How to quickly change Estonian Company shareholders?
There are two ways to change the company shareholders' structure without a notary, which is often a time-consuming and bureaucratic process, especially for foreign owners.
1. Simplified change of ownership filed by the board member.
This requires a minimum registered share capital 10 000 EUR and a special amendment to the articles of association. It is relatively easy to adjust the company’s share capital and articles to these requirements.
2. Changing Ownership Through Simultaneous Share Capital Reduction and Increase.
Another option is to reduce and increase the company’s share capital simultaneously. The positive aspect is that it can be accomplished with whatever share capital the company has. The negative side is that it is not possible to change 100% of the shareholders’ structure in one step. If this needs to be done, the same process must be applied twice.
Timeframe and complexity of the owners’ change for both options
The timeframe for filing the owners’ change in registry depends on the signing method.
"Digital signing with an e-residency card streamlines the entire process for shareholders and board members, often allowing completion in just a few days.
EU Digital ID holders benefit from a fully digital workflow as well, eliminating the complexities of traditional paper-based signatures that require notarization and often apostille certification.
For those who can't sign digitally, the process is usually more complicated, involving three steps:
Signing required documents in the presence of a local notary
Translating at least part of the document(s) into Estonian
Usually, this process takes at least a few weeks to accomplish."