Turkey's 100% Service-Export Tax Deduction (2026): Who Qualifies

From 2026, freelancers and companies in Turkey that sell qualifying services to clients abroad can deduct 100% of that profit from their tax base, up from 80%. The catch is a hard deadline for bringing the money into Turkey.

The rule in one table

Point	2026 rule
Legal basis	GVK 89/13 (individuals), KVK 10/1-ğ (companies)
Change	80% → 100%, Presidential Decision 11257, Official Gazette 33239, 30 April 2026
Applies to	Income earned from 1 January 2026
Clients	Not resident in Turkey; the service is used only abroad
Key condition	All of the year’s income brought into Turkey by that year’s tax return due date
Certification	Sworn financial advisor (YMM) report needed above 560,000 TL of deduction

Who qualifies

The service must be delivered from Turkey, used only abroad, and sold to someone not resident in Turkey. The listed fields are architecture, engineering, design, software, medical reporting, bookkeeping, call centres, product testing, certification, data storage, processing and analysis, vocational training set by the Finance Ministry, and education and health services under ministry permit.

You need a registered business: a sole proprietorship (şahıs şirketi) or a company, invoicing the foreign client. The deduction applies to net profit from those services (revenue minus the costs attributable to them), not to the whole amount that lands in your account.

If the foreign client manages your hours and you work only for them, they may need to hire you as an employee instead, usually through an employer of record. Employee salary does not get this deduction. See contractor or employee in Turkey for how the line is drawn. For what an employee costs, see Turkey payroll and employer cost; for the hiring side’s options, see outsourcing to Turkey.

The deadline that catches people

The whole year’s qualifying income has to be transferred to Turkey by the due date of that year’s annual return. For individuals that is the end of March the following year. Money left in a Payoneer, Stripe or foreign bank balance at that date does not count, so withdraw to your Turkish bank account in time and keep the bank records.

If clients pay you through Payoneer, withdrawing regularly also keeps your balance low and your paper trail clean. Open a Payoneer account (affiliate link); new accounts through this link get a $35 reward after $5,000 of outgoing transactions, which includes withdrawals to your bank, in the first 100 days.

How it fits with other tax rules

• Foreigners who became Turkish tax resident from 2026 may instead use the 20-year foreign-income exemption, which covers foreign-source income generally. The two work differently; ask an accountant which applies to you.
• Companies also face the 10% domestic minimum corporate tax, and the service-export deduction is not among the items that reduce that base, so a company’s result can differ from a sole proprietor’s.
• Selling goods (Etsy, Amazon) is not covered; see how online sellers in Turkey get paid.

How you receive the money in the first place is covered in getting paid in Turkey. This page summarises published rules and professional circulars; confirm your own case with a mali müşavir (accountant).

Disclosure

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