Tax seminar

At SCCE’s Tuesday 4 February morning seminar on taxes, arranged in cooperation with Grant Thornton Baltics, it became obvious that not only are the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian languages different. The tax rates are indeed different as well in the three Baltic countries.

Welcomed by Mart Nõmper – Partner and Head of Audit, we listened to Kristjan Järve – Partner and Head of Tax at Grant Thornton Baltic, who gave us a comparison of the tax rates across the Baltics, and an overview on taxation changes in Estonia this year.

- As an example on the different tax rates in the three Baltic countries we can use a payroll cost comparison. A net salary of 1000€ in each country means that the employer’s total cost ends up at 1561€ in Estonia, 1744€ in Latvia and 1686€ in Lithuania, said Kristjan Järve.

Key Estonian tax changes this year include, among several other areas in taxation, excise duties. The excise duty on cigarettes increased by 5% and excise duty on tobacco increased by 8,3 %.

Furthermore, the excise duty on liquid gas and natural gas used as heating fuel increased by 25%.

Additionally and aiming to promote public transports in Estonia, compensating ticket costs of public transport, however not including taxi costs, of an employee regarding travel between the working place and home is no longer considered a fringe benefit.

On behalf of the SCCE, I would like to thank Mart Nõmper, Kristjan Järve and the team at Grant Thornton Baltic for a very interesting seminar and a delicious morning snack buffet.

Sincerely,
Kristiina Brodén - SCCE Ombudsman

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