Branch office of a foreign company in Estonia

Registering a branch

To register a branch in the Commercial Register, the company has to make a written decision on establishing a branch and appoint a director or directors for the branch. Usually this decision is drafted by us in Estonian, after the client has given us information about who will sign the resolution on behalf of the company.

Documents and data required to register a branch

• a notarised application of the branch director;

• an extract from the commercial register where the company is registered;

• a decision appointing the director; 

• a copy of the articles of association or partnership agreement of the company certified according to the laws of the home country, if submission of the articles of association or partnership agreement to a register is also required in the home country of the company;

• information on the planned principal activity of the branch;

• phone numbers, e-mail addresses.

The documents must be in the required format, certified by apostille or legalized and translated into Estonian.

Time schedule to register a branch

The time schedule for the entire process depends on the time necessary for preparing, translating and certifying documents. The branch will be entered into the Commercial Register within 5 business days from submitting the registration application.

Accounting and lodging of reports by branches

The director of a branch must arrange the branch’s accounting pursuant to the requirements of the Accounting Act and submit the following:

• Official entries to the Health Insurance Fund if the branch has employees for whom social tax is paid.

• Annual report to the Tax and Customs Board each year;

• Annual report of the foreign company to the Commercial Register each year (except for companies of EEC states if it is not required to disclose the annual report under the legal acts of the country of its location);

• Tax reports pursuant to the taxes paid by the branch;