Turkiye introduced one of the most comprehensive international tax incentives for individuals to date through Law No. 7582, the Law Amending Certain Laws, adopted on May 21, 2026 and published in the Official Gazette dated June 4, 2026, No. 33270. The regulation rests on two core pillars affecting individuals: a 20-year full income tax exemption on foreign-source income (Repeated (Mükerrer) Article 20/D, added to Income Tax Law No. 193) and a fixed 1% inheritance and gift tax rate applied to transfers of property by inheritance occurring within this period for beneficiaries of the exemption (amendment to Article 16 of Law No. 7338).
The implementation procedures and principles of the exemption were established by General Communiqué on Income Tax Serial No. 333, published in the Official Gazette dated July 4, 2026, No. 33300, which conditions the formal activation of the exemption upon an “Exemption Certificate” application.
Qualifying for the regime requires the simultaneous fulfillment of three conditions (Repeated Article 20/D, paragraph 1). The individual must:
- be deemed resident in Turkiye, i.e. subject to full tax liability;
- have had no domicile in Turkiye during the last three calendar years prior to relocation; and
- have held no tax liability in Turkiye during that same period.
The determining criterion is tax residency rather than citizenship; consequently, Turkish citizens living abroad and foreign nationals relocating to Turkiye benefit under identical terms. The exemption is granted exclusively to natural persons; corporate taxpayers are excluded from its scope (Communiqué No. 333, Article 3/10).
Three points distinguish the regime from its international competitors. First, its duration is 20 years, compared with 15 years in Italy and Greece and 10 years in Portugal. Second, on cost, Turkiye requires no flat fee and no minimum investment—unlike Italy’s annual flat charge of EUR 300,000 or Greece’s EUR 100,000 annual charge coupled with a EUR 500,000 investment requirement. Third, on inheritance, the 1% rate delivers substantial savings over the standard progressive tariff, which reaches up to 10% for high-value estates. Conversely, because the regulation is recently enacted, administrative practice and case law have not yet fully matured; and the protection Turkiye affords applies only within the Turkish tax system, since source-country exit taxes and dual-residency risks operate independently.
Legal Basis | Law No. 7582; Repeated Article 20/D of the Income Tax Law (GVK); Article 16 of the Inheritance and Gift Tax Law (VİV); General Communiqué on Income Tax Serial No. 333 |
Income Tax Advantage | 20-year full exemption on foreign-source income |
Inheritance Tax Advantage | 1% fixed rate during the 20-year exemption period. |
Eligible Individuals | Natural persons: expatriates, returning entrepreneurs/HNWIs (High-Net-Worth Individuals), and foreign nationals relocating to Turkiye. |
Core Condition | No domicile and no (qualifying) tax liability in Turkiye during the last three calendar years |
Critical Step | Timely application for the Exemption Certificate (by the end of the year of relocation; by the end of February of the following year for those relocating in November–December) |
Commencement of Period | On each individual’s respective relocation date; the regulation has no expiration or final application deadline |
Cost | No flat fee and no minimum investment |
Those who should evaluate the regime as a priority: high-net-worth individuals and entrepreneurs whose primary income remains abroad; expatriates planning a permanent return (particularly from Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the Gulf); foreign nationals combining Turkish citizenship by investment with relocation; and families planning to transfer substantial wealth to the next generation. Because of source-country obligations and application timing, each case should be assessed individually prior to relocation.
