Company Incorporation Guide

Turkey business registration for founders abroad

Applicable country/region: TR - Turkey

Published: October 2, 2026Updated: October 3, 2026

Written by our advisory team
Turkey rules and requirements
Checked against official sources

Guide overview

How registration works and what you decide

Turkey business registration means forming a company under the Turkish Commercial Code (TTK), Law No. 6102, and having a trade registry directorate (Ticaret Sicili Müdürlüğü) record it. Every step runs through the Ministry of Trade's Central Registry System (MERSİS). First comes a trade name distinct from every name registered in Turkey. The founders or their representatives then sign the articles of association at the directorate. Registration makes the company a legal person, and the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette (TTSG) publishes it. Before filing you settle the legal form, how founders outside Turkey sign and certify papers, and the head-office address; tax and a foreign-owned company's yearly duties follow.

COMPANY TYPES

Ltd. Şti. or A.Ş.: choosing the legal form

The usual legal form is the limited şirket (Ltd. Şti.), the limited liability company, rather than the anonim şirket (A.Ş.), the joint stock company. The Turkish Commercial Code lets a limited company pay no capital before registration, while an A.Ş. first pays a quarter of its cash capital at a bank in Turkey. Under Law No. 6183, limited company partners answer, in proportion to their shares, for taxes and other public debts the company cannot pay; A.Ş. shareholders do not. At least one partner must serve as manager (müdür), so a sole corporate partner acts through a named individual. The Foreign Direct Investment Law, Law No. 4875, treats foreign investors like domestic ones unless a special law limits it.

Reading the company types

Rows cover ownership, shareholder and director rules, capital and notes for each company type.

Turkey Ltd. Şti. Basic Information

Ownership:

Consolidated Ownership

Limited Liability:

Positive

Publicly Participates In Capital Market:

Negative

Turkey Ltd. Şti. Shareholder / Director / Secretary Requirements

Requirements For Shareholders:

At least one

Requirements For Directors:

At least one

Legal Representative Not Mandatory:

Negative

Local Directors Not Mandatory:

Positive

Local Secretaries Not Mandatory:

Positive

Turkey Ltd. Şti. Registered Capital Requirement

Minimum Registered Capital Requirement:

50,000 Turkish Lira

Capital Injection Not Required:

Positive

Turkey Ltd. Şti. Memo

Memo:

At least one manager is required

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

Documents from abroad for Turkey business registration

The trade registry keeps its records in Turkish, and every supporting document must be in Turkish too. For papers issued abroad, the Trade Registry Regulation asks for an apostille, or consular legalization where the issuing state does not apply the Apostille Convention, plus a notarized Turkish translation. Founders who stay abroad can sign through a representative holding the original power of attorney, approved by a notary or other competent authority. Each foreign partner or manager first needs a Turkish tax number from a tax office. To ensure compliance with Law No. 5549 on the Prevention of Laundering Proceeds of Crime, banks and notaries must identify beneficial owners, so their checks reach whoever owns or controls a corporate shareholder.

Reading the documents

Rows are document types grouped by who provides them; each entry ends with its process and format.

Natural Person Shareholders & Directors's Required Documents

Passport:

Two translated, notarized, and Apostilled copies of the passport

Process: ApostilleFormat: Scan Copy

Power of Attorney:

Each shareholder needs to sign their own Power Of Attorney.

Process: ApostilleFormat: Scan Copy

REQUIREMENTS AND ESTIMATED COST

What the head-office address decides

In law, the commercial address is the company's head office (merkez) in Turkey, which the articles of association must name. Its location picks the trade registry directorate that registers the company and holds its file, and the head office goes on business letters with the trade name and registry number. After registration, the tax office makes a start-of-business inspection under the Tax Procedure Law and checks the business at the declared address. So the head office has to be somewhere the tax office can find and check the business, and a virtual or shared office faces the same test. Registration also does not replace the workplace opening and operating license, which usually comes from the municipality.

Reading the requirements

Base cost is the service and government fees; each requirement shows if it is included and what solving it costs; the estimate adds them up.

Base Cost

Service Fee:

USD 2,325

Requirements

Registered Address: Incorporating a company in Turkey requires a commercial address in Turkey

Incorporating a company in Turkey requires a commercial address in Turkey. If you do not have a commercial address in Turkey, you can choose to use TKEG Expat ™ (LU)'s virtual address service.

Included: No · Solution availableEstimated Cost: USD 1,275

Estimated Cost

Estimated Cost:

USD 2,325 – 3,600

Check Eligibility And Calculate Price

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TAX

How tax starts for a new Turkish company

Tax registration follows from the registry filing, with no separate application to the Revenue Administration (GİB). The potential tax number MERSİS assigns during the filing becomes the company's tax number on registration. With no VAT threshold, the company owes VAT from its first taxable supply and files monthly, even with no sales. Corporate tax is often misread: GİB's corporate tax guide shows a new company escapes only the domestic minimum corporate tax, for its first three accounting periods. The formation filing counts as the workplace notice to the Social Security Institution (SGK), but each employee is reported to SGK, as a rule before starting work. Wage taxes and premiums go on one combined return, usually monthly.

Reading the tax data

Rows cover corporate income, withholding, value-added and capital gains tax, plus effective rates, for each jurisdiction.

PwC World Tax Summary OECD Statistics

Corporate Income Tax (CIT)

General CIT Rate:

25 (financial companies up to 30%)

CIT Return Due Date:

The 30th day of the fourth month after the end of the fiscal year.

CIT Payment Due Date:

Corporate income tax is paid by the end of the month in which the return is filed (30 April for a calendar-year company).

CIT Estimated Payment Due Date:

Quarterly provisional tax is paid by the 17th of the second month after each quarter (17 May, 17 August, 17 November and 17 February).

Withholding Tax (WHT)

Resident Withholding Tax (Dividend/Interest/Royalty):

0/0/0

Non-Resident Withholding Tax (Dividend/Interest/Royalty):

15/10/20

Value-Added Tax (VAT)

General VAT Rate:

Learn More Value-Added Tax (VAT)

Capital Gain Tax (CGT)

General Capital Gain Tax Rate:

Capital gains are constrained by the normal corporate income tax rate.

Effective Tax Rate (ETR)

Composite Effective Average Tax Rate:

22.33%

Composite Effective Marginal Tax Rate:

9.56%

Conclusion

After registration: banking and yearly duties

A bank opens the corporate bank account after registration, using the registry documents and the company's tax number. The managers call the ordinary general assembly, which meets every year within three months of the financial year-end. A company with foreign capital reports through E-TUYS, the Ministry of Industry and Technology's foreign-capital reporting system, as the investment law's implementing regulation requires. Once a user is authorized, the company has one month to enter its partner data. The Activity Information Form for FDI (EK-1) is due by the end of May each year. Changes to registered facts go to the trade registry within 15 days. Start by getting an E-TUYS user authorized and putting the first general assembly on the calendar.

Turkey

Jurisdiction Overview

About Turkey

Turkey bridges Europe and Asia with a large domestic market of 85 million, a young dynamic workforce, EU customs union access, and growing sectors in manufacturing, construction, and technology.

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