The accountant has gone quiet. The reports are in a mess. You found out about the tax debt from the Estonian Tax and Customs Board, not from your own accountant. That is usually how it starts.
Before you panic, here is one thing that changes the whole picture: the duty was with the management board all along, not with the accountant. The Commercial Code puts it briefly: “The management board shall organize the accounting of the private limited company.” (Commercial Code § 183). The accountant does the work, but the responsibility stays with the management board. This means that you can start putting things right today. You are not waiting for a person who has disappeared; you take the reins yourself.
Secure this before you cut ties
This is the most important part. Do it before you finish with the old accountant, because afterwards everything is harder to get hold of.
- Take back your data and your source documents. They belong to the company, not to the accountant. The company has to keep them for seven years: “An accounting entity shall preserve source documents for seven years as of the end of the financial year in which the business transaction was recorded in the accounting register on the basis of the source document.” (Accounting Act § 12 (1)). Ask for the files and for access to the accounting software.
- Put the access rights in order. Check who can get into the Tax and Customs Board's portal, the e-Business Register and the bank. Give the rights to the new person and take them away from the old one.
Change over in the right order
A simple order of steps stops a report from getting lost between two accountants.
1. Find a new accountant before the old one stops.
2. Hand the work over at the turn of a period, not in the middle of a month.
3. Write down who is responsible for what during the handover.
When you choose a new one, go for a firm that has someone to step in, rather than a single person who may disappear again.
When this is not a change but a rescue
If the reports have been unfiled for a year or more, or if a fine has already arrived, this is not a handover but a clean-up. Even then the situation is not hopeless. The accounting can be built up again. The basis for it is the bank statement and the details of your business partners. The steps follow a set order.
May I simply demand the documents from the accountant?
Yes. The source documents and the accounting data belong to the company, because the duty to keep them rests with the company. Ask for them in writing and give a deadline.
Who is responsible for an unfiled report if the accountant failed to do it?
The management board, still. The work may be bought in, but the responsibility to the company stays with the management board. That is also why you are the one who can solve it.
This article was prepared with the help of artificial intelligence.