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Estonia tax guide 2026
Estonia runs the tidiest tax system in Europe: one 22% flat rate, a basic exemption that from 2026 is a simple EUR 8,400 for everyone, dividends that arrive tax-free because the company already paid, and no inheritance or gift taxes at all. Investors can defer everything — shares, funds, even crypto — through the investment-account wrapper, and returns are famously pre-filled in minutes.
- Rate range
- Flat 22%; dividends 0% at shareholder level
- Key allowance
- EUR 8,400 basic exemption for everyone (2026); EUR 9,312 from pension age
- Tax year
- Calendar year
- Filing deadline
- 30 April; tax due 1 October
Taxes covered
- Income tax22%
One flat 22% on salaries, business income and gains — after a universal EUR 8,400 exemption, with employee social charges of just 1.6–7.6%.
- Dividend tax0%
Shareholders pay nothing on Estonian dividends — the company's 22% distribution tax is final; qualifying foreign dividends are exempt too.
- Capital gains tax22%
Gains join ordinary income at the flat 22% — with your home exempt, and full deferral available through the investment account.
- Crypto tax22%
Crypto gains are ordinary income at 22% — the investment account defers tax until withdrawal, and since 2025 losses on trades via licensed European platforms are deductible.
- Social security1.6% – 7.6%
Employees pay only 1.6% unemployment insurance plus a 2–6% funded-pension contribution — the 33% social tax is the employer's burden.
- Inheritance tax0%
No inheritance tax and no gift tax — but inherited assets carry a nil cost basis, so the income tax waits for the resale.
- Withholding tax0% / 10% / 22%
Nothing on dividends, 10% on royalties, performances and professional fees, 22% on employment, directors' fees and rents paid to non-residents.
Special regimes
- Universal exemption (new 2026)
The 'tax hump' is gone — EUR 8,400 a year is tax-free at every income level, no phase-out.
- Investment account
Trade shares, funds, bonds — and crypto bought through licensed European providers — inside the account system; tax falls due only when you withdraw more than you put in.
- Tax-free dividends
Estonian dividends carry no shareholder tax — the company's 22% distribution tax settles everything.
- No inheritance or gift tax
Estates and gifts pass entirely untaxed — though heirs inherit a nil cost basis for later sales.
Recent changes
- 2026-01The basic exemption becomes a flat EUR 8,400 for all incomes — the eight-year-old income-dependent phase-out is abolished, and the planned rise to 24% was cancelled.
- 2026-01Minimum wage rises to EUR 886 a month, lifting the sole-proprietor social-tax base cap to EUR 106,320 a year.
- 2025-01The flat rate moved from 20% to 22%; crypto joined the investment-account list of eligible assets.