Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Taxation

Compared to the same time last year, tax receipts in the first nine months of the year increased 5.6% and a total of 72.6% of the budgeted 12-month tax receipts had flowed in by the end of the period, the Ministry of Finance said.

The growth in the payment of social tax continued thanks to fast wage growth, as 9.3% more social tax was paid in September than in the same month the year before. The average growth of the number of declared employees in the last three months remains at 1.6%, the average growth of wages accelerated to 7.4%.

Employees as a ratio of all working-age people stands at a record high at present. The share of declared employees of the working-age population is near a historic record level.

In larger sectors with at least 30,000 job positions, occupied positions according to data based on the field of activity in the last three months increased most in the sector of management and assistance and the construction sector, 5.9% and 4.4% respectively. The number of jobs decreased most in the retail sector, by 2.6%.

VAT revenue in September was 183.2 million euros, 7% more than at the same time last year. Taxable revenues increased 6.4% on year in main fields of activity. The payment of VAT in the last three months has increased most in construction, by 26.8%. This is followed by the sale of motor vehicles with a 10.4% growth in the payment of VAT.

The state's revenue from excise duties totaled 74.4 million euros, 6.1% less than in September 2016. Altogether 13.1 million euros was paid as excise duty on alcohol in September, 6.8% less in the nine months of this year than in the same period last year. Tobacco excise duty receipts totaled 14.9 million euros in September and the payment of it was 8.1% higher from the beginning of November 2016 until the end of September 2017 taking into account reserves than the year before.

In September the central government received more taxes and other revenue than the expenses that were made. This decreased the budget's 9-month deficit to 30 million euros. The combined budget of local governments by the end of September reached a 5 million euro deficit, while expenses in September exceeded revenue by 28 million euros. Revenue of social insurance funds like the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Health Insurance Fund exceeded expenses and reached a 39 million euro surplus in nine months.

The budget of the government sector ran a surplus of 3 million euros since the beginning of the year. Compared to the same period last year, budget surplus this year was 131 million euros smaller. The change was mainly due to the VAT return of low-paid employees and increased investment volumes.