Business Taxes in Turkey: 2026 Company Tax Calendar

Business taxes in Turkey are not one annual bill. A Turkish company normally manages several different tax and reporting cycles during its first year: corporate income tax, provisional corporate tax, VAT, withholding tax, payroll-related taxes and social-security reporting if it hires, document-based taxes such as stamp tax, and any sector-specific obligations that actually apply to its activity.

For a newly established company, the most useful approach is a calendar-and-trigger system: first identify which taxes apply to your company, then assign each filing, payment and evidence task to an owner. The general corporate income tax rate is 25% in 2026 for ordinary companies, while some financial-sector taxpayers are subject to a higher rate. VAT is generally structured around 20%, 10% and 1% categories, but the correct rate depends on the exact supply. These headline rates are only the starting point; the company’s actual filing calendar depends on transactions, status and special rules.

Last verified: 17 September 2026. Dates below were rechecked against the Revenue Administration’s live 2026 calendar; official extensions can still change an otherwise standard deadline, so each period should be confirmed before filing.

This guide explains the first-year company tax calendar. If your earlier question is which Turkish tax should be tested for a specific sale, import, rent, salary, dividend, contract or cross-border payment, use the Taxes in Turkey transaction map first.

Your First-Year Tax Map in Turkey

This page is intentionally a first-year company calendar. It does not try to duplicate the detailed rate, exemption and treaty analysis owned by the specialist tax pages.

Build the tax calendar and evidence workflow alongside your Turkey company setup.

Step 1: Build the Tax File Immediately After Incorporation

Set up the company’s tax and accounting file immediately after registration so the legal entity, commercial activity, filing calendar and supporting records are aligned from the beginning.

• Confirm the company’s tax office and taxpayer records.
• Record the registered address and operating locations.
• Complete accounting and filing onboarding with the company’s authorised professional where required.
• Define the chart of accounts, invoice flow and expense-approval process.
• List all bank accounts and authorised payment users.
• Map expected sales by VAT treatment and customer location.
• Map expected payments that may create withholding obligations.
• Decide whether hiring will start immediately or later.
• Check e-Fatura, e-Arşiv and e-Defter applicability rather than assuming every new company enters on day one.
• Create a folder for declarations, payment receipts, contracts, invoices, payroll records and official notices.

For a wider non-tax operating checklist, use the Turkey company compliance checklist.

Step 2: Separate Corporate Tax from Cash-Flow Taxes

A frequent planning error is to treat every tax as if it were calculated on annual profit. Corporate income tax works on taxable corporate income, but VAT and withholding can create cash obligations much earlier.

Corporate income tax

The general corporate income tax rate for ordinary companies is 25% in 2026. Certain financial institutions and other specifically listed taxpayers can face different rates. Turkey also has a domestic minimum corporate tax framework and reduced-rate rules for specified activities. Those rules can materially affect the final calculation, so the detailed computation belongs in the dedicated corporate tax guide.

Corporate tax is not calculated simply as 25% of bank-account cash or invoice turnover. Taxable profit starts from accounting results and is adjusted under the tax rules for deductible and non-deductible items, exemptions, losses, transfer-pricing matters and other statutory adjustments.

Provisional corporate tax during the year

The provisional-tax calendar includes four periods. Under the current general timetable, filing is due by 23:59 on the 17th of the second month following the three-month period, with payment within the filing period:

• January–March: standard date 17 May;
• April–June: standard date 17 August;
• July–September: standard date 17 November;
• October–December: standard date 17 February of the following year.

Checked on 25 September 2026: the Revenue Administration’s deadline table includes the fourth period from 2025 under Law No. 7566. These are standard dates, not a substitute for the applicable year’s calendar: holidays and official extensions can move the actual deadline. A mid-year incorporation also needs a calendar matched to its taxpayer period.

Step 3: Control VAT Every Month

Turkey’s main VAT rates are currently 20%, 10% and 1%, but classification is transaction-specific. The standard rate should not be applied automatically to a reduced-rate item, and a reduced rate should not be inferred from a product description without checking the current list.

The ordinary VAT 1 return is generally monthly. The Revenue Administration’s live 2026 tax calendar shows the 28th day of the following month as the normal filing and payment point for ordinary VAT. Separate VAT 2 and special non-resident digital-service VAT routes have different calendars and should not be folded into one generic date.

Every month, reconcile:

1. sales invoices and output VAT;
2. purchase invoices and potentially deductible input VAT;
3. imports and customs VAT;
4. credit notes, cancellations and returns;
5. VAT withholding or reverse-charge situations where applicable; and
6. carried-forward VAT and refund positions.

Use the VAT registration route guide if the transaction involves a non-resident supplier or special VAT route.

Step 4: Run a Withholding Test Before Certain Payments

Stopaj is not a universal percentage deducted from every supplier payment. It is tax collected at source for defined payments and taxpayer relationships.

Before payment, classify the recipient and transaction. Common review areas include payments to independent professionals, workplace rent paid to an individual landlord, dividends, royalties, interest and payments to non-resident companies. Treaty relief for cross-border payments requires its own evidence and cannot be assumed simply because the recipient is foreign.

The ordinary 2026 monthly withholding/MPHB calendar generally points to the 26th of the following month, subject to the precise filing route, statutory quarterly eligibility where applicable and any Revenue Administration extension.

Step 5: Add Payroll and SGK Only When Hiring Starts

A company with no employees should not build payroll obligations into the calendar as though it already has a workforce. Once hiring starts, however, payroll becomes a recurring compliance stream involving gross-to-net calculations, income tax, stamp-tax treatment where applicable, SGK classifications, payslips, MPHB and payment/reconciliation evidence.

Keep first-hire activation separate from recurring payroll. The SGK first-hire guide explains workplace and first-employee activation; the payroll guide explains the monthly cycle.

Step 6: Treat e-Fatura and e-Defter as Trigger-Based Systems

Check e-Fatura and e-Defter separately; entry into one system does not determine the other. Use the e-Fatura registration guide for invoice-system entry and the e-Defter guide for accounting-ledger coverage and submission controls. Record each applicable start date and deadline in the company’s calendar rather than using one shared turnover-based trigger.

Before the company reaches a trigger, decide who monitors it. When a trigger occurs, record:

• the legal basis and trigger date;
• the required transition deadline;
• the selected access/integration method;
• responsible users and credentials;
• archive and backup responsibilities; and
• the first successful submission and readback.

Monitor e-document transition triggers during the year so each required transition can be completed within the applicable deadline.

Step 7: Check Document and Sector Taxes Only When Triggered

Some taxes matter only to particular documents, products or sectors. A first-year tax calendar should therefore contain conditional rows rather than pretending every company owes every tax.

The 2026 Digital Services Tax rate change is a useful reminder: old blog rate tables age quickly. Current effective dates matter more than the publication year in a headline.

Step 8: Prepare for the Annual Corporate Tax Return

For a calendar-year company, the annual corporate tax return is normally filed in April of the following year. GİB’s 2026 guide states that returns for the 2025 accounting period were filed from 1–30 April 2026. A company founded in 2026 therefore needs to close its first accounting year carefully and verify the 2027 filing calendar when published.

Before year-end close, reconcile at least:

• revenue and receivables;
• expenses and accruals;
• inventory and fixed assets where relevant;
• related-party balances and transfer-pricing evidence;
• shareholder/current-account balances;
• foreign-currency revaluations;
• tax losses, exemptions and incentives claimed;
• VAT and withholding control accounts;
• payroll and SGK accounts; and
• provisional tax already paid and available credits.

Who Should Own Each Tax Task?

A 12-Month Control Rhythm for a New Turkish Company

• Every transaction: invoice, VAT, withholding, contract and evidence classification.
• Every month: close sales/purchases, reconcile banks, review VAT, withholding and payroll triggers, then check the current GİB calendar.
• Each provisional-tax period: reconcile the income statement, tax adjustments, credits and beneficial-owner reporting requirements tied to the return.
• When a threshold changes: re-test e-Fatura, e-Defter and sector obligations.
• Before dividends or cross-border payments: run withholding and treaty checks before releasing funds.
• Before signing material agreements: run document/stamp-tax and legal-authority checks.
• At year-end: complete the corporate-tax close, supporting schedules and next-April filing preparation.

Official Sources for the Live Calendar

• Revenue Administration Tax Calendar — live filing and payment dates.
• 2026 Corporate Tax Return Guide — corporate tax, provisional tax and annual filing framework.
• Digital Services Tax Law / current rate annotation — 2026 and scheduled 2027 rate changes.
• Revenue Administration current publications — including the 2026 brochure for newly starting corporate taxpayers.

Start the First Year with a Controlled Compliance File

Workon can coordinate the operational setup around a Turkish company: incorporation, registered address and office solutions, document collection, bank-account process support and the handoff to licensed accounting professionals. The goal is to make sure the company begins trading with an identified tax calendar rather than discovering obligations only after a deadline.

Review Workon’s company registration support in Turkey and build the accounting/tax onboarding checklist at the same time as incorporation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Note: Last reviewed 17 September 2026. This guide provides general operational information on business taxes and filing controls in Türkiye. Workon coordinates accounting and tax onboarding with the company’s licensed SMMM/CPA and the relevant official procedures according to the company’s activity and transactions.