State portal eesti.ee added two new services for entrepreneurs

‘Whereas in the past, the state has developed e-services for citizens, such as income tax return and family benefits, it has now started to pay attention to entrepreneurs. To enable entrepreneurs to focus on their main activity, we have created two new services to support them in their operations in cooperation with Information System Authority, available in the state portal eesti.ee,’ described Anneli Põldra, Head of the Digital Gateway Project for Entrepreneurs of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.

The service for financing companies helps enterprises find funding opportunities offered by the public sector as quickly and easily as possible and apply for the funding. The service is available under Financing a company in the menu on the left in the Entrepreneur section of eesti.ee.

This application brings together funding options offered by the Agricultural Registers and Information Board, State Shared Service Centre, Estonian Business and Innovation Agency, and Environmental Investment Centre. In the future, the application rounds of several other state institutions will follow.

‘Our clients being able to find support measures as easily as possible is important for us and we are happy that we can be one of the first to join the service environment for entrepreneurs,’ stated Ave Tamman, Project Manager of the Development Department of the Agricultural Registers and Information Board.

The fixed-term liabilities function provides entrepreneurs information on fixed-term obligations imposed on them by state institutions, such as reporting, financial obligations, etc. This service is available in the Fixed-term liabilities section in the menu on the left and the obligations established by the institutions that have joined can be seen in the Obligations tab. While only Eesti Pank has joined this service currently, using it to forward information about statistical reports, other organisations are also about to join soon, such as Statistics Estonia and Commercial Register.

According to Kai Kallas, Head of Personal Services Department of the Information System Authority, fulfilling fixed-term liabilities is fragmented between various governmental departments and agencies. For entrepreneurs, having a better oversight of their obligations and the options and deadlines for fulfilling these is important. ‘To achieve this, we have improved the availability of information regarding obligations and meeting them. For entrepreneurs, creating a single point of contact in eesti.ee should offer a sense of certainty that information regarding obligations has been aggregated into a single environment regardless of technical solutions. This would save time for the entrepreneurs and help them understand regulations better,’ noted Kallas.

Ain Paas, Deputy Head of the Statistics Department of Eesti Pank, explained that the bank forwards information on reporting obligations of savings and loan associations, non-public investment funds, providers of virtual currency services, and about 2,600 non-financial companies to the fixed-term liabilities application. ‘We expect the improved notification system help entrepreneurs have an easier time keeping an eye on their obligations, such as submitting reports. Regardless of the complicated and time-consuming process of interfacing with the application because of technical nuances and the harmonisation of business logic, we are happy with the result,’ added Paas.

The digital gateway for entrepreneurs brings together reliable information offered by the eesti.ee portal and public services to provide an easy and convenient way for entrepreneurs to communicate with the state. The environment creates a single point of access to the information and services of the public sector and supports a future solution for proactive government services meant for entrepreneurs by taking advantage of new technologies and the possibilities offered by AI. The two new services are part of a group of ten sub-projects for the digital gateway for entrepreneurs, currently underway.