Salary and tax in Estonia

Where the money goes

Of €20,688 gross, income tax (Tulumaks) takes €2,540 and employee contributions (Töötuskindlustus and Kogumispension) take €745. That leaves €17,404 a year, or €1,450 a month on average.

The employer pays another €6,993 in charges on top, 33,8% of the salary. The whole job costs €27,681 a year.

How the income tax works

The income tax (Tulumaks) is a flat 22% of taxable income.

The bands apply to taxable income: what is left after allowances and deductible contributions. That is why the rates bite later than the gross salary suggests.

How the rates rise with the salary

Income tax starts at a gross salary of about €8,740 a year.

At €20,688, 15,9% of pay goes to income tax and employee contributions. Of the next 100 earned, 75 reach the employee, a marginal rate of 24,8%.

At twice that salary, €41,376, the average rate is 20,3% and the marginal rate 24,8%.

Average and marginal rates, with worked examples:
Pay rise: How much more take-home pay? (Estonia)

Among 50 countries

At the same €20,688 a year, converted into each local currency, an employee in Estonia takes home 84,1%, rank 18 of 50.

The same salary leaves the most in Belgium (100,5%) and the least in Romania (58,5%).

Above 100%, refundable credits for low earners pay out more than income tax and contributions take, so net pay exceeds gross: Belgium.

Every country is calculated for the same single employee without children, with the salary converted at the exchange rates of 2 October 2026. A salary that is typical in one country is high in another, so progressive systems look heavier where wages are lower. The ranking says nothing about purchasing power or about what the contributions pay for, such as pensions and health cover. Where the newer rules are not final, a country is calculated with its latest enacted year: Belgium (2025), Norway (2025) and Romania (2025).

Beyond the payslip

The statutory rules in Estonia on notice, unemployment, sick pay, parental leave and unpaid wages.

• Notice and dismissal

  Töölepingu seadus

  15 / 30 / 60 / 90 calendar days

  Employer notice

  Employer notice increases with service: below one year, one to five years, five to ten years and ten years or more respectively.

• Unemployment benefit

  Sissetulekupõhine töötuskindlustushüvitis; baasmääras töötuskindlustushüvitis

  12 months / 36 months

  Income-based qualifying record

  Income-based benefit requires at least 12 months of unemployment-insurance record in the previous 36 months and a qualifying involuntary end to employment.

• Sick pay

  Haigushüvitis

  Days 4–8

  Employer-paid interval

  For ordinary illness the first three days are uncompensated under the standard scheme; the employer pays days four to eight and Tervisekassa starts on day nine.

• Parental leave

  Ema vanemahüvitis; jagatav vanemahüvitis; vanemapuhkus

  475 calendar days

  Ordinary shared benefit

  For a mother employed before birth, the shared parental benefit is ordinarily 475 days; unused eligible maternity-benefit days can increase that allocation.

• Unpaid wages

  Hüvitis tööandja maksejõuetuse korral

  3 months

  Wage protection limit

  The cited consolidated law protects up to the employee's last three worked months of gross wages, capped at three Estonian average gross monthly wages.

Method and sources

Official sources

• Maksu- ja Tolliamet · Tulumaks
• Maksu- ja Tolliamet · Sotsiaalmaks
• Euro reference exchange rates, 2 October 2026 (ECB)