A contact person in Estonia is a licensed representative listed in the Commercial Register who receives official documents and notifications on behalf of your company: letters from the Register, the Tax and Customs Board (EMTA), the courts and other authorities. For Estonian companies owned and managed by non-residents and e-residents, this is a key element of compliance: it ensures that no official notification is missed whilst you are managing your business from another country.
Only a limited group of individuals – including licensed corporate service providers – are legally entitled to act as a contact person. As a licensed provider, we offer contact person services in Estonia: we register ourselves as your company’s contact person, receive correspondence, digitise it and forward it to you on the day it is received. You gain a reliable official channel of communication with the Estonian authorities – and the assurance that any notification from the register or enquiry from the EMTA will not go unnoticed.
| Topic | Practical explanation |
|---|---|
| What is it? | A licensed representative in Estonia, authorised to receive official documents and declarations of intent on behalf of the company |
| Who needs it | Companies owned and managed by non-residents; required by law if the company’s board of directors is based abroad |
| What it achieves | The company remains accessible to government bodies, courts and counterparties; this prevents the registry from flagging the company as unreachable |
| Powers | Passive only: receives documents but is not authorised to act or make decisions on behalf of the company |
| Who can act as an agent | Notaries, solicitors and law firms, chartered accountants, tax representatives for non-residents, and licensed corporate service providers |
| Legal effect | Service of a document on a contact person is deemed to be service on the company itself |
| Legal basis | The Estonian Commercial Code and the Commercial Register Act (§ 24) |
| Cost | €150 per year – fixed fee; market benchmark – ~€250 per year |
If you have any questions, our managers are always on hand and ready to help! If you’re not sure whether your company needs a designated contact person, a registered office address, or both services at once — simply submit an enquiry and our specialists will advise you free of charge.
Estonia allows companies to be owned and managed entirely remotely — tens of thousands of Estonian OÜs are owned by foreigners and e-residents. However, the remote model has a vulnerability: the state, the courts and business partners need a reliable channel through which the company can be officially notified. This task is fulfilled by a local contact person listed in the register.
What happens without one, if the board is based abroad:
Delivery of a document to the designated contact person is legally equivalent to delivery to the company itself – therefore, with a designated contact person, your company is always ‘in contact’ with the state, wherever you may be.
The Act restricts the group of persons who may be appointed as a contact person — this role is reserved solely for professionals who meet high standards of qualification and due diligence. Under Section 24 of the Commercial Register Act, the following may act as a contact person:
A friend, acquaintance or employee living in Estonia is not authorised to act as a contact person — the register will not accept such an appointment. In practice, a licensed provider is the most accessible and flexible option on the list: the service is arranged remotely in a single day, operates on a fixed annual fee and is accompanied by a clear contract.
The role of the contact person is strictly passive, and it is important for the founder to understand this: we are authorised only to receive documents addressed to the company. The contact person cannot sign documents on behalf of the company, manage accounts, make decisions or otherwise interfere with the management of the company. You retain full control over the company — we simply act as a guaranteed channel for correspondence and legal proceedings.
How the service works in practice:
A registered representative and a registered office address are two distinct services that serve different purposes, and non-resident companies usually require both. By ordering them as a package from a single provider, you gain a single point of contact for all official correspondence: we handle both the company’s registered post and documents sent to the contact person — so the deadline for the annual report or a request from the EMTA will never get lost between two service providers.
The concept of a contact person was introduced into Estonian law alongside the boom in remote company ownership: Estonian law allows an OÜ to have its management based anywhere in the world, and the state needed a guaranteed channel for official communication with such companies. Let’s examine the requirement in detail.
The requirement to appoint a contact person first came into force with the amendments to the Commercial Code in 2018. From 1 February 2023, it was clarified by the Commercial Register Act: according to § 24, a legal entity may appoint a person in Estonia to whom procedural documents and declarations of intent are to be served; if the legal entity’s address is abroad, a contact person is mandatory. The contact person’s address is regarded as the company’s official Estonian address.
For companies with an Estonian registered office but a management board based abroad, the appointment of a contact person has, following the reform, formally ceased to be mandatory in all cases — however, it remains standard market practice: it is this person who ensures that correspondence from the Register and the EMTA reaches the management based in another country, and that the Register does not flag the company as unreachable.
These services are often confused. A registered office is the company’s registered address in Estonia, as entered in the Commercial Register: this is where the company is ‘registered’ and receives its post. A contact person is an authorised representative (representative person in Estonia) to whom documents and declarations of intent are officially served on behalf of the company. The former relates to the company’s physical location, whilst the latter ensures guaranteed procedural accessibility. These services can be ordered independently of one another, but for a non-resident company, the standard configuration is to have both at once: the address fulfils the requirement for a place of business, whilst the contact person serves as the channel for official notifications.
For a new company, the contact person is specified directly in the application for registration – we do this at the same time as registering the registered office. For an existing company, the details are updated in the Commercial Register: an application for amendment is submitted, signed by the board via e-Residency or drawn up via a notary or by power of attorney. Switching from another provider takes 1–3 working days and does not interrupt the company’s availability.
The service remains active as long as the annual fee is paid. Important: if the contract with the contact person is terminated and no new one is appointed, the provider is entitled to notify the register to remove their details — and the company with a board based abroad will be left without an official channel of communication, with all the risks described above. We send a renewal reminder in advance to ensure there is no interruption to the service.
The contact person service in Estonia, provided by licensed providers, involves a fixed annual fee; on the market, this starts at around €250 per year. Our rate is €150 per year, including the receipt, digitisation and forwarding of all correspondence; only courier delivery of paper originals, upon request, is charged separately. When ordered as part of a package including a registered office address, a package price of €280 applies.
Please submit a request with your company’s details (or let us know if it is still being registered) — we will draw up the contract and enter the details into the Commercial Register within one working day.
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