R&D Incentives in Turkish Technoparks: 2026 Tax Guide

R&D incentives in Turkish Technoparks are powerful, but they do not make every revenue line, employee, software sale or company expense tax-free. Under Technology Development Zones Law No. 4691, the core 2026 benefits are tied to qualifying activity, qualifying income, qualifying personnel and documented compliance.

For a company operating in a Technology Development Zone (TGB/Technopark), the main current benefits can include: income/corporate-tax exemption for qualifying software, design and R&D profits through 31 December 2028; an income-tax withholding incentive and stamp-tax exemption for qualifying personnel compensation; support for half of the employer social-security contribution under the applicable rules; and a VAT exemption for specific categories of software produced in the zone.

Last verified: 17 September 2026. Time-sensitive delegated parameters such as off-zone work percentages should still be checked for the employee category and payroll month before use. This guide explains the tax and payroll mechanics of Technopark incentives. For how to choose and enter a Technopark, prepare the project, set up the company and operate after acceptance, use the Technopark company setup and admission guide. For a broad comparison of software incentives outside and inside Technoparks, use the Turkey software & IT incentives hub.

Technopark incentives follow the approved activity, income and personnel—not simply the company address.

2026 Technopark Incentives at a Glance

The table is a decision framework, not a tax return. A licensed CPA/SMMM should reconcile the company’s approved projects, zone records, payroll and accounting data before incentives are claimed.

1. Corporate Tax Exemption: It Is a Profit Exemption, Not a Revenue Holiday

Law No. 4691 provides an income/corporate-tax exemption through 31 December 2028 for profits derived exclusively from qualifying software, design and R&D activities carried out within the Technology Development Zone.

The key word is profit. Revenue from an approved project is not automatically the exempt amount. The company must identify the revenue attributable to qualifying activity and deduct the related costs and expenses to determine the exempt profit.

The Revenue Administration’s current audit guidance specifically expects businesses to track qualifying and non-qualifying revenue, costs and expenses separately and to document how shared costs are allocated.

For the non-exempt side of the company, the normal Turkish corporate-tax framework continues to apply. Use the 2026 corporate tax guide for the ordinary tax calculation and domestic minimum-tax rules.

2. Not Every Sale Made by a Technopark Company Is Exempt

A company can conduct both qualifying and non-qualifying activity. Commercial revenue outside the approved software/design/R&D scope does not become exempt merely because the legal entity has a Technopark address.

Typical items that require a separate analysis include:

• ordinary resale/trading revenue;
• hardware sales;
• marketing and advertising services;
• routine support or maintenance that is outside qualifying development activity;
• consulting unrelated to the approved R&D/design/software activity;
• interest, FX and other incidental income; and
• mass production or commercialization components that must be separated from the qualifying intellectual-property/software value.

GİB guidance for Technopark companies has long required a separation between the exempt software/R&D return and the production/marketing organization where a developed product is commercialized. Do not apply the exemption to the full customer invoice by habit.

3. Intellectual-Property Income Can Require Additional Conditions

Where exempt income arises from the sale, transfer or licensing of intellectual-property rights, Law No. 4691 allows the exemption to be tied to registration, recording or notification requirements and to a qualifying-expenditure ratio. The exact treatment depends on the nature of the right and current implementation rules.

This means “we created the software in the Technopark” is not always the complete tax file. For material licence/IP revenue, keep:

• the approved project and activity record;
• development-cost and personnel evidence;
• IP ownership/registration/notification evidence where required;
• licence or transfer agreements;
• qualifying-expenditure calculations where applicable; and
• the accounting reconciliation from revenue to exempt profit.

4. Personnel Income-Tax Incentive: Do Not Use the 5746 95/90/80 Table

A common content error is to apply the R&D Center rules under Law No. 5746 directly to Technology Development Zone employees. GİB’s 2026 wage guide distinguishes the two regimes.

For Law No. 4691, qualifying R&D, design and support personnel wages are subject to an income-tax withholding incentive. Following the 2025 legislative change, the incentive is limited to the portion of monthly compensation not exceeding 40 times the monthly gross minimum wage. After the ordinary minimum-wage income-tax exemption is taken into account, the remaining qualifying tax is deducted from the tax accrued on the Muhtasar ve Prim Hizmet Beyannamesi under the statutory mechanism.

By contrast, the familiar 95% / 90% / 80% qualification-based percentages belong to the separate Law No. 5746 R&D/design-center regime. They should not be presented as the Technopark personnel table.

5. Support Personnel Has a Headcount Limit

Not every administrative employee can be moved into the incentive population. Under the current Law No. 4691 text, support personnel benefiting from the income-tax withholding and employer-SGK incentives generally cannot exceed 10% of the R&D and design personnel count. For zone companies with a total personnel count of up to 15, the support-personnel ratio is 20%.

Payroll classification should therefore identify:

6. Employer SGK Support: Half the Employer Share, with Conditions

SGK’s current incentive guidance states that, for qualifying R&D/design/support personnel and personnel whose wages qualify under Law No. 4691, half of the employer’s social-security premium share is covered through 31 December 2028, subject to the statutory conditions.

Those conditions include timely submission of the relevant declaration/MPHB, premium payment, SGK debt/status rules, actual employment, and correct personnel classification. An approved Technopark project does not excuse payroll-control failures.

For monthly payroll mechanics outside the incentive-specific calculation, use the Turkey payroll compliance guide.

Personnel incentives depend on role, eligible time, compensation limits and payroll evidence.

7. VAT Exemption: It Covers Specific Software, Not Every Technopark Invoice

The VAT Law’s temporary Article 20 creates a specific exemption for qualifying software produced exclusively in Technology Development Zones while the underlying income/corporate-tax exemption remains in force. The current 2026 VAT General Application Communiqué lists software categories such as system management, data management, business applications, sectoral applications, internet, game, mobile and military command-control applications.

The same current GİB guidance also makes clear that the exemption is not a blanket VAT exemption for every delivery or service. For example, specified maintenance/support, network applications, hardware and hardware-related services, website advertising services and R&D services themselves are outside that software VAT exemption unless another rule applies.

Input VAT rules also matter. The 2026 communiqué states that VAT incurred for transactions within this temporary software exemption can be deductible under the current framework, but VAT not eliminated through deduction is not refundable solely because of this exemption.

Use the VAT in Turkey guide for the wider VAT architecture.

8. Remote / Off-Zone Work: Verify the Current Presidential Decision

Law No. 4691 permits specified time outside the zone to remain within the personnel income-tax incentive when the statutory conditions and current Presidential Decision are met. The government has changed the applicable percentages and periods multiple times in recent years, including special treatment for defined IT personnel.

Do not carry an old 75% or 100% figure forward into 2026 payroll without checking the decision currently in force for the employee category and month concerned. Keep zone-management approval, time/location records and payroll calculations aligned with the live rule.

This page intentionally does not freeze a 2025 remote-work ratio into a 2026 tax guide because the percentage is a time-sensitive delegated parameter.

9. 2026 Venture-Capital Allocation Rule: TRY 5 Million / 3% / TRY 100 Million

A separate 2026 control applies when annual income exempted under the relevant Technopark rule reaches the current statutory threshold. Presidential Decision No. 10803, effective 1 January 2026, sets:

• the annual exempt-income threshold at TRY 5,000,000;
• the amount to transfer to a temporary liability account at 3%; and
• the annual amount subject to the allocation obligation at a maximum of TRY 100,000,000.

The subsequent investment/transfer route and deadlines must be handled under the current Law No. 4691 rules. Do not treat the 3% as an extra corporate-tax rate or automatically deduct it from every Technopark company’s revenue.

10. What Evidence Should a Technopark Company Keep?

Build the evidence file while the project is running, not at year-end.

• Technopark acceptance and approved project records;
• project period, milestones and amendments;
• revenue mapped to qualifying and non-qualifying activities;
• cost/expense allocation methodology;
• personnel role and project assignments;
• eligible-time and off-zone work records;
• support-personnel headcount calculation;
• payroll, MPHB and SGK incentive evidence;
• software VAT classification where used;
• IP/registration/qualifying-expenditure evidence where required;
• Technopark management-company reports/approvals; and
• 2026 venture-capital allocation computation if the threshold is reached.

11. Technopark vs R&D Center vs Ministry of Trade Software Supports

These are different regimes and should not be stacked together in a generic “IT incentives” table without checking compatibility.

How Workon Supports Technopark Readiness

Workon can coordinate the company-side and operational readiness work for foreign-owned technology businesses: company formation, registered-address and office solutions, corporate document collection, bank-account process support, incentive-route mapping and handoff to licensed CPA/SMMM, legal or specialist advisers.

Technopark admission is decided by the relevant zone/evaluation process. Tax, payroll and incentive positions depend on the approved project, actual activity and current rules. Workon does not guarantee acceptance, tax exemption or a fixed level of savings.

If your immediate question is admission and company setup rather than the tax calculation, continue with the Technopark company setup guide.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Technology Development Zone incentives in Turkey as of September 2026 and is not legal, tax, accounting, payroll or investment advice. Eligibility depends on the approved project, activity, personnel, income classification, zone records and legislation in force for the relevant period. Verify material incentive claims and payroll/tax calculations against current official rules and with a qualified Turkish CPA/SMMM and other appropriately authorised professionals.