EMTA drops ERGO and Salva from accepted tax-guarantee issuers

Taxpayers who must secure a tax debt, an excise liability or a customs debt with a käendus can no longer rely on ERGO Insurance SE or Salva Kindlustuse AS as pre-accepted issuers.Emta The Maksu- ja Tolliamet roster of accepted guarantors now names ten credit and insurance institutionsEmta: AS LHV Pank, AS SEB Pank, Coop Pank AS, Luminor Bank AS, OP Corporate Bank plc Eesti filiaal, Swedbank AS, AAS BTA Baltic Insurance Company Eesti filiaal, Euler Hermes SA, branch in Finland, AS Citadele banka Eesti filiaal and Compensa Vienna Insurance Group, ADB Eesti filiaal. ERGO and Salva, both previously listed, are no longer among them.EmtaEmta The roster does not state why the two insurers were removed, nor what happens to guarantees they have already issued.

The practical consequence follows from the acceptance rule. Under maksukorralduse seadus § 123 a guarantor must be accepted by the tax authorityRiigiteataja, so a new käendus from either removed insurer would fall outside the pre-accepted rosterEmta. A person who has provided security may substitute it with another security permitted by the Act, for example a käendus from a remaining listed issuer, a deposit, or a pledge.

The choice of security is otherwise unchanged. A person obliged to provide security may choose between a käendus, a deposit paid to the Maksu- ja Tolliamet bank account, or a registerpant or hüpoteek in favour of the state, unless the relevant tax act provides otherwise.Emta The Maksu- ja Tolliamet determines the final tagatissumma from the secured claim and possible enforcement costs. No enforcement costs are added to a cash deposit; for a käendus from an accepted issuer they generally do not arise; for a pledge they are always added.

A käendus from a listed issuer must still meet the formal conditions. Listed institutions have requested the right to issue guarantees from the Maksu- ja Tolliamet. Guarantee documents are submitted on the prescribed form in Estonian, and guarantors outside Estonia must add a jurisdiction confirmation that disputes under the guarantee contract are resolved by negotiation and, failing agreement, in Harju Maakohus. Businesses that prefer not to replace the issuer can instead pay a deposit through e-MTA, by bank transfer using the 14-digit tagatisnõue reference beginning with 321, or at service bureaus and customs points, or pledge collateral supported by an EVS 875 expert valuation no older than three months from a licensed valuator, generally as a first-rank hüpoteek.

Legal basis: maksukorralduse seaduse §§ 120–123 and 125 and Maksu- ja Tolliameti aktsepteeritud käendajad list under Tagatised.