The government at the start of this year pledged to address the practice, known in Estonian as "OÜ-tamine" – the abbreviation OÜ (Osaühing) refers to a limited liability company – but, Minister Ligi said, the entry into office of the second Reform-SDE-Eesti 200 coalition, with its new agreement, has heightened challenges on doing this.

This means no concrete steps have been agreed on by the government yet, though new taxes, hikes to existing taxes, and public and state sector cuts, have been raked over for many months now.

The Estonian Tax and Customs Board (MTA) meanwhile has said the primary concern is individuals living off their companies' expenses.

MTA tax audit department chief Lia Parve said "OÜ-tamine" generally involves two practices: Hiding real employment relationships to avoid paying labor taxes, or using company assets for personal purposes.

Of the first of these, "this problem is not very widespread," Parve qualified.

Of the second, purchasing residential property for personal use is one sharp practice Parve identified and which happens on a day-to-day basis.

"With this the practice is, for instance, when real estate or other things unrelated to the company's activities have been purchased at company expense, then a board member uses them for personal purposes. This is also a form of 'OÜ-tamine'," she said.

"We do look at such things every day in our inspections," Parve said.

While Parve couldn't estimate losses in tax revenues, she suggested it could exceed €10 million annually.

Minister Ligi emphasized that addressing OÜ-tamine is a constant concern and requires ongoing, non-campaign efforts.

He also said new tax system changes within the coalition agreement might create additional administrative burdens.

"For the Minister of Finance, this concern is constant, but I will certainly come up with new things that have either not yet been addressed, or have gotten stuck somewhere," Ligi, who became finance minister in summer around a decade after he last held that post, said.

"I have approved several fundamental changes, and work on these is ongoing. Then the news will come. However this is not some kind of campaign, but rather the continuous work of the Minister of Finance and the MTA," Ligi went on.

Ligi added it is not worth asking him about the coalition's plans and what the other parties may think of them, because he doesn't base his actions on partisan positions, but rather tries to amass support for his own initiatives. "These are fairly technical, specialized decisions, but of course, they require political will. However, the initiative ultimately must still come from the Minister of Finance," the minister of finance himself added.

An OÜ is often colloquially presented to and between would-be entrepreneurs as a "better" way to run a business than as a sole trader (FIE), precisely because of the lower taxes it might entail.

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