# Investeerimiskonto the way it should be The Lightyear experience [you know and love](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/lightyear.com), now with the tax benefits of the investment account Regulated by EFSA The Lightyear experience you know and love, now with the tax benefits of the Investeerimiskonto investment account. ### Estonia - Defer income tax : Defer tax and efficiently reinvest profits within Lightyear. Only pay income tax when withdrawals from the account exceed the amounts paid in. - Invest in ETFs for free: No execution or holding fees. And, no conversion fees when investing in ETFs in your home currency. Max 1 € / $ / £ transaction fee for single shares. - Earn interest : Earn 2,43% APY on your euros with Savings - while accessing your money fast, whenever you need it. ## Have it all in the same place — with Lightyear You don’t have to choose between convenient, low cost investing and tax benefits anymore. You can now have it all in one place. ### Low-cost, global investing Over 6000 stocks, funds and bonds from the US, UK and European markets — including the Baltics. Check out our full instrument universe [here](/stocks/explore). ### With local tax benefits The investment account allows you to defer your income tax. Meaning, you only pay income tax for your Lightyear Investeerimiskonto on the amount of withdrawals that exceed the amounts you’ve paid into the account. ## No more high fees eating away at your profits The clear choice - ETFs: per order - US stocks: per order - EU stocks: per order - Currency conversion (FX) - Baltic stocks: per order - Holding fees for global instruments Pricing information is up to date as of 01.06.2026. Pricing displayed is retrieved from banks’ websites, which hold the most up to date information. Luminor’s pricing is based on the Luminor Investor account. Total costs are calculated based on a sample portfolio: if an investor buys one ETF, one US stock, and one Baltic stock each month, their annual service fees are as follows: Lightyear €12, LHV €120, Swedbank €93.60, and SEB €120. The calculations only take into account service fees – currency exchange, monthly fees, or other possible costs are not included. The calculation is based on data available on the service providers' websites. For the latest information, please visit their websites. ## More about the investment account - Lightyear can now offer Investeerimiskonto! : In November 2024, the Estonian income tax law was revised, bringing about multiple changes for investors — like which providers they can open up investment accounts with, which asset classes fall under the tax wrapper, and more. Here’s a quick overview of what’s changing and why it’s important. - How does the investment account work?: The investment account, or Investeerimiskonto, creates a tax wrapper around a personal investor’s investments. The system allows deferring income tax for any investments bought and sold with money deposited in an investment account. ## Keeping your money safe Trusting us with your investments is something we do not take for granted. ### Multi-country regulation - Regulated in the UK by the FCA: We’re authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority ([FRN 987226](https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=0014G000034WTPOQA4)). Lightyear UK Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 14367910. - Regulated in the EU by EFSA: We’re authorised and regulated by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (4.1-1/31 and 4.1-1/147) and authorised to operate across the European Union. ### Government insurance - Your US securities are SIPC protected up to $500,000: Your US securities are held with our partner Alpaca, who is FINRA regulated and a registered member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). - EU investor protections insure up to €20,000 across your portfolio: Your assets are covered up to the amount €20,000 by the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund. Crypto-assets are not covered by any investor compensation scheme in the EU. ### Safeguarding your assets - We safeguard your cash with authorised banks & financial institutions: Customer funds are held in a mix of AAA-rated BlackRock and J.P. Morgan Asset Management Money Market Funds and cash in authorised commercial banks. Your money is always kept separate from ours. - Your assets are yours, no one else’s: Your assets are yours, no one else’s. You are the owner of all your investments, and your assets are held in separate accounts. Your assets can’t be touched by our creditors and in the unlikely event of Lightyear’s insolvency, everything is returned to you. Your crypto-assets are no different. ## All your questions ### What is an investment account? Investeerimiskonto is an account opened with an investment firm, to which you can deposit cash for investing. The investment account allows you to defer your income tax liability for any investments bought and sold with the money deposited in an investment account. This means you can buy and sell investments, receive dividend income, and reinvest the gains tax efficiently. You will need to declare the investment account activity in the following tax year, but can effectively defer income tax payment until you’ve withdrawn more money from your investment account than you have put in. ### Why should I use my Lightyear account as an investeerimiskonto rather than just a “regular” account? While it’s entirely optional, the investment account comes with tax benefits when investing as a private person. You’ll be able to defer paying income tax, meaning you can reinvest sale profits, interest and dividends, without paying tax on each profitable transaction. Loss from the sale of investments can be deducted from the income from the sale of other investments. If there’s no income in a specific tax year, the deduction of loss is carried on. ### How does the investment account work? With the investment account system, a private person has the possibility to defer income tax liability on income from investments until that income is used for other purposes. If a payment is made out of an investment account, tax is charged on the amount by which the withdrawals from an investment account exceed the amounts deposited to the investment account. You’ll need to declare activity from your Lightyear investment account every year, but will not have income tax liability until the time you take more money out from the investment account that you have put in. ### I already have an investment account in a bank - can I have more than one investment account? Yes! The number of investment accounts you can have is not limited – you can open one with every bank or investment firm that offers it. If you have an investment account in a bank, you can deposit money from there into your Lightyear investment account without this bringing about tax liability. That’s because transfers between different investment accounts keep the money within the investment account system. ### How do I declare taxes from my Lightyear investment account? From the 2025 tax season onwards, forwarding your investment income data from Lightyear to EMTA is automated for both regular accounts and Investeerimiskonto. We will generate a tax report, based on your activity throughout the year. You simply review and confirm it, and we’ll forward the data to your final declaration in EMTA’s portal. In general, you only need to declare to EMTA: - the money transferred into the investment account and - the money paid out from the investment account. The tax liability for Investeerimiskonto arises only when the amount withdrawn exceeds the amount contributed. You don’t need to declare purchases or sales of specific investments, nor transfers between different investment accounts. ### Can I transfer over my investments from another investment account or from another regular account to Lightyear investment account? Absolutely! Click [here](https://lightyear.com/en-ee/transfer-portfolio-to-lightyear) to read more about transferring over your investments from other service providers. If these investments have been acquired inside the investment account system and transferred to Lightyear investment account, then they’ll remain within the investment account system. If you have acquired investments with another provider outside the investment account regime however, then you can still transfer these over to Lightyear, but those can not be included in the investment account system (unless transferred before 1.01.2024) and hence will be taxed upon selling, i.e. pursuant to the regular regime. ## Disclaimer Lightyear does not offer tax advice. Tax circumstances can differ — make sure to reach out to a professional tax adviser for specific help. --- Canonical: https://lightyear.com/en-ee/investeerimiskonto