Salon gift cards: how should an Estonian salon run them?

Short answer: treat every gift card as a promise that must be priced, documented and reconciled—not as instant profit. Define the issuer, value or named service, permitted locations, expiry, partial-redemption rule, top-up payment, lost-code process and refund terms before the first sale. Then ask an accountant to classify the card as a single-purpose or multi-purpose voucher, determine the VAT point and account for the unredeemed balance. Use a unique code and preserve an auditable record of issue, redemption and remaining value.

Official guidance and Tervita's current product behaviour were checked on 13 July 2026 for businesses operating in Estonia. This article is general operational information, not legal or tax advice for a particular card programme.

Start with the liability, not the holiday campaign

A €100 card sold in December puts €100 in the bank, but the salon still owes the holder whatever the terms promise. Labour, consumables and commission may arise weeks later when the card is redeemed. Spending the whole inflow as though the work had already been completed can create a cash shortage in the redemption month.

Maintain an outstanding-value roll-forward for each period:

opening unused value + cards issued − value redeemed − properly cancelled value = closing unused value.

That is an operational control, not an accounting policy. Your accountant decides how receipts, contract liabilities, revenue, VAT and expired value enter the statutory books. The card register should reconcile to that treatment, with differences investigated rather than silently written off.

This distinction also helps evaluate software. A feature can issue a convincing code while leaving VAT, terms and reconciliation entirely to the business. Use the broader salon software selection checklist to assess ownership, exports, permissions and exit risk alongside the gift-card screen.

Which type of salon gift card should you sell?

An amount card gives the holder stored value, such as €50, to spend on the permitted range. Decide whether the balance survives a part-redemption, whether the holder can pay a shortfall by another method and whether retail products are included.

A service voucher promises a named treatment. It is easy for a buyer to understand, but the salon needs a price-change rule. If a colour service is redesigned or rises from €90 to €110, does the holder retain the named treatment, receive €90 of credit or choose an alternative? A picture saying “balayage gift” is not a substitute for that contractual answer.

A paid card with promotional credit, such as “pay €80, receive €100,” contains different economics. Separate the purchased value from the bonus in the terms. Explain their respective validity, refund treatment and compatibility with other offers. Model full redemption: relying on forgotten cards to protect the margin is neither a sound capacity plan nor a good client experience.

A percentage coupon is different again. It reduces a future price but does not itself provide value accepted as payment. Do not use “voucher,” “coupon” and “gift card” interchangeably when documenting the VAT treatment.

When is VAT due on an Estonian gift card?

The Estonian Tax and Customs Board's official voucher taxation guidance distinguishes single-purpose vouchers from multi-purpose vouchers. The underlying EU framework is Council Directive (EU) 2016/1065.

For a single-purpose voucher, both the place of supply of the underlying goods or services and the VAT due are known when the voucher is issued. A transfer by a taxable person acting in its own name is treated as the relevant supply. VAT can therefore be triggered at the card sale rather than waiting for the appointment.

A multi-purpose voucher is a voucher that is not single-purpose. The actual goods or services supplied in return for it are subject to VAT on redemption; the preceding transfer is not treated as that underlying taxable supply.

Do not classify by format. A digital code is not automatically multi-purpose, and a printed service card is not automatically single-purpose. A named treatment provided in one Estonian location at one known rate may meet the single-purpose test. An open amount does not necessarily fail it if every permitted supply has the same known place and VAT amount. Conversely, a broad range spanning supplies with different VAT treatment can change the answer.

Estonia's standard VAT rate remains 24% in 2026, according to EMTA's official 2026 tax-changes summary. That headline rate does not decide voucher timing. Give your accountant the actual issuer, VAT registration status, permitted locations, complete service/product list, draft terms, refund flow and expiry policy. Ask for a documented treatment of sale, redemption, partial use, cancellation and breakage before staff start issuing codes.

What expiry period is lawful and workable?

Search results often repeat minimum periods from other countries. They are unsafe for an Estonian operating policy. Estonia's Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority, on its current consumer education page, says that where a gift card is time-limited, the deadline is printed on the card and the holder fails to use it in time, the trader is not obliged to accept it after that date.

That guidance is not a reason to choose an artificially short validity. The holder must have a realistic opportunity to book. Compare the proposed period with the longest waiting time for popular specialists, closures and seasonal treatments. A three-month card is a poor promise if the relevant professional is routinely booked four months ahead.

Display the same deadline on the card, purchase confirmation and internal record. Also state:

• the legal issuer and contact channel;
• monetary value or exact service promised;
• issue date and last valid date;
• participating locations and eligible services or products;
• whether part-redemption and additional payment are allowed;
• exclusions, transfer rules and balance-check method;
• the process for a lost, copied or disputed code.

If you intentionally set no contractual expiry, do not interpret that as “no record needed.” Ask an Estonian adviser how limitation rules and the outstanding liability should be handled, then retain the issue date and unused balance indefinitely enough to apply that policy.

Does an online buyer have a 14-day cancellation right?

Section 56 of Estonia's official Law of Obligations Act provides a general 14-day right to withdraw from a distance contract without giving a reason. The Act also contains exceptions, and their application depends on what the card contract actually supplies and whether performance has begun.

The official TTJA guide for e-commerce traders explains the pre-contract information duties: total price, payment and performance arrangements, and the existence or absence, conditions and process of withdrawal must be disclosed before the order. Failure to provide required withdrawal information can lengthen the exposure substantially.

That makes a blanket “gift cards are non-refundable” line risky. Have an Estonian consumer-law specialist review the online terms and the exact flow. Cover unused and partly used cards, cancellation of the code after a refund, buyer versus recipient, fraud, discontinued services and business closure.

An in-salon purchase does not automatically receive the distance-contract cooling-off rule. Equally, a trader cannot use a gift card to override a mandatory cash remedy. TTJA gives the example that a consumer does not have to accept a gift card in place of the remedy due for a defective product. Contract wording cannot remove statutory rights.

What does a reliable issue-to-redemption workflow look like?

Use one controlled lifecycle rather than a spreadsheet plus handwritten cards:

1. confirm the buyer's payment and show the applicable terms;
2. create a unique code, opening value and optional expiry;
3. give the buyer the code and terms in a form they can retain;
4. verify status and balance before closing the redemption sale;
5. debit the precise amount, preserving any permitted residual balance;
6. close the card only at zero or under a documented cancellation process;
7. retain who issued, redeemed or changed the record;
8. reconcile total unused value with accounting every month.

Viewing, issuing and redeeming are distinct permissions. A receptionist may need a fast balance check without authority to create free value or extend every deadline. Tervita's team and roles guide provides the foundation for assigning operational access deliberately.

What can Tervita do with gift cards today?

An authorised Tervita user can issue an amount-based gift card with a generated or custom code, optional expiry, recipient name, recipient email and an internal note. The code can be copied; the card can be opened in a print layout and printed or saved to PDF through the browser.

The internal list shows original value, current balance, status and expiry. Staff can search records, check a code, make a partial or full redemption, and edit recipient details, the note and the expiry of an existing card. Tervita's point of sale can also add a gift card of a selected amount to a sale and accept a valid gift-card code as full or split payment.

These are staff-side controls. Tervita currently does not provide a public gift-card storefront, client self-checkout, online payment for the card or automatic email delivery. Saving a recipient email does not send anything. The salon must collect payment through its chosen channel and manually hand over the printout, PDF or code.

Tervita also does not classify the voucher for VAT, keep the statutory accounts or file an Estonian VAT return. Its stored-value balance is operational data. The business must connect that data to the VAT and accounting policy approved for its real terms.

Is your salon ready to launch gift cards?

How can you promote cards without destroying the margin?

Remove buying friction before offering a discount. State how to order, how payment is confirmed, when the code will arrive and how the recipient books. If the process is manual, describe it as manual; do not present a “buy now” promise that requires a staff member to notice a message the next morning.

For a “pay €80, receive €100” campaign, calculate product use, professional compensation, payment fees, rent allocation and interaction with other discounts. Reserve capacity as if every euro will be redeemed. A campaign that sells well but creates an unserviceable January queue has moved the problem rather than solved it.

The recipient may be a first-time client, so include a short booking instruction and keep the code private. Test the mobile journey with the online booking guide for salons before distributing hundreds of cards.

A recipient's email can be necessary to deliver a requested gift, but it is not automatically consent to marketing. Keep fulfilment communication separate from campaigns. Review the GDPR guide for salons and clinics and Tervita's practical guide to client records and consents.

Which gift-card metrics are useful?

Track issue count and value, redeemed value, first-redemption delay, partial redemptions, outstanding balance, cards nearing expiry and manual adjustments. Compare redemptions with staff capacity and service margin. Also record additional spend above card value, but do not call it guaranteed incremental revenue: the visit still has ordinary delivery costs and may have happened without the card.

A useful monthly review asks whether the register reconciles, whether clients can obtain appointments within the promised period and whether one employee is making unusual issues or edits. Those controls matter more than a vanity total for cards sold.

Frequently asked questions

Is every salon gift card a multi-purpose voucher?

No. Classification depends on whether the place of supply and VAT due are known at issue. An amount card can still be single-purpose, while a broader card may be multi-purpose. Ask an accountant to assess the exact permitted supplies and terms.

Must an Estonian gift card remain valid for at least one year?

The current TTJA public guidance does not state a universal one-year minimum for gift cards. It says a disclosed fixed deadline can be enforced after it passes. Choose a fair period that clients can actually use and have your terms reviewed instead of importing another country's rule.

Can Tervita retain a balance after part-redemption?

Yes. Staff can redeem a precise amount from an active amount-based card, leaving the remaining balance available until later use, expiry or another valid status change.

Does entering a recipient email make Tervita send the card?

No. The email is stored with the record, but Tervita currently has no automatic gift-card delivery. Staff must print it, save the print view as a PDF or securely share the code themselves.

Can Tervita issue a voucher tied to one named treatment?

The current Tervita gift card is an amount-based stored balance, not a service-entitlement object. A salon may mention a suggested treatment in its design, but Tervita redeems monetary value. A legally binding named-service promise needs separate terms for price changes and substitution, plus its own VAT review.

A well-run gift-card programme is easy for the buyer to understand, easy for the holder to redeem and easy for the salon to reconcile. Write the promise and tax treatment first; then configure codes, roles, delivery and reporting around that approved model.