EMTA publishes how it scores company tax behaviour

Estonia's Tax and Customs Board (Maksu- ja Tolliamet, MTA) has published the methods paper behind its tax-behaviour ratings serviceEmta (Hinnangute arvutamise alused), approved by the MTA director general's order No 83-P of 12 September 2022Emta. It sets out how the two ratings shown to companies in e-MTA — the tax-compliance rating (maksukuulekuse hinnang) and the tax-affairs-orderliness rating (maksuasjade korrasoleku hinnang)Emta — are calculatedEmta.

Each company gets two ratings, each composed of six indicatorsEmtaEmta. Ratings and indicators are shown as a number on a 1–3 scaleEmta: 3 means everything is in order (green)Emta, 2 means some shortcomings (yellow)Emta and 1 means significant shortcomings (red)Emta. Each rating's value is set by its lowest-scoring indicatorEmta. The ratings rest on data the company filed with the MTA and data otherwise known to it, and each indicator carries an explanation with instructions for remedying shortcomings.

The tax-compliance rating covers timeliness and correctness in meeting statutory duties: debt, declarations, offences, tax proceedings, background of the responsible person and average pay. Debt turns on size, age and any schedule or insolvency proceedings — no debt or a rescheduled debt scores 3. Declarations turn on timely filing of KMD, TSD, VD, OSS, IOSS and excise declarations plus warehouse, fuel-sales, customs-security and TTKI access data. Offences turn on standing tax or customs penalties: none scores 3, one standing misdemeanour scores 2, and one or more criminal penalties or at least two misdemeanours score 1. Tax proceedings turn on proceedings and controls over the last 12 months in which errors were found. The responsible-person indicator covers that person's debts, schedule compliance, insolvency and business bans plus related companies' debts from their management period (board members, partners, branch managers, procurators, liquidators, sole proprietors). Average pay compares the company's position-level average against the Estonian average for the same positions.

The tax-affairs-orderliness rating flags inconsistencies in declared dataEmta: taxable expenses (fringe benefits and non-business expenses on form TSD), disbursements and taxes withheld on them (also TSD), employment-register data, purchases on the VAT return and annex, and sales on the VAT return and annex together with IOSS, IMPULSS and SURVEILLANCE declarations. Its sixth component, other observations — such as a counterparty's board change or guidance on taxing residential premises — does not affect the scoreEmta.

The paper gives each indicator its own display date — half show current-month data on the first day of the month, the rest in the following month — and most feeds then refresh daily or weekly by source (IOSS, IMPULSS and SURVEILLANCE data refresh monthly): declaration-based data daily from the third day after the filing deadline, LAAK warehouse entries weekly, KKS fuel-sales reports daily from the day after the deadline, employment-register and TTKI access data daily. Average pay appears on the 21st of the following month. Earlier months are generally not revised, except that offence months are revised when a penalty is deleted from the punishment register.

The service is available in e-MTA to companies and VAT-registered sole proprietorsEmta; legal representatives may grant accountants access. Ratings can be shared with chosen counterparties or made public, and a tax-behaviour certificate for the current or last 3, 6 or 12 months can be compiled in PDF or Digidoc format. Fixed shortcomings are normally reflected the next day without notifying the MTA, and change notifications can be ordered by e-mail.

Legal basis: order No 83-P of the director general of the Maksu- ja Tolliamet of 12 September 2022Emta (Hinnangute arvutamise alused).