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In the ecosystem of digital and green transition service exporters play a vital role, particularly in exporting highly valued information and communication technology (ICT) services. In 2020, after the COVID-19 outbreak, Estonia's service exports declined by 20% while ICT service exports increased by 12% compared to 2019. This shows that Estonian ICT firms adapted quickly to seize the opportunities brought by the pandemic to retain their competitiveness. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the characteristics (size, ownership and export intensity) of the Estonian firms. The study also contributes to the EU's objective to promote greater transparency on service traders (European Commission, 2021), as we provide new information for policy-makers and support the Estonian and European digital agendas (Estonia, 2018; European Commission, 2020, 2021). Our findings show that among services exporters the firms that export ICT services are more export-intensive and smaller and have more foreign ownership than non-ICT firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last five years, accounting entities in Estonia have had to adopt a number of changes resulting from various EU directives, and soon they will have to start taking into account the changes arising from the vision of the real-time economy. Quite a few accounting entities have not yet adopted even the current requirements (for example, machine-processed invoices), and many accounting entities do not comply with the reporting obligation properly (fail to submit the annual report or fail to submit the report on time). The article reflects on the future directions of the accounting field and the fulfillment of the accounting obligations of Estonian micro-entrepreneurs, and the readiness for changes resulting from the vision of the real-time economy. A microentrepreneur in Estonia is a private limited company whose annual turnover does not exceed 50,000 euros, and the balance sheet volume does not exceed 175,000 euros; in addition, its liabilities may not exceed the equity capital, and such a limited company must be founded by one natural person who is also a member of the board of this private limited company. Micro-entrepreneurs have a simplified reporting obligation to the state: their annual report only consists of a balance sheet and a profit and loss account. Starting in 2018, micro-entrepreneurs are allowed to submit their annual report in a simplified form. The conducted research revealed that it is mainly private limited companies, including micro-entrepreneurs, who fail to submit annual reports. Among the micro-entrepreneurs who have not submitted annual reports, the majority have been operating for less than five years and are not registered as VAT payers. Half of the microentrepreneurs do not consider proper monthly accounting to be important, and only half are ready for the changes resulting from the vision of the real-time economy, and the submission of a simplified annual report has not led to a cognitive reduction of the administrative burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the entrepreneurial activities of a natural person. The development of the entrepreneurial activities of individuals in East-European countries and Estonia since the re-establishment of independence will be explained. Similarly, the tax compliance of natural persons as taxpayers and the development of their tax behaviour as well as the possibilities of declaring an individual's business income in Estonia will be discussed. An analysis is provided of the implementation of the Simplified Business Income Taxation Act in 2019-2020 and the profitability of the entrepreneurial activities of sole proprietors in the same period. The discussion will also explore the attitudes of individuals opting for micro-entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurial activities of individuals in 2019-2020 in terms of their number, gender and profitability will also be analysed. The results of the analysis confirmed the theoretical basis and revealed that the number of people active in micro-entrepreneurship has increased and will definitely increase also in the future. The reason lies in reduced bureaucracy allowing natural persons to be tax compliant without additional responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding a monetary equivalent for non-market ecosystem services is precondition to develop a worldwide standard for statistics on ecosystem services. The objectiv of this study is to find out the monetary equivalent of the value of Estonian urban ecosystem services and to determine the dependence of people's willingness to pay on their sociometric indicators. Using the contingent valuation method, the willingness to pay (WTP) of the Estonian adult population for the maintenance and management of Estonian urban ecosystems has been identified. The total annual WTP is about 17 million euros. Using regression analysis, it was determined that the amount of WTP is positively related to education level, income and gender (women pay more), but not related to age of respondents. In order to divide the total WTP among all the services of all the ecosystems studied, the respondents were asked to rank the urban ecosystems and the services they provide according to their subjective preference. The highest rank among ecosystems received large parks and among ecosystem services urban air purification. According to the results obtained, a matrix was compiled in which all services of the studied all ecosystems are assigned a monetary equivalent, which can be used as an input in the statistics on ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]