With the new tax regime, Türkiye will become a transit trade center

The work carried out since last year to turn Türkiye into a regional trade center and increase its export capacity has been completed.

One of the most important provisions in the package, the details of which President Erdoğan announced to the public last week, was the promotion of transit trade.

Income from transit trade for companies based in IFM will be completely tax-free

While the Istanbul Financial Center (IFC) stands out as one of the important centers in the region, currently 50 percent of the profits that the institutions operating here make by selling the goods they buy abroad without bringing them to Türkiye or by intermediary in the purchase and sale of goods abroad can be deducted from the corporate tax base.

The most important requirement for this discount is that the goods must be moved from one country to another before arriving in Türkiye.

With the regulation to be made, this discount rate will be increased from 50 percent to 100 percent. This means that income from transit trade for companies based in IFM is completely tax-free.

While this incentive previously only applied within the borders of the IFC region, the planned regulation will introduce a profit discount of 95 percent on the transit trade revenues of institutions operating outside the IFC.

Focus on competitiveness in global exports

While Türkiye's geographical location offers a significant advantage in developing into a trade corridor, the new tax regulation aims to create an internationally competitive “transit trade center” in this area.

These regulations only encourage the sale of goods purchased abroad without importation into Turkey, while not affecting competition in the domestic market.