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August 2025 Fnancal Agenda
Whle preparng ths artcle, as I always do, I looked through our lst of crculars and announcements to recall what had happened on our fnancal agenda n August. What I saw qute surprsed me.
As you can also see n detal n our Bulletn, there do not appear to be any sgnfcant changes n the fnancal legslaton n August. But f that s truly the case, then why ddn't we feel ths "gap"? On ths occason, I realzed that our ntense preoccupatons n August stemmed not from new legslatve changes, but rather from the practces and mplementaton changes of the tax admnstraton.
I beleve the most mportant topc of dscusson n August was the exorbtant ncreases n property taxes awatng us. Our partner, Erdoğan Sağlam, through hs artcles on T24, not only played a role n keepng these dscussons on the agenda but also succeeded n rasng awareness about practcal solutons to ths ssue. You can fnd these artcles n the "Publshed Artcles & Columns" secton of our Bulletn. At the tme of wrtng ths artcle, statements from rulng party offcals regardng the possblty of legal arrangements on ths ssue were contnung one after another. I hope ths matter wll be resolved farly as soon as possble, wthout requrng a large number of taxpayers to resort to ltgaton.
Another topc of debate n August was based on a news report by Anadolu Agency. In the report ttled "A New Phase n the Fght Aganst Forgery n Fnancal Documents, " t was stated that the Tax Inspecton Board had launched a new ntatve targetng acts of forgery n fnancal documents, that strcter measures and polces would begn to be mplemented as of October 1, that n ths context the tax evaluatons based on "unknowngly usng fake documents" would be termnated and nstead an approach assumng the document was "knowngly" used would be adopted, and thus the majorty of taxpayers usng fake documents would henceforth be treated as commttng "tax evason" and subjected to a threefold tax loss penalty.
Although no legal change had been made, many lawyers and colleagues expressed that such a change n practce could not be ntroduced on a matter fallng under crmnal law. I vew and follow such reports more as attempts to shape publc percepton. Durng Mehmet Şmşek's term as mnster, many such reports were made for the purpose of creatng publc percepton, and they are stll beng made. Otherwse, I thnk everyone agrees that t s not possble for acts and transactons that were not prevously consdered tax crmes to be ncluded wthn the scope of tax crmes through an admnstratve change n practce.
Another pece of news reflected n the press n August was the announcement of the 2024 top taxpayers n ncome tax and corporate tax. In fact, these lsts are publshed to show the natonwde top 100 rankngs for ncome and corporate taxes, but at ths rate these announcements wll lose ther meanng. Because each year, more taxpayers prefer not to have ther names dsclosed. In the ncome tax lst, only 21 taxpayers' names were dsclosed; 79 taxpayers chose not to have ther names publshed.
August 2025 Fnancal Agenda
In the 2023 lst, 73 taxpayers' names were not dsclosed. Although the stuaton s somewhat better n the corporate tax lst, there we see that 32 taxpayers n the 2024 lst dd not want ther names to be publshed. I beleve everyone has a guess as to the reasons for ths, but t s worth reflectng on these reasons more carefully.
In order to determne the procedures and prncples regardng the sgnfcant tax changes ntroduced by Law No. 7555, the Revenue Admnstraton also released four draft communqués for publc consultaton n August. In ths context:
- The "Draft Communqué No. 24 Amendng the Corporate Tax General Communqué (Seral No: 1)" regardng the amendments to Artcle 32/A of the Corporate Tax Law,
- The "Draft Communqué No. 10 Amendng the General Communqué on the Law on Supportng Research, Development and Desgn Actvtes (Seral No: 4)" regardng the amendments to the second paragraph of Artcle 3 of Law No. 5746,
- The "Draft Income Tax General Communqué No. 331" regardng the explanaton of the amendments made to the thrd paragraph of the provsonal Artcle 2 of Law No. 4691 and to the provsonal Artcle 1 of Law No. 6550,
- The "Draft Communqué No. 15 Amendng the Specal Consumpton Tax (Lst II) Implementaton General Communqué" regardng the amendments to the Specal Consumpton Tax Law No. 4760
were announced on the Presdency's webste. By the tme our Bulletn was prepared, all of these communqués had been publshed n the Offcal Gazette dated 04.09.2025 and entered nto force.
I also humbly wrote a pece on my tax commentary blog about the explanatons provded n the draft communqué regardng the amendment to Artcle 32/A of the Corporate Tax Law. You can fnd ths artcle, along wth all the artcles wrtten by our other partners n August, as well as the announcements and crculars concernng other legslatve changes of the month, n our Bulletn.
We welcomed September, whch s regarded as the begnnng of the autum season and the return from holday to a busy workng schedule, on a Monda ths year. The begnnng of autumn and the new workng perod—September 1st and a Monday... I hope ths begnnng wll be an occason for a good workng season for all of us, and that we wll have a pleasant workng perod n every respect. I wsh everyone ease n ther work.
Erdal GÜLEÇ
Partner / Tax
BDO Academy September Tranng Calendar Publshed!
In September, we contnue to enhance your knowledge and sklls wth our expert traners n ther respectve felds:
Tax
BULLETIN: TAX 2025-054 11/08/2025
NORMAL CONSTRUCTION COST VALUES PER SQUARE METER VALID FOR 2026
Accordng to the Property Tax Law, the property tax base s calculated based on unt values determned by valuaton commssons under repeated artcle 49 of the Tax Procedure Law for land and plots, and for buldngs, based on constructon cost values per square meter jontly determned by the relevant mnstres, along wth land or land share values. These values are ncreased each year by half of the revaluaton rate, and the Presdent has the authorty to reduce ths rate to zero or ncrease t up to the full revaluaton rate. Land and plot values are redetermned every four years, and wthn ths scope, the values to be appled for the 2026– 2028 perod were determned n 2025.
The tax value of a buldng s calculated by takng nto account the square meter normal constructon cost, the buldng's surface area, addtonal equpment such as central heatng, ar condtonng, and elevators, floor or facade adjustments, deprecaton deductons, and the land share. The square meter normal constructon costs of buldngs to be appled n 2026 were jontly determned by the Mnstry of Treasury and Fnance and the Mnstry of Envronment, Urbanzaton and Clmate Change, and were publshed n the Offcal Gazette dated 09/08/2025 and numbered 32981, as an annex to the General Communqué on the Property Tax Law No. 87.
For the annex of the Communqué, please clck here.
You can revew our Bulletn for the detals.
PEOPLE COMMUNICATION CLIENT NEEDS VALUE COMMITMENT
Labor Law & Socal Securty
BULLETIN: LABOR LAW AND SOCIAL SECURITY 2025-044 04/08/2025
REGULATION ON AMENDING THE LINES OF BUSINESS REGULATION
Artcle 2, paragraph 2 of the "Regulaton on Amendng the Regulaton on Lnes of Busness, " whch was publshed and entered nto force by the Mnstry of Labor and Socal Securty n the Offcal Gazette dated 02/08/2025 and numbered 32974, has been amended, and the phrase "NACE Rev 2" n the sad paragraph has been changed to "NACE Rev 2.1. "
You can revew our Bulletn for the detals.
BULLETIN: LABOR LAW AND SOCIAL SECURITY 2025-045 27/08/2025
THE CIRCULAR OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY INSTITUTION (SSI) REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 5 OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 2025/9903 HAS BEEN PUBLISHED
By the General Drectorate of Insurance Premums of the Presdency of the Socal Securty Insttuton (SSI), Crcular No. 2025/13 dated 25 August 2025 has been publshed. The Crcular explans the procedures and prncples regardng the mplementaton of Provsonal artcle 5 of the Presdental Decree No. 2025/9903 dated 29 May 2025. Although the Councl of Mnsters' Decson No. 2012/3305 was repealed by the sad Decree, t was stated that the supports provded under nvestment ncentve certfcates prevously ssued through the provsonal artcles of the Decson would contnue. Accordngly, holders of nvestment ncentve certfcates who benefted from the employer's share of the socal securty premum support or the socal securty premum support vald n Regon 6, and whose term has expred, may contnue to beneft from ths support untl 31 December 2028 upon request. It was also emphaszed that the regulaton s appled only n Regon 6 and s not vald n other regons.
Employers wshng to beneft from the support must frst apply to the Mnstry of Industry and Technology, and as a result of the evaluaton made by the Mnstry, the necessary nformaton must be notfed to the SSI electroncally and by offcal letter. Utlzaton of the ncentve wll start from the month followng the notfcaton's recept by the SSI, and employers must meet the condtons specfed n Crculars No. 2012/30, 2012/37, and 2023/23, as well as the average number of nsured employees determned for the relevant month. In notfcatons, Law No. 49903 must be used for the employer's share of the socal securty premum support, and Law No. 59903 must be used for the jont mplementaton of the employer's share of the socal securty premum and the socal securty premum support. In the calculaton of the average number of nsured employees, only those subject to long-term nsurance branches and those subject to socal securty support premums wll be taken nto account, and under-reportng or duplcate records wll not be consdered. In case of undue beneft from the ncentve, collectons wll be made from employers together wth delay penaltes and nterest.
To access the relevant Crcular, please clck here.
You can revew our Bulletn for the detals.
BULLETIN: LABOR LAW AND SOCIAL SECURITY 2025-046 28/08/2025
WITH CIRCULAR NO. 2025/12, AN AMENDMENT HAS BEEN MADE TO THE EMPLOYER TRANSACTIONS CIRCULAR NO. 2020/20 REGARDING TIME-BARRED DEBTS
By the General Drectorate of Insurance Premums of the Presdency of the Socal Securty Insttuton, Crcular No. 2025/12 dated 25 August 2025, ttled "Amendment to Crcular No. 2020/20, " has been publshed. As s known, Crcular No. 2012/27 had been repealed by Crcular No. 2020/20, but ts provsons were preserved unchanged. Upon the annulment of secton 7.2 of Crcular No. 2012/27 by the Councl of State and the fnalzaton of the decson by the Board of Admnstratve Chambers, the relevant part of the Employer Transactons Crcular No. 2020/20 has been re-regulated. Accordngly, the procedures regardng tme-barred debts have been addressed under three headngs: debts for whch enforcement proceedngs have not started, debts for whch enforcement proceedngs have started, and debt nqures–ncentve applcatons.
Pursuant to artcle 93 of Law No. 5510, SSI premums and other recevables are subject to a ten-year statute of lmtatons. The reasons nterruptng or suspendng the statute of lmtatons are regulated under artcles 103 and 104 of Law No. 6183 and artcle 91 of Law No. 5510. The Crcular also explans n detal the startng dates of the lmtaton perod. Accordngly, f the recevable arses from a court decson, t must be collected from the date on whch the decson becomes fnal; f t s based on an audt report, from the date of the report; and f t arses from nformaton or documents receved from publc nsttutons, from the date on whch the document s submtted to the Insttuton, wthn ten years. For tme-barred debts, debtors wll be nformed, voluntary payments wll be accepted, but enforcement proceedngs cannot be ntated.
In the case of debts for whch enforcement proceedngs have started, upon the debtor's objecton that the debt s tme-barred, the stuaton wll be evaluated by the Premum Accrual Objecton Commsson, and the follow-ups regardng tme-barred recevables wll be canceled. Debts determned to be tme-barred by court decsons wll also be removed from the fles n the same way. Furthermore, tme-barred debts wll not be taken nto account n "no debt" certfcates, ncentve applcatons, access to health servces, VAT offset transactons, and the return of tender guarantees. Thus, the tme-barred debts of employers, nsured persons, and general health nsurance holders wll be montored n separate tables n the Insttuton's records and transactons wll be carred out wthout treatng them as actual debts.
To access the relevant Crcular, please clck here.
You can revew our Bulletn for the detals.
Incentves & Government Supports
BULLETIN: INCENTIVES AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS 2025-016 07/08/2025
THE DEFINITION OF SMES HAS BEEN UPDATED
It has been decded to put nto effect the "Regulaton on Amendng the Regulaton on Small and Medum-Szed Enterprses, " publshed n the Offcal Gazette dated 07/08/2025 and numbered 32979, pursuant to artcle 407 of Presdental Decree No. 1 on the Organzaton of the Presdency.
After the amendment, enterprses wth fewer than two hundred and ffty employees and wth ether annual net sales revenue or fnancal balance sheet not exceedng one bllon Turksh Lra wll be classfed as SMEs.
To access the relevant Regulaton, please clck here.
You can revew our Bulletn for the detals.
BULLETIN: INCENTIVES AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS 2025-017 18/08/2025
AMENDMENT TO THE INWARD PROCESSING REGIME COMMUNIQUÉ
Wth the Decson No. 10211 on Amendng the Inward Processng Regme Decson, publshed n the Offcal Gazette dated 16/08/2025 and numbered 32988, the Mnstry has been authorzed to carry out sectoral potental and rsk assessments on the bass of general and trade polcy measures regardng nward processng certfcate/nward processng permt applcatons and revson applcatons; to change the guarantee rates accordng to the results of the assessments made; to make arrangements regardng the determnaton of the type of guarantee; or, wthout prejudce to the provson of the frst paragraph of artcle 117 of the Customs Law No. 4458, to evaluate the certfcate/permt applcaton wthn the scope of the drawback system, to take the necessary measures wthn ths scope, and to determne the procedures and prncples regardng the arrangements to be made.
You can revew our Bulletn for the detals.
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