rahakalkulaator.ee

Salary or dividends?

The eternal question of every OÜ owner, answered in numbers: what you keep, what goes to tax, and what insurance really costs.

How much can the company spend on you?

Euros per month, all taxes included

everything the company sets aside for its owner: salary + taxes + dividends.

Second pension pillar

I pay myself under an employment contract (not a board member fee)
An employment contract adds unemployment insurance, 1.6% + 0.8%. A board member fee has neither the charge nor the benefit. The €700 tax-free minimum is already used elsewhere (another job)

The tax-free layer: allowances

Reimbursement of real work expenses — zero tax, but the paperwork must exist: a travel order, a trip log, receipts.

Days of foreign business trips per month

€75 a day for the first 15 days (at most 15 such days a month), €40 after that. Requires a real trip and an order.

Km driven in your own car on company business per month

€0.50 per km, capped at €550 a month. Only with a trip log — without one the limit is zero.

Health and sports, €400 a year

An allowance reimburses real expenses; it is not income. If you genuinely travel, it is large. Inventing trips costs more than not inventing them: without tickets and a log it all becomes a fringe benefit retroactively.

What insurance costs

—

that is what you give up per month by paying yourself the €886 minimum instead of dividends only — in return you get health insurance, pension record and benefits.

What salary buys you

Health insurance — doctor, hospital, prescriptions (social tax on at least €886)
Sick pay and parental benefit are computed from income that carried social tax. On dividends alone, parental benefit is the minimum
First-pillar record — 20% of the social tax goes into your future state pension
Second pillar if joined: your 2/4/6% plus 4% the state redirects from social tax

What a board member fee does NOT give. Unemployment insurance: no charge is taken and no Töötukassa benefit accrues, even on the minimum salary. An employment contract with yourself is possible but contested ground — talk to your accountant if it matters.

Counter-example: €100 for yourself on the company card

A personal purchase on the company card is a fringe benefit: €28.21 income tax + €42.31 social tax. The company spends €170.52 for you to get €100 of value — two and a half times dearer than dividends. The most expensive method there is.

Two things this calculator does not change

If you work in the company day to day, the tax office expects a reasonable salary for that work — dividends alone for active work is a known tax-risk area. This calculator shows the arithmetic, not permission.

Dividends can only be paid out of retained profit under an approved annual report. In the first year there is usually nothing to distribute yet.

How this is worked out

From salary: 33% social tax (a company cost), your second-pillar contribution, 22% income tax after the €700 tax-free minimum. From dividends: the company pays 22/78 — of every €100, €78 reaches you, and there is no further tax. All rates are the official 2026 ones; sources are in the table.

income tax	22%
tax-free minimum	700 €
social tax	33%
monthly social tax base (insurance threshold)	886 €
unemployment insurance (employment contract only)	1,6% + 0,8%
dividend tax (at company level)	22/78
second pillar	2/4/6% + 4%

per diems
car
sports
allowances per month