Estonia: Advertising revenue of digital giants unknown, untaxed

The advertising revenues generated by multinational digital corporations like Facebook (Meta) and Google (Alphabet) in Estonia are unknown and untaxed, ERR reports. Karin Ulvik, media specialist at the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA), said that tax authorities had “no aggregated information on such a narrowly defined group of companies.” Collecting such data would require a change in legislation, she pointed out. Mari-Liis Rüütsalu, CEO of Estonian media group Ekspress Grupp, said that the lack of information was a problem, suggesting various ways to collect the data. Martin Šmutov, editor-in-chief of Estonian daily Õhtuleht, argued that Estonia should tax the profits of digital media outlets as a matter of urgency, rather than waiting for the introduction of an EU-wide digital tax. Earlier, tax authorities in neighbouring Latvia estimated that major internet corporations exported EUR 416mn of advertising revenue from Latvia in 2022.