Income Tax Exemption for Personnel Employed in Qualified Service Centers

Following the amendments made to the Income Tax Law with Law No. 7582 dated May 21, 2026, which entered into force on June 4, 2026, the guiding General Communiqué on Income Tax Serial No. 334 was published in the Official Gazette dated July 4, 2026.

The details of the tax exemptions provided to qualified service personnel within the scope of this communiqué are summarized below:

1. Scope and Limits of the Exemption (3 and 5 Times Rule)

• The portion of the wages of personnel employed in qualified service centers that does not exceed three times the gross minimum wage is exempt from income tax. The portion of the wages exceeding this amount will be taxed according to general provisions.

• For centers operating in the Istanbul Finance Center by obtaining a participant certificate, and qualified service centers in industrial zones established under the Industrial Zones Law No. 4737 and approved by the President, this exemption limit can be applied up to five times the gross minimum wage.

2. Conditions for Being a Qualified Service Center and Personnel

To benefit from the exemption, the enterprise must meet the following conditions within the scope of Additional Article 1 of the Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875:

• Actively operating in at least three different countries.

• Established to provide services to an affiliated company or group of companies.

• Being a capital company that derives at least 80% of its annual revenue from affiliated companies or groups of companies abroad.

3. Types of Services Covered

The services that can be provided by qualified service centers and evaluated within the scope of the exemption are:

• Financial consulting, strategic management consulting, risk, cash, and liquidity management, as well as funding and borrowing transactions.

• Investment and capital structure planning, budgeting, financial reporting, international accounting, and auditing.

• Digital transformation, technology consulting, investment, and data analysis.

• Legal consultancy (provided that the legal consultancy for domestic activities or Turkish law is obtained from an authorized attorney or attorney partnership under the Attorneyship Law).

• Coordination and management services related to activities such as promotion, brand management, human resources, training, sales, after-sales support, technical support, R&D, outsourcing, and testing of newly developed products.

4. Stamp Tax Exemption and Payments Included in Wages

• A stamp tax exemption will also be applied to the income tax-exempt portion of the qualified service personnel’s wages.

• In addition to the monthly salary paid to the qualified service personnel; all payments made under names such as overtime, premium, bonus, expense reimbursement, and other benefits provided will also be evaluated within the scope of “wage”[cite: 8].