During its 18 March sitting, the Government approved and sent to the Parliament (Riigikogu) a draft regulation significantly changing taxation of employee stock options. A radical change, of interest to all entrepreneurs, foresees exempting from tax any options exercised after three years from issue.

At the beginning of March the new Authorised Public Accountants Act (Audiitortegevuse seadus) entered into force, bringing amendments not only for auditors but also for entrepreneurs. The most important updates are changes in mandatory auditing thresholds for private limited companies (osaühing).

At the end of February, a large part of Estonian financial regulation underwent noteworthy changes and entrepreneurs in the Estonian financial sector increased their chances of doing cross-border business in countries outside the European Economic Area (Member States of the European Union, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein). However, there are two sides to the coin – foreign entrepreneurs’ opportunities for doing business in Estonia also became easier.

On the last day of March the Supreme Court made a ruling emphasizing that a shareholder may be liable for decreasing the share of another shareholder and taking control of the company even when the measures used are not directly in conflict with the law. Therefore, legal “schemes“ may not work when the objective is to gain some advantage at the expense of another shareholder.