TÖR Explained: What Every Employer Must Register Before a Shift

What TÖR is

The Employment Register (Töötamise register, or TÖR) is a national database run by the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) that records everyone working in Estonia — regardless of whether it's a permanent employment contract, a fixed-term one, a service agreement, or a temp placement. It was introduced in 2014 mainly to reduce envelope wages and undeclared work, and it remains one of the core tools Estonian authorities use to monitor the labor market today.

When the entry has to happen

This is the most common mistake companies make: the registration must happen before the person starts working — not that evening, not the following week. In practice, this means the entry needs to be made shortly before the shift begins, ideally with a few hours of buffer for technical hiccups. Registering after the fact isn't a "minor administrative delay" — it's officially treated as undeclared work, even if the person actually worked and was paid correctly.

What the entry contains

• The worker's personal ID code (or date of birth for foreign nationals);
• The employer's registry code;
• The start date and time of work;
• The type of relationship (employment contract, service agreement, another form of contract);
• Job title (optional but recommended).

An end-of-employment entry is required too — no later than the last working day.

Penalties for skipping it

Failing to register in the Employment Register is a misdemeanor, and the Labour Inspectorate or the Tax and Customs Board can impose a fine — up to 300 fine units for an individual, up to €32,000 for a legal entity. Repeated violations also carry the risk of landing on a higher-risk taxpayer list, which brings extra scrutiny from EMTA in other areas too (VAT, dividends).

Why this hits temporary staffing especially hard

For short, urgent shifts, the TÖR deadline is the easiest thing to forget — if someone is called in this afternoon, there's no time to "sort out the paperwork tomorrow at the office." That's exactly why a properly run staffing partner automates this step entirely: registration has to happen before the worker reaches the site, no matter how fast the request came in.

How UnitedStaff handles it

Every worker placed through UnitedStaff is entered into TÖR automatically before the shift starts — it's built into our matching process, not a manual step someone could forget. For the client, that means the responsibility and the risk stay with us, not with your own company. See how the full process works on our services page, or find out how fast we can get staff to your site on the contact page.

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