Guides

Clear guides to Estonian taxes, benefits and money matters - fresh 2026 figures with a calculator for every topic.

Gross vs net salary in Estonia: where the money goes

Your contract states a gross salary, your bank account receives the net, and the employer pays yet a third amount. This guide works through four typical salaries line by line, shows how the pillar II rate and the basic exemption change your net pay, how to find the right gross for a target take-home amount, and why the same gross salary produced different net pay from 2023 to 2026.

Estonian basic exemption 2026: 700 € for everyone

The biggest Estonian tax change of 2026 is simple: the basic exemption is now 700 € per month, 8400 € per year, for everyone regardless of income. The complicated regressive system is history. Here is what it means for your wallet in numbers: how the old formula worked, how much net pay grew compared with 2025 at different salaries, and which mistakes cost money at the end of the year.

Estonian minimum wage 2026: 946 EUR a month, 5.67 EUR an hour

From 1 April 2026 the minimum wage in Estonia is 946 EUR a month for full-time work and 5.67 EUR an hour. From January to March the old 886 EUR and 5.31 EUR still applied, so 2026 has two minimum wage levels. The monthly and hourly figures are two expressions of the same floor, but they do not always give the same result, which surprises employees and small employers alike. Below we work out net pay under different settings, the cost of part-time work for the employer, and how the minimum wage and the taxes tied to it changed from 2023 to 2026.

What an employee really costs: gross salary is not the employer's expense

Every job has three numbers attached: what the employer pays out, what the contract calls gross salary, and what reaches the employee's account. Conversations usually mention only the middle one. The gap between the first two is employer taxes, and in Estonia that gap is large. This guide works out the total cost at five salary levels, shows how to get from a budget back to gross pay, what the social tax minimum does to the cost of part-time work, and whether a raise or a fringe benefit is cheaper.

Holiday pay in Estonia: why a holiday month looks different

Almost every employee has one month a year when the payslip does not look normal. The cause is almost always annual leave, and it is not an error. Holiday pay is calculated on a different basis from monthly salary, and that is where the difference comes from. Below, the calculation is worked through for different salaries, a higher-paid month, leave split into parts and a final settlement, together with the net amount and the most common mistakes.

Sick leave in Estonia: who pays for which day

The financial side of sick leave confuses people because the payer changes twice mid-illness. The first three days are paid by nobody, the next five by the employer, and only then does the Health Insurance Fund step in. That three-part split is why a short illness hits your wallet disproportionately hard. Below are several typical cases worked through, an example with real dates, and the mistakes that make the expected and actual amounts differ.

Losing your job in Estonia 2026: benefits and first steps

Losing a job is stressful, but the Estonian system cushions the blow quite well - if you know what to do and when. From 2026 the benefit system became simpler. Here is a clear action plan with all the figures, worked examples for different salaries and insurance records, a dated timeline and the mistakes that can cost hundreds of euros.

Estonian parental benefit 2026: amount, duration, sharing

The parental benefit (vanemahüvitis) is one of Estonia's key family benefits: it replaces your previous income after a child is born. The ceiling changed in 2026, so the rules are worth a refresher. Below are all the key numbers, worked examples for different income levels, a sample timeline from the due date to the child's third birthday, and the mistakes that most often cost families money.

Estonian VAT in 2026: 24%, and what it actually means

VAT is the single largest source of Estonian budget revenue and also the tax whose logic is understood least often. The most important thing to know: a VAT-registered business does not pay VAT. It collects it. The entire burden lands on the final consumer. Below, the typical situations are worked through with real numbers: adding and extracting the tax, repricing an old price list after a rate rise, a receipt with mixed rates, input VAT deduction, and how registration changes a small business's margin.

Loan payments: why the early years are almost all interest

A loan offer is almost always judged by its monthly payment. That is understandable, since it is the number that hits the budget each month. But the payment hides two things that cost a great deal more: how much of it is interest, and what stretching the term actually costs. This guide takes one loan, 10,000 EUR at 9% over five years, and works through it from several angles: the schedule year by year, a comparison with an equal-principal loan, the effect of rate and term, and what early repayment really saves.

Estonian car tax 2026: how the annual tax works

The motor vehicle tax has applied in Estonia since 2025 and still raises plenty of questions. Here is a plain explanation of what the annual tax consists of, who pays and when, and how to estimate the amount in advance. The guide works through several typical cars, from a small city car to a heavy SUV and an electric car, and shows how the car's age and children in the family change the final figure.