Tag: e-residency

October 1, 2020

e-notary initiative allows e-residents to buy and sell company shares remotely

Estonian Government launches e-notary portal and remote verification trial to allow e-residents to do business more conveniently.

E-residents are able to use their digi-IDs to perform an array of business services for their companies online from anywhere in the world. However, up until now there were still some activities, which required e-residents to travel to Estonia and utilise the services of a notary registered there. These included:

Buying and selling company shares
Authenticating powers of attorney
Pledging company shares

But now, in a trial initiative by the Estonian Government, these business activities can be performed without the need to travel to the country.

The policy aim behind this initiative is to minimise the barrier for e-residents and foreign businesspeople to invest in the Estonian startup ecosystem by making it more convenient to do business remotely.

An e-resident will still require the services of a notary registered in Estonia but will no longer have to visit the country.

Instead, they can prove their identity at a number of Estonian Embassies using a remote verification service that employs the Veriff biometric facial recognition system. So far, the Embassies include Helsinki, Brussels, Stockholm, London, and Riga with other locations to be tested in the future.

‘But why can’t I do it on my computer in the comfort of my own home?’, we hear you asking!

Well the requirement to attend an Estonian Embassy is both for reasons of security and also to physically verify that you are undertaking a transaction of your own free will. Perhaps in the future, this requirement will be dispensed with in lieu of safe and secure methods of remote verification using your personal device.

Launch of new e-notary self service portal

The trial comes along with the launch of a new e-notary self service portal provided by the Estonian Government for use by both Estonians and e-residents: www.notar.ee.

The portal allows users to:

Choose a notary and make an appointment, whether in Estonia or for remote verification
Choose an Embassy and make an appointment for remote verification
Initiate transactions that require a notarial act and enter transaction details
Examine contracts issued by the notary before the transaction
View all notarial transactions and invoices

Currently, e-residents can use the portal to make virtual appointments with notaries to undertake the following activities (with more activities to be added in the future):

Buying or selling shares in their Estonian company
Authenticating powers of attorney
Pledging shares in their Estonian company

How do I use the e-notary remote verification service?

To take advantage of this new service, log into the e-notary self-service portal at www.notar.ee using your e-Residency digi-ID.

In the self-service portal, navigate to the remote verification page. Here you can choose the appropriate embassy location, select a notary from the list of registered Estonian notaries, and select your desired time for an appointment. The system will only offer times that are suitable for both the notary and the Embassy so it would be prudent to have some idea of this before logging in. We therefore recommend communicating with your chosen notary beforehand to settle on available times so that this process will be more efficient.You can also exchange all documents and data necessary to carry out the activity with the notary by viewing ongoing transactions in the portal.

https://medium.com/e-residency-blog/new-e-notary-initiative-allows-e-residents-to-buy-and-sell-company-shares-remotely-5791fbe976c5

September 1, 2020

Shareholders of an Estonian company can sell their shares remotely

Of course in certain conditions 🙂

In the Estonian e-residency program most of the things you need to do to manage your company can be done online.

However, some very specific legal procedures still required a physical visit to Estonia. One of them was changing the distribution of the shares of your company.

31.07.2020 On 1 August, an amendment to the Commercial Code will enter into force, which will enable private limited companies to transfer shares more easily in the future.

What are the conditions?

The legislation change gives shareholders great flexibility to redistribute the share capital easier and faster, and thus creates better opportunities to invest in Estonian companies. The minimum formal requirement provided by law is a written form specifying the share distribution, alongside these conditions:

In order to make a corresponding amendment to the articles of association, the share capital of a private limited company must be at least 10,000 euros and fully paid.

A notation shall also be entered on the registry card of the private limited company to indicate that the company removes the requirement of notarized approval of share disposal, sale or redistribution of shares. This indication helps to better safeguard the interests of the parties in the transaction, and this information may be important to potential acquirers before the transaction is made and influence their decision.

Such an amendment to the articles of association of an existing private limited company requires the consent of all shareholders. Therefore, the change cannot be made by a majority decision but must be the choice of all shareholders.

So in summary:

The company must have declared a share capital of 10,000€ and they should have been paid.
The company must alter the entry in the registry of the company to indicate the fact that shares can be redistributed online.

Other aspects to consider

Allowing a fully online redistribution of shares also increases the responsibility of the shareholders themselves and the management board. The Management Board will have the obligation to notify the Commercial Register immediately if there are changes in the shareholders’ distribution not performed through a notary. In addition, the shareholders are obliged to immediately notify the management board of any changes in the shareholders’ data of these changes, so the management board can notify the Commercial Registry.

The smallest nominal value of a share has also changed. What’s that? The minimum fragmentation that a share can be subject to. Previously, shares where divided up to one euro. That meant that if you had a share capital of 2500 euros, those were generally 2500 shares of one euro. You could not own 1250,50 € in shares, it was either 1250 or 1251 euros (50% or 50,04% of shares respectively).

With the new legislation, the minimum denomination of share is one cent of an euro. So now if you have 2500 euros in share capital, you may have 250,000 shares of 0,01€ of value each. The lower nominal value of a share is very convenient for potential acquirers, because the company can issue an exact share percentage that does not have to be rounded up or down to the nearest whole number.

Conclusion

If the above conditions are met, it will be possible to sell the shares or part of the private limited company on the park bench, in a café or on a computer using digital signatures.

August 1, 2020

Effectiveness of the e-Residency program

National Audit Office of Estonia report anno domini 2020.

Do the revenues of the e-Residency program exceed the expenses, and are the participants in the program law-abiding?

What did we audit?

In the audit, the National Audit Office assessed whether the e-Residency program encourages the e-Resident companies to bring income to Estonia:

control systems ensure that the participants in the e-Residency program are law-abiding;
sufficient platforms for business and services have been created for e-Residents, and
whether the major risks involved in the implementation of the e- Residency program have been mitigated.

Why is this important to taxpayers?

During the first five years of the e-Residency program (2014–2019), Estonia has granted e-Residency digital ID cards to more than 63,000 foreigners from 174 countries. Digital ID allows e-Residents to use the public e-services of both Estonia and other EU countries and create an Estonian company. It is important that the e-Residents using the e-services and pursuing commercial activities be law-abiding and that they bring income to Estonia. It is also essential that the risks involved in the implementation of the program are mitigated.

In the first five years, 15.7 million euros have been spent on the e- Residency program.

What did we find and conclude from the results of the audit?

According to the National Audit Office, the revenues of the e- Residency program have started to exceed the expenses by the end of the first five years of operation. However, control systems are deficient because foreigners with a valid criminal penalty and business ban can participate in the program.

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June 1, 2020

What should be written on the invoice and check?

From an accounting perspective for e-residents.

The COVID 19 pandemic has forced us to rethink many things. More and more services are moving online, some products are becoming services or disappear at all. However, accounting has already moved there. Essentially in full. We are no longer run around with plastic bags to take the bills and papers collected there to forward them to the accountant.

To this end, accounting has been driven by technological developments, but also, and above all, by the fact that people operate more and more local independently. It is simply not possible and also necessary to physically provide the basic accounting documents, documents confirming the transactions, etc. to an accountant. You scan the paper and email it to an accountant or directly to online accounting software.

Everything is comfortable, time, and nature saving. That must be the case.
But does each check fit? At the moment, we are not referring here to the fact that which source of expenditure is suitable to be entered in the accounts at all, which is a special advantage cost and which is not. No, that’s not what we mean. The question is in what form the source document, check or invoice must be drawn up. What information must it contain in order to be tip-top when viewed by the state. In order to prevent the evil uncles and aunts from the Tax and Customs Board to jumping on your back and shouting:” This is not a suitable basic document and we are forced, according to the law, to apply a special preferential tax with interest!”.

Ok, then let’s look at the law.

Estonian accounting Act § 7. Source documents

(1) An accounting source document is a certificate in which content and format shall, if necessary, allow a competent and independent party to demonstrate the circumstances and veracity of the occurrence of a business transaction.

(2) Unless otherwise provided by law or regulation issued on the basis thereof, a source document shall contain at least the following information concerning a business transaction:
1) time of occurrence;
2) description of economic content;
3) figures, for example, quantity, price, and amount.

(3) If the counterparty of an accounting entity is an accounting entity, state accounting entity or foreign legal person, an invoice concerning the transfer of goods or provision of services shall contain in addition to the items specified in subsection (2) of this section also the invoice number or other identification and the information enabling to identify the parties to the transaction.

So then, for example, the invoice is paid for by the company or credit card of the company, the bus ticket is associated with the employee’s commuting, the parking ticket has the company car number, etc. Under the Income Tax Act, a transaction is certified by a proper source document. If the source document is not eligible, the distribution is taxed as a non-business expense.

If the content of the transaction indicated on the expense document does not allow the conclusion to be drawn that the business is related to expenditure, the taxpayer must provide additional evidence to prove the transaction. In the cost document, initially missing information may be added; in any case, the document must show what the content of the transaction (including figures) was, the date of the transaction, the invoice number and who were the parties to the transaction.

What about VAT?

Section 37 (7) of the Value Added Tax Act stipulates the requisites which must be present on the document on the basis of which the input tax is deducted.

There is no deduction of input tax on cashier’s checks, no matter what information the company enters there. In exceptional cases, input VAT may be deducted on the basis of a simplified invoice.

The recipient’s information may not be invoiced in the case of the provision of a passenger transport service, the issue of an invoice through a parking machine, an automatic gas station payment terminal, or similar equipment. When receiving a simplified invoice, the taxable person who has purchased the goods or services has to enter his name and tax identification number on the invoice. The deduction of input tax on a simplified invoice also requires the trader to prove that the service has been acquired for the taxable business.

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May 1, 2020

Whether and what rights the registered place of residence gives?

There is a widespread belief that registration of a residence gives rights to an apartment or house registered as a residence.

However, this is not the case, and simply registering as a residence does not give the right to use the dwelling. In order to use the dwelling, a tenancy agreement must be concluded with the owner and the owner of the property has the right to decide who is registered to live in the apartment or house he owns.

The registration of the place of residence thus has no effect on the property and it is necessary to consult a notary to acquire the property. A property owner is a person who, as the owner, is entered in the land register and only the owner of the property has extensive rights over the property.

However, the registration of a place of residence in the population register has significance for the electoral region, in the distribution of taxes between the state and the local government, and gives the local government the right to receive social services from the city or rural municipality of the registered place of residence. For example, benefits such as a ranch allowance or a funeral allowance and a pensioner living alone are paid on the basis of a registered place of residence, and, for example, residents of Tallinn are entitled to free public transport in the city.

In addition, the correctness of the registered place of residence is also important for the state to enable the planning of social services and infrastructure.

Although registration of residence does not confer rights in private relationships, such as the relationship between a landlord and a tenant, registration gives different rights in relation to the state and local governments.