2009-2012

In 2009, a new internet-based payment programme (the e-State Treasury system) was launched to replace the three old programmes.

The e-State Treasury system enables:

• State entities’ following on-line of information on incoming taxes, fees, penalties and other revenues and downloading from their accounting systems or inserting manually outgoing payment details (including foreign currency payments);
• State entities’ using different type of accounts based on the nature of revenues and expenditures (e.g. for grants, budget expenditures, different type of revenues);
• Automatic controls on the availability of budget limits and pre-booking of funds;
• The budgetary department of the Ministry of Finance entering state budget limits in the system. (The State Treasury and the State entities cannot insert or change budget lines and limits.);
• Internal payments between State entities; internal deposits and overdraft loans;
• Reporting (incl. the cash-based state budget outcome report);
• Management of debit and credit cards.

The State Treasury has gradually been able to reduce the extent of manual controls (e.g. checking procurement documents).

It should be noted that heads of State entities are responsible for their own payments.

During 2011-2012, central and general government sectors’ financial reserves were consolidated into the TSA. State-owned foundations’ bank accounts were closed, and their cash balances were transferred to the e-State Treasury system in 2011. The Estonian Health Insurance Fund’s bank accounts were included into the TSA system in December 2011, and the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund’s bank accounts in January 2012.