Taxpayers whose tax liability has been recalculated have 30 days from the date of issue of a new tax notice to pay the tax. Therefore, for people who received a new tax notice on 29 November, the payment due date is 29 December. Depending on the time of recalculation, some taxpayers may have a later due date.
The ETCB cancelled the tax notices of taxpayers whose tax liability had to be recalculated due to a tax reduction or a shortened taxation period. In such cases, the ETCB transferred the entire amount previously paid to the prepayment account in the e-services environment e-MTA. If the tax reduction reduced the tax liability to zero, no new tax notice was issued.
“Those taxpayers to whom a tax notice with a changed amount had to be issued can consult the new tax amount and due date in the e-services environment e-MTA. The changed tax liability can be conveniently paid with the funds in the prepayment account in the e-MTA,” said Madis Laas, Head of the ETCB's Income Tax Department.
The amount and calculation of motor vehicle tax can be checked in the e-services environment e-MTA, by navigating to Taxes – Motor vehicle tax – Motor vehicle tax notices. Due to widespread scam messages, the ETCB recommends signing in to the e-services environment only through the ETCB’s official website www.emta.ee by selecting “E-services”.
Whether there are sufficient funds in the prepayment account for the payment of the reduced tax liability can be checked in the e-services environment. If necessary, money can be transferred to the prepayment account or the tax can be paid by bank transfer using the reference number indicated in the tax notice. “If the amount of future liabilities is less than the amount in the prepayment account, no additional funds need to be transferred to the prepayment account. If sufficient funds are available in the prepayment account, the tax will be paid automatically on the day after the due date,” added Laas.
If it is not possible to pay the tax liability by the due date, the ETCB recommends applying for payment of tax arrears in instalments in the e-services environment. In this case, the amount of tax can be paid in instalments, but interest is added to it. More information on the rescheduling of tax arrears for private customers and companies can be found on the website of the ETCB.
Nearly 169,000 people benefited from the tax reduction for families with children. Their total tax liability decreased by more than 18 million euros. Due to the shortening of the tax period, the tax liability decreased for 18,900 vehicles owned by both private persons and companies, whose total motor vehicle tax liability decreased by 1.4 million euros.
The ETCB automatically calculated the tax reductions for families with children based on data from the population register and the motor register. In order to qualify for the tax reduction, two conditions had to be met: (1) the person had full legal custody of at least one child up to 18 years of age (included). If there were several parents with custody rights in a family, the tax reduction amount was divided equally between them. The reduction was granted to parents with full custody of a child or natural person having full legal custody of a child. (2) the tax payer was the owner or authorised user of at least one passenger car or minibus. The reduction concerned only vehicles of categories M1 and N1.
The ETCB calculated the shortening of the tax period for those vehicles that were deleted from the motor register, for example due to the destruction, demolition or transfer abroad. The tax liability for such vehicles was reduced to the date of deletion of the vehicles from the motor register.
Frequently asked questions
• Where can I find instructions for making a payment in the e-services environment e-MTA? Information on the payment of taxes can be found on the website of the ETCB.
• Why do I have tax arrears when I have made payments on time? If you have transferred money to the prepayment account to cover a tax liability with a due date in the future, it may have happened that some of it was used to cover claims with an earlier due date. In the e-services environment you can check both future tax liabilities and funds in the prepayment account.
• How can I check the amount and details of my tax arrears? You can check any outstanding arrears, as well as future tax obligations, by signing into the e-services environment. You can also check for any outstanding arrears by entering your personal identification code or registration code in the Inquiry of arrears. It should be taken into account that arrears less than 100 euros and calculated interest will not be displayed in the Inquiry of arrears.
• My tax liability was cancelled and the money previously paid was transferred to my prepayment account. How do I get money into my bank account? To apply for a tax refund to your bank account, sign in to the e-services environment e-MTA and select Taxes – Motor Vehicle Tax – Motor vehicle tax notices – Refund request – New application – Application for refund of the available funds of the prepayment account. Within three working days, the money will be returned to the bank account specified by the applicant.
• Does the new owner of a vehicle have to pay the tax from the date of purchase of the vehicle? The tax liability lies with the person who was the owner of the vehicle on 1 January. If you have sold your vehicle in Estonia during the year, the obligation to pay the annual tax does not transfer to the new owner. The new owner will become liable for tax next year.
