Businesses are familiar with the TSD, i.e. the income and social tax declaration, the data for which must be submitted by the 10th day of each month. Whereas previously the data from TSD Annexes 1 and 2, managed in business software, had to be entered manually into the e-MTA e-services environment or uploaded from a file, it is now possible to submit the data directly from accounting software, receive feedback from the ETCB, correct any errors, and confirm the TSD. The necessary information is delivered directly to a business’s own working environment, and there is no longer any need to log in to e-MTA.
According to Janek Rozov, Deputy Director-General for Development at the ETCB, the agency has been working for years to simplify the tax reporting process for businesses. “We hear businesses’ concerns loud and clear: state bureaucracy and the administrative burden must be reduced. This is also one of our main objectives – to ensure that tax reporting is as convenient, automated, and hassle-free a process as possible,” said Rozov. The launch of the solution was preceded by an extensive testing period involving over 40 software providers.
The new solution brings about a fundamental change to tax reporting. Whereas businesses previously submitted tax declarations to the ETCB, they now simply transmit data to the tax authority. The ETCB generates the declaration and calculates the tax liability based on the data submitted by a business. Neither the entrepreneur nor the accountant needs to enter this data from one system to another. This reduces duplication of work and frees up time that can be spent on core business activities.
The TSD for September is to be submitted in October using the current system. As 10 October is a Saturday, the deadline for submitting the declaration is 12 October. Payment data for October can be submitted via the new system; the deadline for submitting the TSD for October is 10 November.
The aim of data-based reporting is to enter data once in a single location. A business enters the data into its information system once, and the same data can then be used to provide the necessary information to various state agencies. Until now, businesses have had to compile reports with different structures for different authorities based on the same source data. The purpose of data-based reporting is to reduce such duplication and enable the reuse of existing data. This reduces manual work and the need to enter data repeatedly.
The new solution allows payment data to be submitted to the ETCB on an ongoing basis immediately after a payment is made, rather than only as the deadline for submitting the TSD approaches. This means businesses will receive feedback from the ETCB earlier and can correct any errors in good time. “In the event of errors, feedback from the ETCB is sent directly to the economic operator’s software, where the errors can be corrected and the amended data seamlessly submitted to the ETCB. There is no need to log in to e-MTA for this either,” explained Külli Külm-Kivistik, Service Owner at the ETCB’s Income Tax Department.
The specific functions offered by business software or other payment solutions depend on the individual software package. A list of software applications offering a data-based TSD solution is available on the ETCB’s website.
For businesses that do not use the new software solution, the state offers grants to support digitalisation and the transition to data-based reporting. These grants can be used to purchase a licence for business software that suits their needs, enabling them to automate their reporting process. Applications for the grants can be made via the Enterprise Estonia website.
Data on salary payments can still be uploaded from a file, entered manually, corrected, and confirmed in the e-services environment e-MTA. Instructions are available on the ETCB's website.
The new solution for submitting salary payment data is just the first of several steps to be taken by the ETCB. In spring 2027, VAT return (KMD) and Employment Register (TÖR) submissions will also become data-based. Annexes 3–8 of form TSD will follow in 2028. The purpose of these solutions is to enable businesses to conveniently submit the data required for tax reporting via their own business software.
The development of the data-based TSD was carried out in close cooperation with organisations from both the private and public sectors. The Tax and Customs Board would like to thank its development partners Cybernetica AS and the Information Technology Centre of the Ministry of Finance. The data-based reporting project is funded from the state budget and through the Ministry of Finance’s sectoral digital transformation project, which is co-financed by the European Union via the European Regional Development Fund.
