deputy Minister

–  Member of Parliament

– member of the governing bodies of political parties

– member of the Supreme Courts, the Constitutional Court or any other similar judicial body whose decisions may not, except in exceptional cases, be appealed

– member of the Supreme Audit Institution of the Court of Auditors and the State Audit Office

– member of the Governing Board of the Central Bank

– ambassador or trustee

– military officer in the Armed Forces

– member of the administrative, management and supervisory body of a wholly-owned enterprise or

– Director, deputy director and board member of international organizations, except middle-ranking or more junior officials.

Accounting services

What does the starting fee mean?

In order to maintain the highest level of quality straight from the beginning with each client, we apply a starting fee to be able to give you our full attention.

Is it mandatory to do accounting every month?

If the company has the VAT number (mandatory for companies with EU turnover more than is 40 000€) or when the company pays salaries to employees, then monthly declarations need to be submitted.
If your company doesn’t have any monthly payments, purchases, invoices and no VAT number, then it is sufficient to do the whole accounting at least once a year, before submitting the annual report.

Who has to submit the annual report?

Submitting annual report is required for all companies registered in Estonia even if there is no activity during the financial year.

What happens if I don’t submit the annual report?

When the annual report is not submitted, then the Business Register may decide to delete the company.

Can a company get a VAT number if the board members are residents of a foreign country?

Yes. You can still apply for a VAT number. It is likely that Tax and Customs Board might ask some additional questions about the company, if the owner and board member are citizens of a foreign country. It is important to answer these questions in timely manner.

When must a company be registered as a VAT payer?

The company needs to register as a VAT payer if annual turnover exceeds 40 000 euros. If the turnover is exceeded, the Tax and Customs Board issues a VAT number to you.

Can I apply for VAT number before my company’s turnover reaches 40 000 euros?

Yes. You are allowed to apply for the VAT number also before your company’s turnover reaches 40 000 euros. For this you have to submit an application and explain why you want to receive a VAT number. Whether the Tax and Customs Board will register your company depends on your business goals and reasoning.

My company is registered in Estonia, but also operates in foreign counties. Are there some tax risks I should consider?

If your Estonian company operates in another country the company may develop a permanent establishment in another country and tax liability may arise from it.

Which taxes do I have to pay?

Every person´s and company’s tax obligations are different and depend on several circumstances. To find out which tax obligations or tax risks you have please book a tax consultation.

Can you issue invoice to a third party?

In case the service is purchased for the company that is not yet registered, first invoice will be issued to the person who ordered the service and following services will be issued to the recipient of services.

Legal Services

What is power of attorney?

A power of Attorney (PoA) is a legal document giving one person (attorney) the power to act for another person.

Virtual Office

Can I use a post box address for a legal address?

No. Estonian Commercial Code does not enable registering a company at a post box address.

I am an e-Resident of Estonia. Do I still need a legal address for my company?

Yes. According to the Commercial Code every company registered in Estonia needs an Estonian address.

How can I change my Estonian company’s legal address?

If the board members of the company have access to digital signing it is possible to do this online.
It is also possible to change the legal address in notary’s office in Estonia yourself or authorize 1Office representative to do this for you based on Power of Attorney.

Company Formation

Do I have to pay in the share capital while establishing a company?

Yes. You have to deposit share capital while establishing a company. The minimum share capital in Sweden is 50 000 SEK.

Are there some additional expenses to cover after my company has been established? Monthly or quarterly?

There are no extra payments necessary to maintain your Swedish company, unless you will apply for insurance, trade union memberships and other accounts that are needed for you to run your business. If you have a VAT number and/or you pay salaries, then you need to do your quarterly/monthly accounting. Other than that you are only required to submit Annual Report and Income Declaration once a year.

What is the difference between subsidiary and a branch?

Subsidiary is a separate legal entity, which shares owner is a foreign company. The process of opening up a subsidiary is the same as establishing a company. A branch is not a separate legal entity, it is a part of a foreign company registered for doing business in Sweden.

Accounting Services

What does the starting fee mean?

International accounting is complex and needs lots of knowledge about specific industry as well as laws and procedures in different countries. Since we want to maintain the highest level of quality straight from the beginning with each client, we apply a starting fee to be able to give you our full attention in order to optimize your taxation that benefits your company best.

What does “branch – foreign company consolidation” accounting mean?

A branch is a foreign company’s local filial in Sweden. When doing accounting for a branch, the rules of its mother company have to be taken into account. We have the experience of creating the reports suitable for taking into account in its foreign mother company’s annual report.

Is it mandatory to do accounting every month?

If your company doesn’t have any monthly payments, purchases, invoices and VAT number, then it is sufficient to do the whole accounting at least once a year, before submitting the annual report and in some cases Income Declaration to the Tax Agency and statistic reports. If your company is registered for VAT, then it is mandatory to make declarations to the Tax Agency (mostly quarterly, but for some companies monthly). The monthly deadline is generally the 12th.

Which taxes do I have to pay?

Every person´s and company’s tax obligations are different and depend on several circumstances. To find out which tax obligations or tax risks you have please book a tax consultation.

What happens if I don’t file the Annual Report for my company?

When the Annual Report is not submitted, then the Commercial Registry may decide to delete the company prior to several late penalties’.

Where can I check when my company’s financial year ends?

On your company’s registrations certificate, articles of association or tax agency registration sheets’.

Can I file the Annual Report myself?

In principle yes, you can. But this is a complicated process, so if you really decide to do this yourself, then we advise you to do this early so you would still have time to turn to professionals if it gets overwhelming.

My company is not registered in Sweden, but it has Swedish tax registrations. Is Annual Report mandatory for my company?

No. You only need to file the Annual Income statement.

Accounting Services

What are digital documents?

You can send documents to the accountant either by e-mail or with a mobile application (e. g. Recibo, Sparkvittot). If you have documents on paper, we can scan them for you as well, based on hourly rate.
Please be aware that in Finland it is mandatory to maintain accounting documents, depending on the type o the document from 6-20 years on paper as well as digitized.

How often do Finnish companies pay salaries?

Mostly once a month, sometimes every 2 weeks.

Can I prepare the minutes of the board myself?

Yes. You can do this yourself. In this case, please send us signed minutes of the board so we could add it to your company’s annual tax declaration.

Which taxes do I have to pay?

Every person´s and company’s tax obligations are different and depend on several circumstances. To find out which tax obligations or tax risks you have please book a tax consultation.

Accounting Services

When do I need to apply for VAT number?

In UK a company has to be registered as a VAT payer when the company’s taxable annual turnover exceeds 85 000£ (70 000£ for distance sales into the UK).

Is it possible to apply for VAT number before reaching the threshold?

Yes, you may register for VAT before that as well, but please note that HMRC might reject the registration if you can’t give sufficient evidence of business activities in the UK.

When do I need to apply for PAYE?

This registration is needed for employing people in the UK.

Accounting Services

What does the starting fee mean?

In order to maintain the highest level of quality straight from the beginning with each client, we apply a starting fee to be able to give you our full attention.

Is it mandatory to do accounting every month?

If the company has the VAT number (mandatory for companies with EU turnover more than is 40 000€) or when the company pays salaries to employees, then monthly declarations need to be submitted.
If your company doesn’t have any monthly payments, purchases, invoices and no VAT number, then it is sufficient to do the whole accounting at least once a year, before submitting the annual report.

Who has to submit the annual report?

Annual report has to be submitted by all commercial companies, cooperative companies, European Economic Interest Groupings, European cooperative companies and European commercial companies registered in Latvia.

What happens if I don’t submit the annual report?

Not submitting annual report might result in a penalty. The companies who have submitted their annual report with a delay have limited opportunities to participate in public procurement.

What does the background check mean?

SRS might ask the board member come in for an interview or even visit the registered office address.

Legal Services

What is power of attorney?

A power of Attorney (PoA) is a legal document giving one person (attorney) the power to act for another person.

Company Formation

What is power of attorney?

A power of Attorney (PoA) is a legal document giving one person (attorney) the power to act for another person.

Accounting Services

What does the starting fee mean?

Since we want to maintain the highest level of quality straight from the beginning with each client, we apply a starting fee to be able to give you our full attention.

Is it allowed to take care of my company’s accounting myself?

No. Accounting can be done by another company or accounting service provider (requires insurance) or you can hire a chief accountant (this is the only option that doesn’t require an insurance).

Is it mandatory to do accounting every month?

If your company is registered for VAT, it is required to submit declarations every month. It is also mandatory to have a director on salary, even if he is not working and it is required to send the salary info monthly to Social Insurance Fund Board.

What are the obligations of director?

The director doesn’t have any real obligations according to the law. Duties of Members of Legal Person’s Managing Bodies can be found in Article 2.87 of Lithuanian Civil Code.

Who has to submit the annual report?

The annual report needs to be submitted by the director of the company, chief accountant or other authorized person. As your official accountant registered in Tax Office we will do this for you.

What happens if I don’t submit the annual report?

Not submitting annual report might result in a fine. Your company also might be up for deletion.

Can I also apply for VAT number before my company has reached the threshold?

Yes, it is possible. If you want to approve for VAT number before reaching the threshold be prepared to answer the questions from State Tax Inspectorate and ready to prove that you are engaged in business activities in Lithuania and have according agreements in place.

What are the due dates for monthly declarations?

Salary and tax declarations have to be submitted by 15th of the next month. VAT invoice register must be submitted by 20th and VAT declarations by 25th of the next month.

General

Can you issue invoice to a third party?

Based on the VAT law, invoice must be issued to the recipient of services.
In case the service is purchased for the company that is not yet registered, first invoice will be issued to the person who ordered the service and following services will be issued to the recipient of services.

Who is Politically Exposed Person (PEP)?

A Politically Exposed Person is an individual who is or has been entrusted in the past twelve months with a prominent public function. Politically exposed persons are:

  • Head of State
  • Head of Government
  • Minister, Deputy or Deputy Minister
  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of the governing bodies of political parties
  • Member of the Supreme Courts, the Constitutional Court or any other similar judicial body whose decisions may not, except in exceptional cases, be appealed
  • Member of the Supreme Audit Institution of the Court of Auditors and the State Audit Office
  • Member of the Governing Board of the Central Bank
  • Ambassador or trustee
  • Military officer in the Armed Forces
  • Member of the administrative, management and supervisory body of a wholly-owned enterprise or
  • Director, deputy director and board member of international organizations, except middle-ranking or more junior officials.