Estonian Register of Employment
All employees with whom an employer has entered into an employment contract must be registered with the Tax and Customs Board in the employment register when starting to work or beginning service.
@Photo from Pixabay.
Summary
All employees with whom an employer has entered into an employment contract must be registered with the Tax and Customs Board in the employment register when starting to work or beginning service. Start, suspension and termination of employment will be listed in the register and the data regarding workforce medical insurance will be sent to the Health Insurance Board directly from the register. The Estonian Health Insurance Fund uses the data of the employment register for granting the health insurance benefits;
• the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund uses the data of the employment register for registration of persons as unemployed, termination of the persons’ registration as unemployed, for granting unemployment allowances and other unemployment insurance benefits prescribed by the Unemployment Insurance Act;
• the Social Insurance Board uses the data of the employment register for verification of the employment status;
• the Police and Border Guard Board uses the data of the employment register for exercising supervisory control over the working conditions of foreigners;
• the Estonian Tax and Customs Board uses the data of the employment register for monitoring the performance of the tax liabilities of taxable persons.
| URL | Tax and Customs Board |
|---|---|
| Focus | Citizens |
| Start date | 1 Jan 2014 |
| Domain | Public matter |
| Scope | National/Federal |
| Country | Estonia |
| Nature and status of project | Rolled Out |
| Is the OOP case/enabler mandatory? | Mandatory |
Enabling assets or components
Relevant Enablers
Estonian data exchange layer for information systems (X-Road)
Estonian Public Key Infrastructure
Estonian Catalogue of Public Sector Information (RIHA)
Estonian three-level IT baseline security system ISKE
Legal interoperability
The establishment of the register of employment, RT I, 22.05.2014, 1, https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/122052014001
----------
Taxation Act, RT I, 16.04.2014, 2, https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/116042014002
Socio-cultural influence factors
This OOP case reduces administration costs for governmental agencies and saves costs (both the tax collection and social benefits agencies). It results in faster and efficient verification of employment and increases tax collections. This register facilitates digital processes and a paper-free procedure. It boosts the social guarantees, social safety environment, and employees´ awareness. Moreover, it decreases illegal employment. This register provides for citizens the clear understanding of tax payment by employee.
In addition, this case allows agencies to share information, which eliminates duplication. Regarding to once-only principle vision, this case eliminates the need for employers to submit employee data to multiple government agencies and increases transparency.
This case has good potential for cross-border implementation.
Data handling / data exchange
Type of data sharing
Actual data
Data handler
| Stakeholder name | Stakeholder type | Stakeholder role | Kind of data |
|---|---|---|---|
Register for Agencies of State and Municipalities | Government | Data provider | Employment data |
Estonian Health Insurance Fund | Government | Data consumer | Employment data |
Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fundtions | Government | Data consumer | Employment data |
Estonian Labour Inspectorate | Government | Data consumer | Employment data |
| Social Insurance Board | Government | Data consumer | Employment data |
| Police and Border Guard Board | Government | Data consumer | Employment data |
| Employees | Government | Data consumer | Employment data |
| Tax and Customs Board | Government | Data consumer | Employment data |
Architecture
The electronic solution eliminates the need for in-person visits to a service bureau for registration. Registration can occur in a variety of ways:
• Web registration through the e-Tax Board/e-Customs websites by entering data manually or uploading a file
• Registration via a machine-to-machine (M2M) interface, using XRoad technology, the standard for integrating public registers and information systems in Estonia
• Mobile registration via a phone call or SMS message.
Linking registers
• Estonian Health Insurance Fund
• Eesti Töötukassa (Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund)
• Social Insurance Board
• Police and Border Guard Board
• Tax and Customs Board.
Lessons learned
• Enhances surveillance related to labour taxes
• Reduces administration and saves costs
• Enables faster and efficient verification of employment
• Helps increase tax collections
• Enables digital processes and a paper-free procedure
• Eliminates the need for employers to submit employee data to multiple government agencies
• Allows multiple agencies to share information, eliminating duplication
Source: https://scoop4c.eu/cases/estonian-register-employment
Disclaimer: Please note that this article is a result of the SCOOP4C Pilot Project, not an application of a CEF Building Block.