Withholding tax in Türkiye, stopaj or tevkifat in Turkish, is the tax the payer deducts at source and pays to the tax office on the recipient’s behalf, under Article 94 of the Income Tax Law for payments to individuals and Articles 15 and 30 of the Corporate Tax Law for payments to resident and non-resident companies. The statute names a figure and the President sets the rate actually applied, so the number that matters is the one in the decision in force. As of today the applied rates on the payments that cross the border are: dividends 15 per cent, restored from 10 per cent by Presidential Decision No. 9286 for distributions from 22 December 2024; royalties, license fees and know-how 20 per cent; professional and technical service fees 20 per cent; rent 20 per cent; interest on a loan from a foreign bank 0 per cent and on any other loan 10 per cent; branch profit remitted to a foreign head office 15 per cent; multi-year construction progress payments 5 per cent; and 30 per cent on any payment to a company in a jurisdiction the President lists as a tax haven. Every rate on this page is read from the decision that set it and from the Revenue Administration’s own consolidated tables, and where a double taxation treaty sets a lower rate, the treaty rate governs.
What is withholding tax in Türkiye, and who has to withhold it?
Article 94 of Law No. 193 obliges public bodies, corporations, commercial companies, joint ventures, associations, foundations, cooperatives, fund managers, traders and professionals who declare real income, and farmers on the balance-sheet method to withhold income tax when they make the listed payments in cash or by book entry, advances included. Article 30 of Law No. 5520 imposes the same duty on anyone who pays or accrues the listed income to a non-resident company, and Article 30/10 defines a book-entry payment as any record that shows the payer as the recipient’s debtor, so an accrual at year end is a payment for this purpose. The rates in both articles are set by three Council of Ministers decisions of 12 January 2009, No. 2009/14592 for individuals, No. 2009/14593 for non-resident companies and No. 2009/14594 for resident companies, as amended by the Presidential decisions since, and the President may set any rate from zero to double the statutory figure. The tax is reported on a muhtasar return by the twenty-third of the following month and paid by the twenty-sixth (Articles 98 and 119). The withheld sum is credited by a resident on the annual return; for a non-resident it is usually the final Turkish tax on that income, as the last section explains.
What is the dividend withholding rate in 2026, and why do older guides still say 10 per cent?
Fifteen per cent, on every dividend a Turkish company distributes to a resident individual, a non-resident individual or a non-resident company, unless a treaty says less. The history explains the wrong figure in circulation. Presidential Decision No. 4936 of 21 December 2021 cut the dividend rows in all three decisions from 15 to 10 per cent; Presidential Decision No. 9286 of 21 December 2024, published in the Official Gazette of 22 December 2024, replaced “10” with “15” in the same four rows, in force on publication, so every distribution made from 22 December 2024 carries 15 per cent again. The same decision took the withholding on the profit a Turkish branch remits to its foreign head office back to 15 per cent. Two rules in Article 30/3 are worth more than the rate: adding profit to capital is not a distribution, so a bonus share issue carries no withholding, and a dividend earned through a Turkish place of business is outside the article because it is taxed in the branch’s own return. A resident individual shareholder then has half the dividend exempted under Article 22/3 of the Income Tax Law and credits the whole of the withheld tax on the return; the mechanics for individuals are on our page on income tax in Türkiye.
What are the withholding rates on payments to a non-resident company?
Article 30 of the Corporate Tax Law and Decision No. 2009/14593 as amended, in the Revenue Administration’s consolidated table. Where a row names a decision, that decision changed it.
| Payment to a non-resident company | Applied rate | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends distributed by a Turkish company | 15% (Decision 9286, from 22 December 2024) | Art. 30/3 |
| Branch profit remitted to the head office, after corporate tax | 15% (Decision 9286) | Art. 30/6 |
| Sale, transfer or license of copyright, patent, know-how, trade name, trademark and similar intangibles | 20% | Art. 30/2 |
| Professional and technical services (petroleum exploration 5%) | 20% | Art. 30/1-b |
| Rent on immovable property (financial leasing under Law 3226: 1%) | 20% | Art. 30/1-c |
| Interest on a loan from a foreign state, an international institution, a foreign bank or an institution authorized to lend to the public in its own country | 0% | Art. 30/1-ç |
| Interest on any other loan, including a loan from a foreign parent or group company | 10% | Art. 30/1-ç |
| Deferred-payment charges on supplied goods | 5% | Art. 30/1-ç |
| Bonds issued abroad by Turkish companies: under one year, one to three years, three years and over | 7%, 3%, 0% | Art. 30/1-ç |
| Internet advertising services | 15% | Art. 30/1-d |
| Multi-year construction progress payments: general; rail, ship and nuclear works | 5%; 1% (Decisions 9707 and 11344) | Art. 30/1-a |
| E-commerce platform payments to sellers with a Turkish establishment | 1% (Decision 9284, from 1 January 2025) | Art. 30/1-e |
| Any payment to a company in a jurisdiction listed by the President as low-tax and non-cooperative, whether or not otherwise taxable | 30% | Art. 30/7 |
Two details of Article 30 decide real invoices. Under paragraph 11 the withholding is computed on the gross amount, and where the Turkish payer contractually bears the tax, on the net sum paid plus the tax assumed, so a license priced “net of Turkish taxes” is grossed up before the 20 per cent is applied. And the 30 per cent tax-haven rate applies regardless of whether the payment would otherwise be taxable, with only three carve-outs: purchases of goods and shares at arm’s length prices, the hire of ships and aircraft at arm’s length, and transit and port charges, on which the President may set a lower rate; borrowings from foreign financial institutions and insurance premiums are outside it altogether.
What are the withholding rates on payments to an individual?
Article 94 of the Income Tax Law and Decision No. 2009/14592 as amended. These apply whether the individual is resident or not, subject to a treaty.
| Payment to an individual | Applied rate | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Wages | the progressive tariff, 15% to 40% | Art. 94/1 |
| Professional fees (copyright work under Art. 18: 17%) | 20% | Art. 94/2 |
| Rent paid by a company or another withholding agent for property, rights and equipment | 20% | Art. 94/5 |
| Dividends distributed by a Turkish company to a resident or non-resident individual | 15% (Decision 9286) | Art. 94/6-b |
| Sale of copyright and patent rights by a non-resident | 20% | Art. 94/4 |
| Multi-year construction progress payments: general; rail, ship and nuclear works | 5%; 1% | Art. 94/3 |
| Internet advertising services | 15% | Art. 94/18 |
| E-commerce platform payments to sellers | 1% | Art. 94/19 |
| Own shares bought back by a Borsa İstanbul-listed company and neither canceled nor resold within two years, treated as a dividend | 0% (Decision 7343); 15% otherwise | Art. 94, fourth paragraph |
A private individual who rents an apartment to another private individual withholds nothing, because a private tenant is not on the Article 94 list; the landlord declares the rent instead. A company tenant withholds 20 per cent, and the foreign landlord who is a non-resident then has nothing further to file on that rent.
How are bank deposits, bonds and funds taxed at source?
Interest and securities income is withheld under Temporary Article 67 of the Income Tax Law and Council of Ministers Decision No. 2006/10731 as amended, and the withholding is the whole tax for individuals and non-resident companies alike. Foreign-currency deposits and participation accounts carry 25 per cent under Decision No. 7332 of 27 June 2023. On lira deposits opened or renewed since 9 July 2025, Decision No. 10041 sets 17.5 per cent up to six months, 15 per cent up to one year and 10 per cent beyond one year; a lira account of more than a year whose rate follows inflation is at zero. Government bonds, Treasury bills and lease certificates acquired to 31 December 2026 stay in the reduced window that Decision No. 11444 of 19 June 2026 extended once more. Under Decision No. 11107 of 26 March 2026, units in equity-intensive funds, and in venture-capital and real-estate funds held more than two years, are at zero, other fund units at 17.5 per cent. Repo income is at 15 per cent. For a non-resident company, shares of listed companies sold through a Turkish bank or broker after less than a year, and futures and options, are at zero.
How does a double taxation treaty change the withholding?
A treaty in force is part of Turkish law, and where it caps the tax on dividends, interest or royalties below the domestic rate, the cap governs. The payer applies the treaty rate at source against proof of the recipient’s residence, a certificate of residence issued by the tax authority of the recipient’s own state, and the treaty’s own conditions on beneficial ownership and holding thresholds are read before the reduced rate is used, because a rate applied without the conditions is collected later from the payer with interest. Where the domestic rate was withheld although a lower treaty rate applied, the excess is reclaimed from the tax office on the treaty documents. The treaty for the recipient’s country, and whether the recipient qualifies under it, is the first thing we read on any distribution or license file, before the domestic table above is applied.
When is the withholding the final tax, and when is a return still due?
For a non-resident company, Article 30/9 makes a return optional for income taxed by withholding under the article, other than commercial and agricultural profits, and that income need not be added to a return filed for anything else; a foreign licensor, lender or shareholder with no Turkish establishment normally files nothing and the withholding closes the matter. Where a non-resident company’s only Turkish income is a gain on the sale of Turkish shares or property, which no one withholds, Article 26 requires a special return within fifteen days of the gain. For a non-resident individual, Article 86 of the Income Tax Law provides that wages, professional fees, dividends, interest, rent and other gains taxed entirely by withholding are not declared, and Article 101 sends a non-withheld gain to a special return within fifteen days. A resident, by contrast, declares the income where the law requires it and credits the withheld tax under Article 121, with any excess refunded on application within a year.
Who reads this before the payment is approved?
The foreign parent approving a dividend, for whom the 15 per cent, the treaty rate and the residence certificate together decide the cash that leaves Türkiye. The foreign licensor or service provider whose contract says “net of Turkish taxes” and who is about to discover the gross-up in Article 30/11. The group treasurer lending to a Turkish subsidiary, where the difference between a bank lender at zero and a parent lender at 10 per cent is written into the loan’s structure, not into its interest rate. And the foreign owner of a Turkish property let to a company, who has 20 per cent withheld and, being non-resident, files nothing further on it.
Have the rate confirmed in writing before the transfer
We confirm the applied rate and the treaty rate for the recipient’s own country, prepare the residence certificate and the beneficial-ownership file the payer needs to apply it at source, structure loans, licenses and distributions so that the withholding is the final tax where the law allows it, and recover excess withholding from the tax office where it was taken at the wrong rate, for clients in any country and in their own language. WhatsApp +90 530 127 59 35 · Email info@serkalaw.com, written fee the same business day. The corporate side is set out in our guide to corporate tax in Türkiye, the individual’s return on the income tax page, the sale of a Turkish asset on capital gains tax in Türkiye, and the whole structure in the Turkish tax system guide.
This article is general information on Article 94 of Law No. 193 and Articles 15 and 30 of Law No. 5520 as consolidated on 2 September 2026, and on Presidential Decisions No. 4936, 9284, 9286, 9707, 10041, 11107, 11344 and 11444 as read from the Official Gazette texts; it is not advice on a particular payment. A treaty displaces any rate stated here where its conditions are met.