The question that actually decides this is not the commission. It is who files your tax return for you. Three Estonian banks and one Estonian investment firm push a pre-filled investment account report straight to the Tax Board; every foreign broker leaves you to reconstruct table 6.5 by hand from activity statements. On a portfolio that is rebalanced a few times a year, that is worth more than the fee difference.
Four providers report to the Tax Board. Everyone else does not.
LHV, Swedbank, SEB and Lightyear support the investment account and generate the report you send before filing — Lightyear's goes automatically. All four are supervised in Estonia: three as credit institutions, Lightyear as an investment firm licensed here since March 2022.
Interactive Brokers, Trading 212, Revolut and XTB are cheaper on paper and are EEA firms, so an account with them is eligible in principle. None of them publishes an Estonian tax report. The bookkeeping becomes yours.
Table of Contents
Which one
Lightyear
The only non-bank with a direct pipe to the Tax Board, and Estonian-licensed. ETFs cost nothing to trade and nothing to hold; euro-denominated stocks and bonds are €1 an order; US shares 0.1% capped at $1. Currency conversion 0.35%. For a European investor buying accumulating ETFs inside an investment account, this is the cheapest thing on the list that also does your paperwork.
LHV or Swedbank
The banks, if you want everything in one place and Baltic shares. LHV: Baltic trading free up to 100 trades a month, foreign shares 0.14% with a €5 minimum. Swedbank: Baltic trades and custody free at any size, foreign 0.14% with a €3.90 minimum — cut from €9.90 on 1 July 2025. Both report to the Tax Board.
Interactive Brokers
The cheapest at size and the widest access, and the one that asks the most of you. US shares from $0.0035 a share with a $0.35 minimum; European orders from about €1.25. No Estonian tax report of any kind. Worth it above roughly six figures or if you need instruments nobody else carries.
Trading 212, Revolut, XTB
Zero or near-zero headline commissions, and the cost lives in the currency conversion — 0.15% at Trading 212, 0.5% at XTB, undisclosed at Revolut. Fine for small regular buying in euro. None reports to the Tax Board, and none has an Estonian entity.
The Estonian four
| LHV | Swedbank | SEB | Lightyear | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Estonian credit institution | Estonian credit institution | Estonian credit institution | Estonian investment firm, licensed 2022 |
| Investment account | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Report to the Tax Board | Generated in internet bank | Generated in internet bank | Declaration helper | Automatic, since 2025 |
| Baltic shares | Free up to 100 trades/month, then 0.2% | Free, and custody free at any size | Not published | Not a Baltic specialist |
| Foreign shares | 0.14%, min €5 | 0.14%, min €3.90 | Not published | US 0.1% capped at $1; euro stocks €1 |
| ETFs | Other funds 1% buy and sell, max €3 | Robur funds free | Not published | Free to trade, free to hold |
| Custody | Free to €100,000, then 0.01%/month | Free to €100,000 | Not published | Free |
| US dividend withholding | 15% treaty rate on NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX buys | Preferential Nordic rates, figures not published | Not published | Free tax residency form |
SEB's securities price list could not be retrieved
Every pricing URL we tried either refused or served a page with no fee tables, and the most recent SEB page we could reach on the investment account dates from 2019. So this page publishes no SEB fee figures rather than borrowing one from a comparison site. SEB does support the investment account and provides a declaration helper; for the numbers, ask SEB. Separately, SEB's own third pillar tax page still shows the pre-2025 rates — a reminder to check dates on bank pages generally.
The withholding line is worth more attention than it usually gets. US dividends are withheld at 30% by default and 15% under the treaty, and on a dividend-paying US portfolio that gap dwarfs any commission difference on this page. LHV offers the treaty rate but only for shares bought on the three main US exchanges. Lightyear provides the residency form free.
The foreign platforms
What you gain
Real advantages:
- Interactive Brokers — the cheapest at size, the widest instrument access, and genuine tiered pricing from $0.0035 a share
- Trading 212 — commission-free trading and free custody
- XTB — 0% commission up to €100,000 of turnover a month
- Revolut — 1 free order a month on the standard plan, up to 10 on the top one, and no custody fees since 2024
What you give up
And it is not nothing:
- No Estonian tax report from any of them. Table 6.5 is yours to reconstruct, date by date, from activity statements
- The commission is not the cost. Currency conversion is — 0.15%, 0.5%, and Revolut does not publish a figure at all
- Beyond the free allowance Revolut charges the greater of 0.25% or €1, and XTB 0.2% with a €10 minimum
- Investor compensation comes from the home scheme — Irish, German, Lithuanian or Polish — not the Estonian one
They are eligible for the investment account in principle — and that is an inference
The Tax Board's definition permits an account at an investment firm anywhere in the EEA or the OECD, which on its face covers all four. But no Tax Board page names any of them, and none of them publishes a page saying whether their account can be declared as an investeerimiskonto. We read the definition as covering them. Do not treat that as a ruling, and do keep every statement.
Fees side by side
| Commission | Currency conversion | Custody | Tax report | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightyear | ETFs free; euro stocks €1; US 0.1%, max $1 | 0.35% | Free | Automatic |
| LHV | Baltic free ≤100/month; foreign 0.14%, min €5 | Not published | Free to €100,000 | Yes |
| Swedbank | Baltic free; foreign 0.14%, min €3.90 | Not published | Free to €100,000 | Yes |
| SEB | Not published | Not published | Not published | Declaration helper |
| Interactive Brokers | US from $0.0035 a share, min $0.35; Europe from about €1.25 | Very low, tiered | Free | None |
| Trading 212 | Free | 0.15% | Free | None |
| XTB | Free to €100,000/month, then 0.2% min €10 | 0.5% | Free | None |
| Revolut | 1–10 free orders/month by plan, then 0.25% or €1 | Not published | Free since 2024 | None |
Two things about this table. Commission is the least important column for most people — a monthly €500 purchase costs €0.50 in conversion at 0.1% and €2.50 at 0.5%, and that difference recurs forever. And "not published" is a finding, not a gap in our research: three of the eight do not publish an FX figure for investing, and the gap is left rather than filled in.
Also note that Lightyear charges 0.6% on card deposits while bank transfers in and out are free, and offers crypto at 0.45% an order — the one route on this page that puts crypto and shares inside the same declared account.
Who is licensed where
| Entity | Supervised by | |
|---|---|---|
| LHV | AS LHV Pank | Estonia, as a credit institution |
| Swedbank | Swedbank AS | Estonia, as a credit institution |
| SEB | AS SEB Pank | Estonia, as a credit institution |
| Lightyear | Lightyear Europe AS | Estonia, investment firm licence 4 March 2022, extended 4 March 2024 |
| Interactive Brokers | IBKR Ireland — but which group entity books an Estonian client is unconfirmed | Central Bank of Ireland |
| Trading 212 | Trading 212 EU GmbH, Germany | BaFin |
| Revolut | Revolut Securities Europe UAB, Lithuania | Bank of Lithuania, licence from 22 November 2021 |
| XTB | XTB S.A., Poland | Polish financial supervision authority |
Estonia's financial supervisor maintains a register of cross-border investment services providers, and its search runs only in a browser — our attempts returned unfiltered results. So we could not confirm or deny entries for Interactive Brokers, Trading 212, Revolut Securities or XTB. We are not publishing "not licensed here", because that is not what we found. We found nothing either way, which is a different thing.
Nordnet does not operate in Estonia — and nordnet.ee is not Nordnet
Nordnet describes itself as a pan-Nordic platform in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, with no Baltic presence. Meanwhile nordnet.ee belongs to an unrelated Estonian company called Nordnet OÜ. Anyone searching for "Nordnet Estonia" lands there and draws the wrong conclusion. It happens often enough to be worth a warning.
What people get wrong
Choosing on commission alone
On a monthly euro purchase the currency conversion recurs forever and the commission usually does not. 0.5% against 0.35% is a bigger number over twenty years than any per-trade fee here.
Assuming a foreign broker will file for you
None of the four foreign platforms publishes an Estonian tax report. Table 6.5 becomes your reconstruction, date by date.
Leaving US dividends withheld at 30%
The treaty rate is 15%. On a dividend portfolio that gap is worth more than every fee on this page combined.
Thinking investor compensation follows the platform
It follows the licence. An Irish, German, Lithuanian or Polish entity means that country's scheme, not Estonia's.
Searching for Nordnet Estonia
Nordnet does not operate here, and the .ee domain belongs to an unrelated company.
Trusting an old bank price list
Two of LHV's platform price lists carry stated effective dates from 2014 to 2017 and SEB's third pillar tax page still shows pre-2025 rates. Check the date on the page before you trust the number — including on ours.
FAQ
Which broker is best for Estonian residents?
It depends on what you buy. Lightyear is Estonian-licensed, trades and holds ETFs free, charges €1 an order on euro-denominated stocks and bonds, and is the only non-bank that submits investment account data to the Tax Board automatically. LHV and Swedbank suit anyone wanting Baltic shares and a bank in one place — Swedbank trades Baltic shares free at any size, LHV free up to 100 trades a month. Interactive Brokers is cheapest at scale but produces no Estonian tax report.
Do foreign brokers work with an Estonian investment account?
In principle yes. The Tax Board's definition covers an account held at a credit institution, payment institution, e-money institution or investment firm anywhere in the EEA or the OECD, which covers Interactive Brokers, Trading 212, Revolut and XTB. But none of them publishes an Estonian tax report, so you reconstruct table 6.5 yourself from activity statements, and no Tax Board page names any of them. Treat the eligibility as a reading of the definition rather than a ruling, and keep your statements.
How much do Estonian brokers charge?
LHV trades Baltic shares free up to 100 a month and foreign shares at 0.13999999999999999% with a €5 minimum. Swedbank trades Baltic shares free with free custody at any size, and foreign shares at 0.13999999999999999% with a €3.90 minimum, cut from €9.90 on 1 July 2025. Lightyear charges nothing on ETFs, €1 an order on euro-denominated instruments, and 0.1% on US shares capped at $1, with 0.35000000000000003% currency conversion. SEB's securities price list could not be retrieved.
Is Lightyear an Estonian company?
Yes. Lightyear Europe AS holds an Estonian investment firm operating licence granted by Finantsinspektsioon on 4 March 2022, covering reception, transmission and execution of securities orders plus safekeeping and linked currency exchange, and extended on 4 March 2024 to investment advice, dealing on own account and lending to investors. It appears in the Estonian investment firms register, and it is the only non-bank on this page that submits investment account data directly to the Tax Board.