VAT in Estonia in 2026

Consultoria EHERO

7 minutos de lectura

In Estonia, VAT is called käibemaks and is regulated by the käibemaksuseadus (KMS), the Estonian VAT law. It has a general rate of 24 %, a 13 % rate for accommodation, a 9 % rate for books, newspapers and the medicines on the official list, and 0 % for exports and intra-Community supplies. These are set by § 15 of that law and applied by the Maksu- ja Tolliamet. Be careful with any table dated before July 2025: the general rate was 22 % until 30 June 2025 and 20 % until the end of 2023.

What surprises sellers there most is how short the list of reduced rates is. In Estonia there is no reduced rate for food: bread, milk and fruit are taxed at 24 %, just like children’s clothing or restaurant services.

Rate	Percentage	Applies to
Standard (käibemaksu standardmäär)	24 %	Everything not included in the lists below: food and drinks, restaurant services, clothing and footwear —including children’s—, electronics, cosmetics, household goods, plants and flowers. Also software and video games, which do not count as books
Reduced (soodusmäär)	13 %	Accommodation, with or without breakfast, from 1 January 2025; before that it was 9 %. It only covers the accommodation and what is included in the room price: the rest of the hotel services are taxed at 24 %
Reduced (soodusmäär)	9 %	Books and educational literature and press publications, in print and digital, except those that are mainly advertising or private ads, erotic content, video or music; and medicines, contraceptives, health and hygiene items, personal medical devices for people with disabilities and assistive products listed in Regulation No. 63 of the Minister of Social Affairs of 4 December 2006: anything not on that list is taxed at 24 %
Zero (0% käibemaksumäär)	0 %	Exports, intra-Community supplies of goods and the Estonian segment of international passenger transport. This is not an exemption: the seller still deducts input VAT

Rates verified on 12 September 2026 against the page «Käibemaksumäärad ja maksuvaba käive» of the Maksu- ja Tolliamet, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (emta.ee).

From 20 % to 24 % in a year and a half

Estonia has raised the general rate twice in a row. It was 20 % until 31 December 2023, rose to 22 % on 1 January 2024 and to 24 % on 1 July 2025. If your store has not updated Estonia’s taxes since 2023, it is charging four points too little.

The 24 % rate was introduced with an expiry date and no longer has one. It came with the security tax (julgeolekumaks), which the Riigikogu approved only until 31 December 2028. On 18 June 2025 the Riigikogu repealed that tax and made the VAT increase indefinite: in 2029 there is no return to 22 %.

The reduced rates changed on 1 January 2025: accommodation rose from 9 % to 13 % and press returned from 5 % to 9 %, the rate it had before 1 August 2022. That change leaves a live trail until 31 December 2026: businesses accounting for VAT on a cash basis may continue applying 9 % to accommodation and 5 % to press invoiced and supplied before 1 January 2025 and paid after that date, according to § 46, paragraphs 26 and 27, of the VAT law. It does not affect you, but it explains why you may see Estonian invoices with rates that are no longer in force.

And the list of reduced rates has not grown with any of those reforms. There are two, and they are very short: 13 % for accommodation and 9 % for books, press and the medicines and health items on the official list. Almost any product you sell to an Estonian consumer —including food— is taxed at 24 %.

Which VAT you charge customers in Estonia if you sell from another EU country

This is the part no rate table covers, and usually the real question. The rate you charge does not depend only on the destination: it depends on how much you sell to consumers in other EU countries.

Below €10,000 a year in distance sales to the rest of the EU — added up across all countries, not country by country — you charge your own country’s VAT.
Above that €10,000 you charge the destination VAT: 24% as the standard rate in Estonia, or the reduced rate that applies to the product. You declare it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country, with no need to register in the destination country.

The threshold adds up all your B2C sales to other EU countries plus digital services, and the switch does not wait for next year: the very sale that crosses the threshold already carries the destination rate.

Selling to a business with a valid EU VAT number is a different story: the sale goes without VAT because the customer accounts for it in their own country, but you have to check that number in VIES and keep proof of the check.

How to set this up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes rates by country, but it does not distinguish rates within a country by product class or monitor the threshold for you. There are three things you need to set up:

A tax class for each rate you use, assigned product by product and not at store level.
VAT number validation at checkout against VIES for business customers, so VAT is not charged when the transaction is under reverse charge.
A control for the €10,000 threshold, because the day it is exceeded the rates change at once in all countries.

All three are covered by EHERO Woo VAT, which we built precisely because these are the three points where stores selling to the rest of the European Union break.

Two quick checks: check the customer’s VAT number in VIES before invoicing without VAT, and use the EU VAT calculator to see which rate to charge on each sale.

Selling to other EU countries from WooCommerce?

EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate product by product, checks VAT numbers against VIES at checkout and keeps an eye on the €10,000 threshold for you.

See EHERO Woo VAT →

Frequently asked questions

What is the general VAT rate in Estonia in 2026?

24 %, in force since 1 July 2025 and set in § 15 of the Estonian VAT law. Below that there are only two reduced rates: 13 % for accommodation and 9 % for books, newspapers and the medicines on the official list. There is no reduced rate for food.

Wasn’t Estonian VAT 22 %?

It was from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2025; before that, since 2009, it was 20 %. On 1 July 2025 it rose to 24 % to finance defence spending. It was introduced as a temporary increase until 2028, but on 18 June 2025 the Riigikogu made it indefinite. If a table shows 22 % or 20 %, it is out of date.

I sell to Estonia from another EU country — which VAT do I charge?

Your own country’s VAT while your distance sales to the whole EU stay below €10,000 a year. Once you cross that threshold, the destination VAT (24% standard rate), declared through the One Stop Shop.

Do I have to register for VAT in Estonia?

Not if you only ship from your own country: that is what the One Stop Shop is for. You do if you store goods there — for example with Amazon’s fulfilment network — because stock held in the country creates a registration obligation regardless of how much you sell.