Companies and businesses who want to register in Turkey are required to visit the website of MERSIS, where they are to submit their documents which will include their articles of association and memorandum. It is important that these documents must be notarized before being submitted. 

As a foreign national in Turkey, MERSIS is the place to begin the process of getting your tax identification number. In terms of monetary lodgement, Turkey requires foreign business owners and or companies to have part of their capital deposited in HalkBankasi, a state-owned bank. Furthermore, 25 percent of the business capital should be deposited in another Turkish bank. 

The process and requirements may appear tiring, however, getting a bank account in Turkey is easy if you’ve obtained all the necessary business registration documents. Businesses can further finalise their tax information with the tax office after registering at the Commercial Registry.

Contracts in Turkey are to carry the terms of employment clearly and they are to be in writing especially for contracts that will span for a year or more. As a foreign national in Turkey, you need a work permit that can be obtained by the local authorities before you can work. In most circumstances, your employer would make arrangements for this or make an exception.

Turkey operates a 45 – hour work week. Hours are distributed evenly across days worked which runs from Monday through to Friday. For workers that worked overtime, it’s paid at 150 percent of the regular wage, while it can also be negotiated for additional time off and paid at 125 percent.

Payroll in Turkey is as important as it is in other countries. The minimum wage in Turkey as of 2017 is $468 monthly which is equivalent to 1,777.50 lira in the country’s currency (LIRA). However, this amount is expected to increase in no time in response to meet the public demands. Payroll in Turkey should be adhered to by employers to avoid unnecessary legal actions, and pay cycles are determined by employers and the pay slips can be in the form of electronic statements.

Progressive scale is used in taxing earnings in Turkey and are calculated following certain brackets that can be found on the MERSIS website. Employees are obligated to contribute 21.5 percent of their earnings to social programs while workers in Turkey are obligated to contribute 15 percent of their earnings to social security. 

In Turkey, corporate tax rate is calculated at 20 percent and there is an additional withholding tax calculated at 15 percent that is due when shareholders are paid dividends. Taxes are removed from paychecks in accordance with regulations governing payroll in Turkey. For foreign nationals working in Turkey, they are taxed on their income earned in Turkey alone while residents are taxed on all earnings including those earned from overseas. Azkan Group