What is kayıt dışı istihdam?
Kayıt dışı istihdam (informal employment) refers to employment relationships not declared to the Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu: SGK), or declared at lower wages/hours than actual (“eksik bildirim”). Both forms violate 5510 sayılı Sosyal Sigortalar ve Genel Sağlık Sigortası Kanunu. Turkey has long-standing structural informality, particularly in agriculture, construction, hospitality, and household work. SGK and Çalışma Bakanlığı conduct routine and risk-based inspections.
Employer sanctions
- Late registration (geç tescil): administrative fine per undeclared worker of one month’s gross minimum wage (2026: TRY 33,030), doubled (TRY 66,060) where detected in an inspection (Law 5510 Art. 102).
- Premium liability: retroactive SGK premium plus interest plus default interest (gecikme zammı).
- Tax liability: retroactive gelir vergisi stopajı plus stamp duty.
- Public procurement: bidders with finalised SGK premium debt are excluded from tenders (Law 4734 Art. 10).
- Criminal exposure: concealing off-the-books wages with false or misleading documents can be a crime under Tax Procedure Law Art. 359.
Worker remedies
Workers may file “hizmet tespit davası” in İş Mahkemesi to retroactively establish unreported employment periods. Once judgment is final, SGK reconstructs the service record. Such cases are subject to a 5-year forfeiture period (hak düşürücü süre), generally running from the end of the year in which the employment ended. Workers may simultaneously claim severance, notice pay, unused leave, and overtime.
Inspection and amnesty cycles
Periodic structural reform packages (often labelled “yapılandırma”) offer reduced-interest premium settlement windows. These do not generally extinguish individual worker claims: only SGK debt.
Do: file each worker’s SGK start notice no later than the day before work starts (same day in construction, agriculture and fishing); reconcile payroll vs. SGK monthly; correct under-declarations proactively before inspection.
Don’t: use “deneme süresi” or “stajyer” labels to defer SGK registration: both must be registered.