Recent Developments in Turkey

A new bracket was added to the income tax tariff and personal income tax rates on income and earnings for the employment income and earnings as of 1 January 2020 as mentioned below.

As of 1 January 2020, employees whose wage income exceeds TL 600.000 (for 2020) are required to file an annual income tax return regardless of the fact that those wages were earned from a single employer or more than one employer.

Foreigners’ Employment Contracts Containing Partial Employment Period

As per legislation, foreigners (except foreign students and foreign university teachers) are not allowed to obtain a part-time work permit. Work permits for foreigners who are employed on a part-time work basis are regulated in accordance with the full-time work permits. However, the Social Security Institution circular dated 18 March 2019 clearly states that it is possible for insured foreigner employees to provide notification about missing days in the case of going abroad without cancelling a work permit. The code “21-Other Unpaid Leave” should be used for missing day notification of those insured foreign employees. Thus, even though it is not possible to obtain a part-time work permit for foreigners (except foreign students and foreign university teachers), part-time employment of foreigners is possible.

The Foreign Employees Staying Abroad for an Uninterrupted Period of More Than Six Months

According to the “Foreigners and International Protection” legislation, short-term residence permits shall not be granted, shall be cancelled if granted, and shall not be renewed upon expiry if the holders stayed abroad for more than 120 days in total within the last year except for mandatory public service, duty, education or health reasons.

According to the International Workforce Law #6735, foreigners who are holding permanent work permits shall benefit from the same rights that long-term residence permits provide, and thus are exempt from residence permits. So, the aforementioned “120 days rule” should not be applicable to foreign employees working under a work permit in Turkey.

Nevertheless, foreign employees’ work permits will be cancelled if the foreigner does not arrive in Turkey within six months as of the date of work permit, or, if the foreigner stays outside of Turkey for an uninterrupted period exceeding six months of his/her temporary work permit duration due to reasons other than force majeure, such as health and compulsory public service.