The clean-up of the commercial register* has had a more intense impact on legal entities with weak activity indicators and ties to foreign individuals than on entities solely connected to Estonian individuals. Of all the foreign-linked legal entities identified in the Financial Intelligence Unit’s survey published in April, a total of 17% were removed over a period of a year and a half. Excluding legal entities linked to persons of undetermined nationality, nearly one-fifth (19%) of all foreign-linked legal entities were deleted. More than a quarter (28%) of legal entities linked to third countries were removed.
In April 2024, the Financial Intelligence Unit published two surveys: "Foreigners in Estonian Companies" and "Customers and Services of Company Service Providers in Estonia with Foreign Connections," which were based on data from the commercial register as of the end of April 2023.
The recent short analysis examined the current status of legal entities linked to foreigners, comparing data from the aforementioned surveys with open data from the commercial register as of September 25, 2024.
*In February 2023, amendments to the Commercial Register Act came into force, allowing the removal of legal entities from the register if they had no assets, no ongoing liabilities, and had failed to submit an annual report within three months after the deadline.
