The latest payment behavior statistics of companies collected by Krediidiinfo AS shows that in the first half of 2015 the number of companies with tax arrears (i.e. debts to the state) was again increasing after five years of constant reduction. At the same time the number of companies with debts to their business partners continues to decrease moderately. 

During the last year the number of companies with tax arrears has increased from 4.6 to 5.3 percent. In total 3,634 active Estonian companies have such arrears. The number of companies with tax arrears has increased virtually in all fields of activity, and most of all in accommodation and catering (10%), construction (9.4%) and processing industry (8.6%) sectors. The number of companies with tax arrears has increased in all counties of Estonia. 

The number of companies with debts to other businesses continues to decrease moderately. The total of 3.1 percent of active companies has such debts (i.e. 2,125 companies), most of them in accommodation and catering (7.2%) and construction (5.4%) sectors. 

At the same time the sums of debts during the year have decreased. The sums that the companies owe to other businesses have decreased by 3.7%, resulting in the total of slightly more than 33 million euros. The average amount of such debts is 871 euros. ¾ of the entire sum of debts is attributed to just two sectors: ca. 46% to mining and processing industries and 23% to carriage of goods and warehousing. 

The total of tax arrears (debts of companies to the state) has decreased by 5.5% resulting in 23.3 million euros. The average sum of tax arrears per company is 2,241 euros. Ca. 1/3 of all tax arrears are attributed to the retail and wholesale sector, 20% to manufacturing industry and 14% to construction. 

During the first half of 2015 the share of companies with high level of risk has slightly increased, while still remaining relatively low (11.9%). However in the active competition conditions this indicator could be as high as 12-15%. At the same time out of other sectors a higher (almost twice as high) risk level (23.2%) is attributed to the accommodation and catering, where every fourth company already faces significant debt risk. 

The statistics of payment behavior of companies is based on information from the Payment default register of Krediidiinfo and the Tax and Customs Board. The sampling includes 68,823 active Estonian companies.