Corporate Tax in Turkey: 2026 Rates & Minimum Tax

Corporate tax in Turkey is generally 25% for ordinary corporate taxpayers in the 2026 accounting period. Certain banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, pension companies and specified public-private partnership project companies are generally subject to 30%. Turkey also applies reduced rates to specific qualifying income, including 20% for qualifying export income and 24% for qualifying manufacturing income in 2026.

The headline rate is only the first step. A company must calculate taxable corporate income, apply relevant exemptions and deductions, test reduced-rate income separately and, when applicable, compare the normal calculation with Turkey’s domestic minimum corporate tax. Importantly, a company that is genuinely starting activity for the first time is outside the domestic minimum corporate tax rules for its first three accounting periods.

Last verified: 17 September 2026. The current Revenue Administration rate table continues to show 25% for ordinary corporate taxpayers, 30% for the specified higher-rate categories, 20% for qualifying export income and 24% for qualifying manufacturing income. This guide explains the detailed corporate-income-tax and domestic-minimum-tax calculation decision. For the company’s wider monthly/annual tax calendar, use the 2026 business-tax calendar. For a transaction-by-transaction map of VAT, stopaj, payroll, customs and stamp tax, use Taxes in Turkey for Entrepreneurs.

2026 Corporate Tax Rates in Turkey

These rates apply to the relevant taxable income; they are not blanket rates for all revenue of every business in the named sector. A company with both export and domestic sales, for example, may need to allocate and substantiate the qualifying export profit before applying the five-point reduction.

Build the corporate-tax file and accounting controls alongside your Turkey company setup.

Who Is Subject to Turkish Corporate Tax?

Turkey’s Corporate Tax Law applies to corporate taxpayers such as capital companies, cooperatives, economic enterprises of associations/foundations and other entities within the statutory scope. A Turkish resident corporation is generally subject to Turkish corporate tax under the full-liability rules, while a non-resident corporation can be taxed on Turkish-source income under the limited-liability rules.

That distinction matters for foreign investors. A Turkish subsidiary, a Turkish branch and a foreign company selling cross-border into Turkey do not automatically have the same corporate-tax, withholding or VAT position. The legal presence and source of income must be analysed separately.

How Is Corporate Taxable Income Calculated?

Corporate tax is not simply 25% of turnover or the company’s bank balance. The computation begins with the company’s accounting result and then applies tax-law adjustments.

1. Start with the commercial accounting result. Use the period’s properly closed accounting records.
2. Add non-deductible expenses. Identify costs that accounting records recognise but Turkish tax law does not allow as a deduction.
3. Apply permitted exemptions. Determine whether any income qualifies for a statutory exemption and retain the evidence.
4. Apply permitted deductions. Test deductions under the Corporate Tax Law and other legislation individually.
5. Use carried-forward losses only if the statutory conditions are met. Reconcile the loss history to prior tax returns.
6. Separate income subject to reduced corporate-tax rates. Export, manufacturing, qualifying IPO and investment-incentive calculations require their own support.
7. Test domestic minimum corporate tax if applicable. Do not assume the normal calculation is automatically the final amount.
8. Credit eligible provisional tax and foreign taxes where the legal conditions are met.

A management P&L can be useful for forecasting, but the filed tax result must reconcile to the statutory books, tax adjustments and evidence supporting every material exemption or reduction.

Domestic Minimum Corporate Tax: The 2026 Rule

Under Corporate Tax Law Article 32/C, the corporate tax calculated under the ordinary and reduced-rate rules generally cannot be lower than 10% of the corporate income before specified exemptions and deductions, subject to the detailed statutory adjustments.

This is frequently oversimplified. The minimum-tax base is not simply “10% of turnover,” and it is not automatically 10% of accounting profit. The law defines the starting concept by reference to the commercial balance-sheet profit or loss plus non-deductible expenses and then specifies which exemptions and deductions are removed from the minimum-tax base and which are not.

Who is not subject to domestic minimum corporate tax?

The 2026 Revenue Administration guide confirms that domestic minimum corporate tax does not apply to corporate taxpayers that are exempt from corporate tax, specified taxpayers taxed on a revenue basis, and—critically—corporations starting activity for the first time during their first three accounting periods.

Merger, demerger, type-conversion and similar reorganisations are not automatically treated as a first-ever start of activity for this exception. A newly incorporated foreign-owned company can therefore have a different minimum-tax position from an existing business that merely changes legal form.

The three-period exception applies to the domestic minimum tax, not to ordinary corporate tax. A newly formed 2026 company can still owe normal corporate tax on its taxable profit even though Article 32/C does not apply during 2026–2028.

A Five-Step Minimum-Tax Control

1. Check whether Article 32/C applies at all. First-time activity and other statutory exclusions can end the analysis immediately.
2. Build the statutory minimum-tax base. Start from the commercial result plus non-deductible expenses and apply the specific Article 32/C exclusions.
3. Calculate the 10% minimum amount. This is a statutory comparison amount, not a separate 10% turnover tax.
4. Apply reductions expressly allowed against the minimum amount. The law can recognise tax not collected because of qualifying IPO/export/manufacturing reductions and specified investment-incentive positions.
5. Compare with the corporate tax calculated under the normal rules. The filed computation should document both routes and the final tax payable.

The minimum corporate tax also applies in relevant provisional-tax periods when the company is within its scope. This makes it an in-year calculation control rather than only an annual-return issue.

Which Exemptions and Deductions Matter for Minimum Tax?

Article 32/C contains a specific list. Some exemptions and deductions are removed from the minimum-tax base, while others are not. The Revenue Administration’s 2026 minimum-tax guide also addresses treaty-protected income and current statutory amendments.

Do not rely on labels such as “technopark,” “R&D,” “free zone,” “investment incentive” or “foreign income” without mapping the exact legal provision. The ordinary corporate-tax treatment and the domestic-minimum-tax treatment can differ.

For a company using a material exemption or incentive, keep a tax file that identifies:

• the exact legal article;
• the qualifying income or expenditure;
• the period and effective date;
• the underlying licence, certificate, project or approval where relevant;
• the amount used in the normal corporate-tax calculation;
• the amount, if any, excluded from or credited in the minimum-tax calculation; and
• the reconciliation to the filed return.

Export Income: 20% Does Not Apply to All Company Profit

For 2026, qualifying export income benefits from a five-point corporate-tax rate reduction, producing a 20% rate on the qualifying income where the general 25% rate is the starting point. The law also extends the reduction to specified manufacturers or suppliers exporting through foreign-trade or sectoral foreign-trade companies under an intermediated export agreement.

The company still needs a defensible allocation of the qualifying export profit. Revenue, costs and shared expenses should be reconciled in a way that supports the profit attributed to the reduced-rate activity rather than applying 20% to the company’s entire tax base by assumption.

VAT export exemptions and refunds are a separate tax layer. Use the VAT refund guide for exporters for that decision.

Manufacturing Income: 24% in 2026

In 2026, a company with the required industrial registry certificate that actually carries out manufacturing can apply a one-point reduction to the qualifying manufacturing income, producing a 24% rate where the ordinary rate is 25%.

Do not apply the manufacturing rate merely because the company’s articles of association include manufacturing. The company needs to meet the statutory status and actual-activity conditions, and it must separate qualifying production income where necessary.

Investment Incentives and Reduced Corporate Tax

Investment incentive certificates can affect corporate tax through Article 32/A and the investment-contribution mechanism. The result depends on the certificate, investment period, contribution rate, tax-reduction rate, eligible investment expenditure and whether the company is using the benefit on investment income or, where permitted, other income.

Domestic minimum corporate tax can interact with Article 32/A. The law allows specified tax not collected under qualifying reduced-rate rules and certain investment-certificate positions to reduce the minimum amount. Because certificate dates and transitional rules matter, model the ordinary tax, incentive calculation and Article 32/C comparison together rather than describing an investment incentive as an automatic tax exemption.

Provisional Corporate Tax in 2026

The Revenue Administration’s current useful-information table shows 25% as the general 2026 provisional corporate tax rate for ordinary corporate taxpayers, subject to the same category/reduced-rate framework where applicable.

The current Revenue Administration deadline table includes four provisional-tax periods, including October–December. The fourth period was reinstated from the 2025 calendar year under Law No. 7566; a three-period checklist is therefore incomplete.

For period-by-period filing and payment planning, use the company tax calendar and the official declaration and payment deadline table, checked on 25 September 2026. Keep the calculation of provisional corporate tax separate from checking the applicable calendar and any extension.

Annual Corporate Tax Return

For calendar-year taxpayers, the annual corporate tax return is filed in April of the following year. GİB’s 2026 Corporate Tax Return Guide states that the 2025 accounting-period return was filed from 1–30 April 2026. Companies closing the 2026 year should verify the official April 2027 calendar when it is published rather than copying the previous year’s dates mechanically.

Before the annual close, reconcile:

• commercial profit/loss and non-deductible expenses;
• tax losses and loss-carryforward evidence;
• related-party transactions and transfer-pricing support;
• foreign-source income and foreign-tax credits;
• withholding taxes and provisional tax available for credit;
• dividend/participation and other exemptions;
• export/manufacturing/IPO reduced-rate calculations;
• investment incentives and Article 32/A;
• domestic minimum corporate tax under Article 32/C; and
• all certificates, approvals and working papers supporting the return.

Corporate Tax Is Not the Same as Dividend Withholding

The company’s corporate tax is calculated on corporate taxable income. A later distribution of after-tax profit to shareholders can create a separate dividend-withholding event. For many individual and non-resident recipients the current domestic starting rate is 15%, but treaty rules and recipient status can change the result.

For payment-level withholding and treaty evidence, use the withholding tax in Turkey guide. Do not treat dividend withholding as part of the 25% corporate-tax rate.

Foreign-Owned Companies: What Changes?

A Turkish company does not receive a different general corporate-tax rate simply because its shareholders are foreign. The main cross-border differences arise from the source and character of income, related-party transactions, foreign tax credits, withholding on outbound payments, double-tax-treaty rules and the corporate/residence structure used.

For material cross-border charges, keep agreements, invoices, transfer-pricing support, residency certificates and tax calculations in a controlled file before the annual return rather than reconstructing them after a tax query.

Official 2026 Sources

• GİB 2026 Corporate Tax Return Guide — tax base, rates, exemptions, domestic minimum tax, provisional and annual returns.
• GİB 2026 Domestic Minimum Corporate Tax Guide — scope, three-period new-company exception and calculation rules.
• GİB Corporate Tax Rate Applications Guide — ordinary and reduced-rate cases.
• GİB Tax Calendar — current filing/payment dates and extensions.

How Workon Supports the Corporate-Tax Workflow

Workon can coordinate the operational setup around a Turkish company: incorporation, registered-address and office services, document collection, bank-account process support and the handoff to licensed Turkish accounting professionals. Corporate-tax calculations, return positions, incentives and treaty analysis should be confirmed by the company’s licensed CPA/SMMM or another appropriately qualified tax adviser.

Review Workon’s company registration support and establish the corporate-tax evidence file at the same time as accounting onboarding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Turkish corporate tax as of September 2026 and is not legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Rates, exemptions, reduced-rate income, investment incentives, loss treatment, domestic minimum corporate tax and filing obligations depend on the taxpayer and facts and can change through legislation or administrative guidance. Confirm material calculations and filing positions against current official rules and with a qualified Turkish CPA/SMMM or other appropriately authorised professional.