# Banking for an Estonian company: AML checks, blocked payments and sanctions

How banks and payment providers check an Estonian company, why they block payments or close accounts, and what EU sanctions mean for a small OÜ.

Law as of 30 Sept 2026. General information, not advice for your situation.

Every bank and payment institution must check who owns and runs your company, where its money comes from, and whether its payments make sense. These anti-money laundering (AML) checks explain most of the documents they ask for, most blocked payments and most closed accounts. This guide explains the rules behind them for a small Estonian private limited company (OÜ), often owned by an e-resident, and what EU sanctions on Russia and Belarus mean for you.

## In short

- A bank must identify your company, its board members and its beneficial owners, and understand your business, before it opens the account.
- An e-Residency card used remotely is not enough on its own: an Estonian bank needs a second identity document, so it often asks for a branch visit.
- A bank may hold a payment until you send the documents it asks for. A fast, complete answer is your best lever.
- A business customer has no right to a basic account. A bank must close the account when it cannot complete its checks.
- Notaries, accountants, auditors and some traders have the same AML duties as banks.
- EU sanctions bind every company. A breach is a crime even when it is negligent, so check new counterparties against the EU lists.
- Keep complete bank statements for seven years: they are the source documents of your books.

## Which documents does a bank ask for when it opens an account for an e-resident's company?

Expect to send the registry card, the articles of association, an ownership chart down to the natural persons, passports of the board members and the beneficial owners with proof of address, a description of the business, the expected turnover, the main counterparties and countries, and the source of the funds. Often the bank also asks for the source of the owner's wealth.

Banks and other financial institutions are "obliged entities" under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act. They must apply due diligence before the business relationship starts ([RahaPTS § 2, § 19](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). The measures of § 20 explain each request:

- the identity of the company and of its board members, and their right to represent it;
- the beneficial owner, and an understanding of the ownership and control structure;
- the purpose and nature of the relationship: your field of activity, main partners and payment habits;
- whether anyone is a politically exposed person;
- the source of wealth, where relevant.

You must give the documents the bank asks for and, on request, confirm them with your signature ([RahaPTS § 20](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

**Why a branch visit.** When an Estonian bank or payment institution identifies a customer remotely and the customer is based outside the EEA, or its outgoing payments exceed 25,000 euros a month for a company, it must use a high or substantial level electronic identification scheme, a qualified trust service, or a secure video identification that meets the Act ([RahaPTS § 31](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). An e-Resident digital ID used remotely must be combined with a second identity document (same section). This is why Estonian banks often want you to come in with your passport, while payment institutions run a video check. A provider licensed in another EEA state applies the law of its home state, so its documents and thresholds can differ.

**Risk factors.** Several features of a typical e-resident company are risk factors that the bank weighs under its own procedures: remote onboarding without the secure identification tools of § 31, a personal asset-holding company, links to a higher-risk country, and a complex structure ([RahaPTS § 37](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). Being a non-resident or a holding company does not by itself make enhanced checks mandatory. Enhanced checks are mandatory when the customer comes from or lives in a high-risk third country or a jurisdiction on the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions ([RahaPTS § 36](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

The e-Residency programme itself says that Estonian banks expect a real connection to Estonia, and that many e-resident companies start with an EEA payment institution ([e-Residency, business banking](https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/business-banking-and-payment-solutions/)).

## Why does the bank ask about a large payment or a dividend, and what should you send?

The bank must monitor your payments for as long as the account is open. It must check that transactions match what it knows about you, establish the source and origin of the funds, and look closely at large, complex or unusual transactions with no clear economic purpose ([RahaPTS § 23](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). A short written explanation with the contract, the invoice or the resolution behind the payment normally closes the question.

Send everything in one reply:

- **An incoming payment:** the contract (for example a share purchase, loan or service agreement), the invoice, and one paragraph on the economic reason and your relationship with the payer.
- **A dividend:** the signed shareholder resolution, the approved annual report that shows the distributable profit, and the TSD return with annex 7 for the month of payment. A company may pay a dividend only from the profit shown in an approved annual report, and only if its net assets stay above the share capital and the restricted reserves ([Commercial Code § 157](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/106072023131)). The TSD is due by the 10th of the following month ([Income Tax Act § 54](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/129042026004)). See [how to pay a dividend](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/guides/dividends-mechanics).
- **A tax-free dividend:** the basis of the exemption, for example dividends your company itself received from a taxable subsidiary in the EEA or Switzerland in which it held at least 10 percent (a subsidiary elsewhere qualifies only if the profit was taxed, and never one in a non-cooperative jurisdiction) ([Income Tax Act § 50](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/129042026004)), and the TSD that shows it.

Until you send the documents, the bank may postpone the transaction ([RahaPTS § 43](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). An evasive answer can turn a routine question into a suspicion. A bank that suspects money laundering must report it to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) within two working days ([RahaPTS § 49](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). Give the same explanation in every channel.

## What can you do when a payment provider blocks a transfer or restricts the account?

Find out exactly what is missing and send it quickly, in one complete reply. A provider may lawfully hold a transaction until it has the documents it needs, including proof of the origin of the funds ([RahaPTS § 43](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). It must not carry out a transaction when it cannot complete its checks or suspects money laundering ([RahaPTS § 42](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). It is not liable for a delay when it acts in good faith under the Act ([RahaPTS § 52](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). So speed and completeness are the real levers.

If you refuse to give the information, the provider must end the relationship without notice and report it to the FIU ([RahaPTS § 42](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

Two other situations look the same from outside:

- **An FIU restriction.** After a report, the FIU may suspend a transaction or restrict the account for up to 30 days, and for up to 60 more days if the owner does not prove the legal origin of the funds. When the owner of the funds cannot be identified, a court may allow up to one year. The FIU must lift the restriction at once when the legal origin is proven ([RahaPTS § 57](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)), so send the evidence without waiting. The provider may not tell you about its report, but it may tell you about an FIU restriction once the order is carried out ([RahaPTS § 51](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).
- **A sanctions hit**, where the funds are frozen (see [sanctions](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/guides/banking-aml-sanctions#sanctions-screening)).

When a provider refuses a payment order, it must tell you and, where possible, give the reasons and how to correct the order, unless another law forbids it ([Law of Obligations Act § 724^3](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)). This is an Estonian rule. A provider licensed in another EU state usually applies its own law.

What to do:

1. Read every notice in the app and in your email. Many restrictions follow a missed periodic review, not a suspicion.
2. Ask in writing what is needed to lift the restriction.
3. Send the contract, the invoice, the purpose of the payment, your relationship with the payer and your expected monthly volumes. Sign where asked.
4. If the provider will return an incoming payment, warn the payer.
5. If nothing moves, complain to the provider, then to its supervisor. For an Estonian-licensed institution that is the Financial Supervision Authority ([RahaPTS § 64](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093); [how to complain](https://www.fi.ee/en/consumer/when-should-i-contact-finantsinspektsioon/making-complaint)).

## Can a bank close a company account without giving a reason?

Yes, in practice. For a business customer, the bank may end the contract under its terms, and it must end it without notice when it cannot complete due diligence. If it filed a report to the FIU, it may not tell you ([RahaPTS § 51](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). That is why many closure letters give no reason.

A contract of indefinite duration can be ended with reasonable notice, or without notice for a good reason ([Law of Obligations Act § 195, § 196](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)). For payment accounts the law asks for two months' notice, but a business customer may contract out of that rule, and bank terms usually do ([Law of Obligations Act § 720, § 733^14](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)). The AML law comes first: a customer who refuses information commits a material breach, and the bank must end the relationship without notice and report it to the FIU ([RahaPTS § 42](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). The bank may also end it without notice when your e-Resident digital ID is suspended or revoked on the grounds of the Identity Documents Act ([RahaPTS § 43](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093); [Identity Documents Act § 20^6](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/103062026007)).

The basic payment account, with its protection against closure, is for consumers only ([Law of Obligations Act § 710^1, § 720^1](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)). A company has no right to one.

Your remedies:

- Ask for the reason in writing and offer the missing documents. Sometimes the bank changes its decision.
- Complain to the bank, then to the Financial Supervision Authority, which supervises the AML compliance of banks ([RahaPTS § 64](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). It does not decide private disputes ([how to complain](https://www.fi.ee/en/consumer/when-should-i-contact-finantsinspektsioon/making-complaint)).
- Sue for breach of contract if the closure broke the terms. The bank is not liable for a transaction it refused or delayed, or a report it filed, in good faith ([RahaPTS § 52](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

On closure, the bank must pay out the balance to an account you name ([Law of Obligations Act § 720](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)). In an AML case it may pay only to an account at a credit institution in Estonia, in the EEA or in a country with equivalent AML rules, not to a payment institution or e-money account ([RahaPTS § 44](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). Keep a second account at another provider, so that one closure does not stop your salaries and tax payments.

## How do you change who can use the company accounts when the board or the owner changes?

Act at once. Send each bank the resolution and have the old users' rights revoked. File the new board and the new beneficial owner in the Business Register. Then add the new users. Expect the bank to identify each new person itself, often in person.

Each board member may represent an OÜ unless joint representation is registered ([Commercial Code § 181](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/106072023131)). The shareholders elect and remove the board, and the change is entered in the register on application ([Commercial Code § 184](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/106072023131)). Towards a bank, the removal of a board member counts only once it is entered in the register, unless the bank already knew of it ([Commercial Register Act § 29](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/114032025010)). So file the application and send the bank the resolution the same day.

Internet bank users and card holders hold a power of attorney from the company. The company may revoke it at any time, but towards the bank it stays valid until the bank is told ([General Part of the Civil Code Act § 126, § 127](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/131122024048)). Cancel those user rights separately.

The bank must identify each new representative and check the right of representation ([RahaPTS § 20, § 21](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). An e-Resident card used remotely needs a second document ([RahaPTS § 31](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)), which in practice often means a branch visit with a passport. The company must update its beneficial owner data within 30 days of learning of the change ([RahaPTS § 77](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

Checklist:

1. Resolution on the board change, registry application, resolution sent to every provider.
2. Beneficial owner update in the Business Register.
3. At each bank, payment institution, card acquirer and payment processor: remove the old users, add the new ones, move the owner or administrator role, update the contact email and phone.
4. Keep view-only access for the accountant.

## What should you check before you close a business account?

Move every incoming and outgoing flow to the new account first, make no payment on the closing day, download the full statements, and ask for a closing statement. Once the account is closed you usually lose online access, but your books still need the statements. Bank statements are source documents ([Accounting Act § 7](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/110072025003)), and you must keep them for seven years from the end of the financial year ([Accounting Act § 12](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/110072025003)).

Before you close:

1. Give the new IBAN to your customers, the Tax and Customs Board, your payment processors and marketplaces. Update your invoice template.
2. Move direct debits, card subscriptions and standing orders.
3. Wait until all pending card and outgoing payments have settled.
4. Download all statements, for every currency, and the confirmations of recent payments.
5. State in writing the account to which the balance must be paid.

Under Estonian law, the provider must pay out the balance to an account you name, and must accept payments that arrive within one month after the end, tell you and pass them on ([Law of Obligations Act § 720](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)). If a payment went wrong, the provider must trace it on request, free of charge ([Law of Obligations Act § 733^3](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)). A business customer's terms may exclude these rules ([Law of Obligations Act § 733^14](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)), and a provider licensed in another EEA state usually applies its own law. Read the closing terms.

## Why do notaries, accountants and suppliers also send KYC forms?

Because the AML law gives them the same duties as a bank. The obliged entities include banks and financial institutions, real estate agents, traders that receive or pay at least 10,000 euros in cash, dealers in precious metals and stones, auditors, accounting service providers, accounting and tax advisers, and trust and company service providers ([RahaPTS § 2](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). Notaries, lawyers and other legal service providers are covered when they act in financial or real estate transactions, help buy a company, or help set up and run companies ([RahaPTS § 2](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

They must identify you, your representatives and your beneficial owners, and for an occasional transaction collect information on the origin of the money ([RahaPTS § 20](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). If they cannot finish the checks, they must not act ([RahaPTS § 42](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)): a notary will not certify a purchase without the beneficial owner form and proof of the origin of the money. They may use the data only for AML purposes, and they keep it for five years after the relationship ends ([RahaPTS § 47, § 48](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

A supplier that is not on the list may still ask under its own contract, its sanctions policy or a foreign law.

Keep a standard pack, signed digitally: the registry card, the articles, a structure chart, the passports and proof of address of the board members and beneficial owners, a declaration on politically exposed persons, and a short note on the source of funds with the main evidence.

## Who is a politically exposed person, and what does it change?

A politically exposed person (PEP, in Estonian "riikliku taustaga isik") is a natural person who holds or held a prominent public function, plus the family members and known close associates of such a person ([RahaPTS § 9^1](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). The functions include a head of state or government, a minister, a deputy or assistant minister, a member of parliament, a member of a party's leadership, a supreme court judge, the auditor general, a member of a central bank board, an ambassador, a senior officer of the armed forces, a board or supervisory board member of a state-controlled company, and the leadership of an international organisation. Mid-level and junior officials are not PEPs.

Family members are the spouse or equivalent partner, the registered partner, the parents, the children and the children's spouses, equivalent partners or registered partners. Close associates are persons known to be joint beneficial owners with a PEP, to have close business relations with one, or to own an entity set up for a PEP's benefit ([RahaPTS § 9^1](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

Every obliged entity must ask whether you, your representative or your beneficial owner is a PEP ([RahaPTS § 20](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). That is the PEP box on every KYC form. PEP status does not bar an account, but it normally means enhanced checks: senior management approval, the source of wealth and of the funds, and closer monitoring ([RahaPTS § 36, § 41](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). For a PEP who comes from or lives in an EEA state, these measures are required only when another higher-risk factor is also present ([RahaPTS § 38](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). After the person leaves office, the risk must still be considered for at least 12 months ([RahaPTS § 41](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)).

Declare the status honestly, expect longer onboarding, and prepare evidence of how the wealth was built.

## Is there a limit on cash payments for a company?

Not yet. Until 10.07.2027 Estonian law sets no general cap on cash payments between businesses. But a trader that receives or pays 10,000 euros or more in cash, in one payment or in linked payments within a year, becomes an obliged entity and must do due diligence ([RahaPTS § 2, § 19](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). An obliged entity other than a credit institution must report every transaction with more than 32,000 euros paid in cash to the FIU within two working days ([RahaPTS § 49](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)). Banks treat large amounts of cash as a higher-risk factor ([RahaPTS § 37](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)), so expect questions about cash deposits.

From 10.07.2027 the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation applies directly: a business may accept or make a cash payment for goods or services only up to 10,000 euros, in one or several linked operations. Member States may set a lower limit ([Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, Art 80](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32024R1624)).

For the books, every cash receipt and payment needs a source document ([Accounting Act § 6, § 7](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/110072025003)). A payment with no proper source document is a non-business expense, taxed at 22 percent on the amount divided by 0.78 ([Income Tax Act § 51, § 4](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/129042026004)). Pay and collect by bank transfer.

## Must a small company screen customers and suppliers against EU sanctions?

Yes in practice. EU sanctions bind every company, not only banks. You must not make funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to a listed person or to an entity it owns or controls ([Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014, Art 2](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014R0269)). The Russia regulation and the Belarus regulation add export, import and service bans ([Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014R0833); [Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32006R0765)). The Russia regulation has been amended many times, so check its consolidated text before you rely on an article.

A company that is not an obliged entity has no formal screening procedure. But a breach is a crime when it is intentional and also when it is negligent ([Penal Code § 93^1, § 93^2](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/109072026027)), and a transaction that breaches a sanction is void ([International Sanctions Act § 7](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/117052025004)). So a documented check of each new counterparty and its owners against the EU lists, for example on the [EU Sanctions Map](https://www.sanctionsmap.eu/), is the safe practice. Recheck when the EU adopts a new sanctions package.

The Estonian rules ([International Sanctions Act](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/117052025004)):

- If you find that a business partner is subject to a sanction, or that a transaction would breach a financial sanction, you must apply the sanction (freeze, do not pay) and notify the FIU without delay. In case of doubt, apply the sanction and gather more information. If it is still unclear, notify (§ 19).
- The board must organise the company's compliance with the sanctions (§ 13^2).
- A person who applies a sanction in good faith is not liable for applying it, and a notification to the FIU does not breach a duty of confidentiality (§ 6^1).
- Banks, accountants, auditors, notaries and some others have extra duties: they must check their customers whenever a sanction starts, changes or ends (§ 20, § 21).
- A person affected by a freeze may ask the FIU to check whether it was lawful (§ 17).

After a hit: stop the payment or delivery, do not return or move the funds, notify the FIU through its online reporting system ([FIU, financial sanctions](https://fiu.ee/en/node/222)), keep the file, and wait for its instructions.

## How do you choose a bank or payment account that gives your accountant what the books need?

Choose a provider that gives complete statements for every account, period and currency, ideally as machine-readable exports, that supports a bank feed to your accounting software, and that lets you add the accountant as a view-only user.

Every transaction must be documented and booked, and the source document must let an independent person verify it ([Accounting Act § 6, § 7](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/110072025003)). Source documents must be machine-readable, with another durable form only as an exception, and you keep them in machine-readable form for seven years ([Accounting Act § 7, § 12](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/110072025003)). So a complete CSV or camt.053 export is the best statement, and a PDF is a useful readable copy. Under Estonian law the provider must send statements at the agreed intervals free of charge, and if nothing else is agreed, one for the calendar year by 15 January of the next year ([Law of Obligations Act § 714](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)).

Points to compare:

- **Statements:** complete exports per account and currency, a readable PDF, and a year-end balance confirmation for the auditor.
- **Bank feed:** a feed to the accounting software saves work, but when it lapses the accountant needs the statements to fill the gap.
- **Users:** a read-only role for the accountant, and two board members with rights, so that one departure does not lock the company out.
- **Estonian payments:** tax payments to the Tax and Customs Board with a reference number, and SEPA payments.
- **AML fit:** each provider sets its own risk appetite ([RahaPTS § 10](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)), for example for holding companies, crypto flows or non-resident owners. Describe your business honestly at onboarding to avoid a restriction later.

See also [bookkeeping and source documents](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/guides/bookkeeping-source-documents) and [founding an OÜ](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/guides/founding-an-ou).

General information, not advice for your situation. The law as in force on 30.09.2026.

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## Sources

- [Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (RahaPTS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/111072026093)
- [International Sanctions Act (RSanS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/117052025004)
- [Law of Obligations Act (VÕS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/120062026018)
- [General Part of the Civil Code Act (TsÜS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/131122024048)
- [Commercial Code (ÄS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/106072023131)
- [Commercial Register Act (ÄRS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/114032025010)
- [Identity Documents Act (ITDS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/103062026007)
- [Penal Code (KarS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/109072026027)
- [Income Tax Act (TuMS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/129042026004)
- [Accounting Act (RPS)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/110072025003)
- [Directive (EU) 2015/849, the fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (consolidated)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02015L0849-20241230)
- [Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32024R1624)
- [Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 (asset freeze, Russia and Ukraine)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014R0269)
- [Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 (sectoral measures, Russia)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014R0833)
- [Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 (Belarus)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32006R0765)
- [e-Residency: business banking and payment solutions](https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/business-banking-and-payment-solutions/)
- [Financial Supervision Authority: making a complaint](https://www.fi.ee/en/consumer/when-should-i-contact-finantsinspektsioon/making-complaint)
- [Financial Intelligence Unit: international financial sanctions](https://fiu.ee/en/node/222)
- [EU Sanctions Map](https://www.sanctionsmap.eu/)

## Related pages

- [Founding an OÜ in Estonia: capital, articles, name, fees and first steps](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/guides/founding-an-ou): How to found an Estonian private limited company (OÜ): the share capital and how it is paid in, the articles of association, the state fees online and at a notary, the business name, the EMTAK activity codes and licences, a company as founder, holding or direct ownership, the first weeks after registration, and the risks of a shelf company.
- [e-Residency and your Estonian company: what it gives, the legal address and the contact person](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/guides/e-residency-address-contact-person): What Estonian e-Residency lets a foreign founder do and what it does not give, what happens when the card expires, when an OÜ needs a contact person, a legal address abroad or at a virtual office, how documents are served by e-mail, how to choose a service provider, and why e-Residency does not make you tax resident.
- [Bookkeeping, source documents and e-invoices for an Estonian OÜ](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/guides/bookkeeping-source-documents): When an Estonian company must send an e-invoice, what a source document must show, how long to keep records, and who is responsible for the books of an OÜ.
- [Paying a dividend from an Estonian OÜ: the steps, the limits and the TSD](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/guides/dividends-mechanics): The steps to pay a lawful dividend from an OÜ, how much you may pay, instalments, dividends in kind, and how to declare it on the TSD.
- [OÜ (osaühing)](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/glossary/ou): What an OÜ (osaühing) is: the Estonian private limited company, with shares, limited liability, a share capital from one cent and a management board.
- [Business Register (äriregister)](https://oscaraccountant.com/en/glossary/business-register): What the Estonian Business Register (äriregister) is: the public register of companies, who keeps it, what it shows, and what a company files there.

Reviewed on 10 Oct 2026. Law as of 30 Sept 2026. General information, not advice for your situation.

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