Upwork and Fiverr Through an Estonian Company: How to Set It Up

Many freelancers start on Upwork or Fiverr in their own name and register an Estonian private limited company (OÜ) once the work is regular. The platform account then has to be connected to the company, or the money will keep going to you personally.

If you are still deciding whether you need a company at all, start with our guide for freelancers setting up a company in Estonia.

Before You Connect Upwork or Fiverr

You can register an OÜ online with e-Residency or without it, through a notary or by power of attorney, and open a business account in the company’s name.

Then agree a switch date with your accountant and decide what happens to ongoing contracts. From that date, earnings paid to the company are company income, while anything paid to you in your own name stays your personal income.

Working on Upwork Through an Estonian OÜ

Upwork offers two ways to work as a company, depending mostly on whether you work alone.

Option 1: Your Freelancer Profile, Linked to the Company

If you own the company and do all the work yourself, you can keep your existing Upwork freelancer profile. It must still show your real name, but you can enter the company as the taxpayer in the Tax information section and add its account for withdrawals. Your reviews and ongoing contracts stay where they are.

Option 2: An Upwork Agency in the Company’s Name

An Upwork agency is a separate profile in the company’s name, linked to your freelancer profile as its owner. It suits you if others work with you or clients expect to hire a company. Adding team members requires the paid Agency Plus plan. New agency contracts are paid into the agency’s financial account on Upwork, while ongoing contracts stay on your freelancer profile.

Tax Information and Form W-8BEN-E

Before the first withdrawal, Upwork asks users outside the US for a US tax form, and a company completes Form W-8BEN-E rather than the personal W-8BEN. In the Tax information section, choose Corporation as the federal tax classification and enter the company’s legal name exactly as it appears in the Commercial Register. The country of incorporation is Estonia, and the tax ID of an Estonian company is its 8-digit registry code. If the company has an Estonian VAT number, add it in the same section.

Without a valid form, Upwork may withhold up to 30% of future earnings for the US tax authorities.

Withdrawals to the Company’s Account

The withdrawal account should be in the company’s name, with you as an authorised signatory. Upwork may then ask for documents linking you to the company, such as a bank statement showing both names.

Working on Fiverr Through an Estonian OÜ

Fiverr’s community standards allow only one account per person, so do not open a second account for the company. Fiverr agencies are invitation-only and need at least three in-house professionals, which leaves a solo freelancer with a personal seller account.

Even with a personal account, Fiverr should know about the company. In the personal and business verification, say that your business is registered, although Fiverr asks for business details and documents only from sellers with at least one employee. If you live in the EU, you also complete the DAC7 tax form, which Fiverr uses to report sellers’ income to EU tax authorities. Enter the OÜ’s details there and check them carefully, because the form cannot be edited afterwards.

For payouts, Fiverr offers PayPal and Payoneer. Its Payoneer page asks for an account in your own name, while its PayPal page accepts business accounts, so link a PayPal business account opened in the company’s name.

Fiverr does not issue invoices on your behalf or for its commission. Instead, its page on freelancer taxes lets sellers invoice Fiverr International Ltd, the Israeli company behind the marketplace, to report their revenue. Your accountant can issue such an invoice each month based on your Fiverr earnings report.

Upwork vs Fiverr for an Estonian Company

For a company, Upwork and Fiverr differ in profile, fees, invoicing and payouts.

VAT on Upwork and Fiverr

VAT comes up in two places: the platforms’ fees and the company’s earnings.

VAT on Platform Fees

Upwork adds VAT to its service fee, Connects and membership for EU-resident users, including an Estonian company, without a valid VAT number. Once the company’s VAT number is in the account, Upwork stops charging VAT. Instead, the company declares the VAT on these fees in its own Estonian VAT return under the reverse charge. It usually reclaims the same amount in that return, so it pays nothing extra.

A company without a VAT number may still owe VAT on these fees. If it buys certain services, including electronically supplied ones, from a foreign business without Estonian VAT registration, it must register as a limited VAT payer from the day it receives the service. It then pays VAT on the service but cannot deduct it. Before the first payout, ask your accountant whether both platforms’ fees fall under this rule.

VAT on Your Earnings

On Upwork, your customer is the client who hired you. For a VAT-registered company selling freelance services, the usual pattern is:

On Fiverr, the company invoices Fiverr International Ltd, a business outside the EU. If Fiverr counts as the customer, these sales generally fall outside Estonian VAT, which your accountant can confirm.

VAT registration becomes mandatory once the company’s taxable turnover in Estonia passes €40,000 in a calendar year, and sales to foreign businesses generally do not count towards that limit. Below it, a VAT number for your Estonian company is voluntary and stops Upwork adding VAT to its fees. The Estonian Tax and Customs Board grants it only when the company has an economic link to Estonia, so e-resident companies run from abroad are often refused.

Accounting for Upwork and Fiverr Income

Pay yourself from the company’s account as a salary, a board member fee or dividends. Sending company money to a personal card without such a basis can be taxed as a hidden profit distribution.

Profit kept in the company is not taxed in Estonia until it is distributed. If you live outside Estonia, your home country may tax what you take out and, in some cases, the company’s profit too. Our guide to running an Estonian company from abroad covers this.

Each month, your accountant needs each platform’s earnings report, Upwork’s client and fee invoices and the company’s account statements.

How Eesti Firma Helps Freelancers on Upwork and Fiverr

We register Estonian companies for e-residents and founders from abroad, provide a legal address in Estonia and prepare the company documents that platforms and payment providers ask for. Our accounting team can apply for the company’s VAT number, keep its books and file its VAT returns.

If you plan to move your Upwork or Fiverr work into an Estonian company, send us a short description and we will suggest a suitable set-up.

Send a Request

Frequently Asked Questions