According to the legislation, foreign exchange purchases and sales can only be carried out by banks, PTT and foreign exchange offices licensed by the ministry. Contrary to what is known to the public, jewelers, representatives of payment institutions and similar companies do not have the authority to buy and sell.
In this context, two sanctions will be imposed on workplaces found to be involved in illicit purchases and sales of foreign exchange, in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Currency Value Protection Law of 2018. Accordingly, while the activities of workplaces are temporarily or permanently suspended by the Ministry, a notification will be made to the General Prosecutor's Office to impose administrative penalties on the workplaces in question.
Large cities and tourist areas are characterized by unauthorized activities
Accordingly, the activities of 859 jobs have been temporarily or permanently stopped since 2018. These jobs were found to be particularly concentrated in regions where trade and tourism were intensive.
In this context, sanctions were tightened, particularly in large cities and provinces in tourist regions. During the same period, a fine amounting to around 280 million lira was filed with the Attorney General's Office.
In 2025 alone, the activities of 147 jobs were suspended and proceedings were initiated for an administrative penalty of around 108 million lira.
The lower and upper limits of the fines are updated every year as part of the reassessment. For this year, the lower limit of the administrative penalty in question was 719 thousand 30 liras and the upper limit was 3 million 595 thousand 198 liras.
As part of the fight against the unregistered economy, reporting is also important in order to prevent unauthorized purchases and sales of foreign currency. In order to receive notifications on this issue as well as notifications from CİMER and other channels directly and immediately, the “Application for Notification of Unauthorized Purchase and Sale of Foreign Exchange” section has been made available to citizens on the e-government portal.
This year we will focus on risk areas
The ministry has also launched the Action Plan to Combat Illicit Activities to identify risky taxpayers.
The action plan was created in a risk-oriented manner. In this context, topics such as population, regions with intensive trade and tourism, risk sectors, sectoral risk records and past administrative sanctions were included as risk criteria in the analyses.
“We research on site and in digital media”
Stating that they attach great importance to the fight against unauthorized companies within the framework of the fight against the unregistered economy, Finance and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek stated that analyzes were carried out to identify risky taxpayers based on the data obtained in cooperation with the institutions involved in this area, the Ministry of Commerce, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, the Treasury Department and all relevant institutions.
Pointing out that the planned inspections in this area will focus on major cities, regions with concentrated trade and risky sectors, Şimşek said:
“Preliminary investigations conducted on-site and through digital media also play an important role in drawing up audit plans. As part of the fight against the unregistered economy, we as a ministry will strengthen and effectively continue planned and risk-oriented audits of companies engaged in illicit foreign exchange purchases and sales this year, and the fight in this area will continue with determination.”
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