What is Turkish damga vergisi?
Damga Vergisi (Stamp Duty) is Turkey’s tax on documents and agreements, governed by 488 sayılı Damga Vergisi Kanunu (1964). Damga vergisi is levied either as a fixed amount or a percentage of the document’s “value” — typically the contract price, payment obligation, or guarantee amount. Almost any commercial document with a determinable monetary value can trigger damga vergisi: employment contracts, lease agreements, loan agreements, surety bonds, share transfer agreements, court judgments.
Common damga vergisi rates (current schedule)
- Standard contracts: 0.948% of contract value, with annual cap (recently around TRY 17M, updated each year).
- Employment contracts (open-ended): 0.759% on annual gross compensation (collected upfront for first year).
- Lease agreements: 0.189% on total lease consideration.
- Loan agreements: 0.948% on principal (with bank loans typically exempt — covered under BSMV instead).
- Surety/guarantee: 0.948% of guaranteed amount.
- Fixed-rate documents: e.g., authorisation documents, certain receipts.
Damga vergisi mechanics
- Mükellef: contract signatories are jointly liable; commonly stronger party pays in practice.
- Payment: via banking system (Damga Vergisi makbuzu) within 15 days of document signing.
- Annual cap: single document subject to maximum cap regardless of contract value.
- Common exemptions: agreements signed outside Turkey (with carve-outs for Turkey-effective documents), inter-bank loan agreements, certain export and incentive documents.
Türk startup ve M&A bağlamı
Türk startup ve M&A işlemlerinde damga vergisi maliyetler kalem olarak önemlidir — özellikle yüksek-değerli SAFE veya seri yatırım anlaşmalarında 0.948% tavandan vurabilir. Pratikte yatırım anlaşmaları sıklıkla offshore (Delaware, BVI, Cayman) yapılanır ve damga vergisinden kaçınılır; ancak Türk tarafında “Türkiye’de hüküm doğurur” olarak kabul edilen belgeler hâlâ vergi tetikler. Hisse devir sözleşmeleri ve hissedar sözleşmeleri için damga vergisi maliyet modellemesinin parçası olmalı.
Do: calculate damga vergisi exposure during deal structuring; identify exemption-eligible alternatives (offshore signing, bank loan exemption); pay within the 15-day window to avoid penalty.
Don’t: assume foreign-law-governed contracts escape Turkish damga vergisi if they create Turkey-effective obligations — VUK and case law support extraterritorial assessment.