What are the 5746 R&D incentives?
Law No. 5746 on Supporting Research, Development and Design Activities is Türkiye’s general R&D incentive statute: available outside technology development zones. Its core instruments: an additional R&D deduction (qualifying R&D and design expenditures are deducted again from the corporate tax base, on top of being expensed), income-tax withholding incentives on R&D personnel wages, employer social-security premium support, and stamp-duty relief for related documents.
The gateway: R&D centres and supported projects
The incentives attach through defined channels: certified R&D or design centres (with a minimum full-time-equivalent R&D headcount and Ministry of Industry certification) and supported projects funded by bodies such as TÜBİTAK or KOSGEB. The centre route suits scale-ups industrialising their engineering organisation; the project route lets a ten-person startup capture the same payroll incentives for a funded project’s duration without running a certified centre.
5746 vs. 4691: choosing the lane
The regimes do not stack on the same expense: 4691 exempts zone income, 5746 super-deducts R&D expenditure: profitable product companies in a zone usually prefer 4691, while companies outside zones or in loss positions harvest 5746’s payroll and premium supports immediately. Documentation drives audits in both lanes: project files, timesheets allocating personnel to R&D, and board-approved project definitions are what tax inspectors ask for, and what diligence reprices when missing.
Can software development qualify without a “laboratory”?
Yes: software R&D and design activities qualify if they meet the novelty/technological-uncertainty criteria; routine maintenance and localisation do not.
Do the incentives survive remote work?
Partly: defined portions of R&D personnel time may be worked outside the centre with incentives preserved, subject to the current ratio and notification rules; track it per person, per month.
Related: stamp duty.
Working on this? Vircon Legal advises on Startup & Scaleup Advisory and Startup Law in Türkiye guide. Talk to us →
If this is on your desk
Templates and checklists are free in the Founder Academy; for a specific situation, book a 30-minute intro call.
Founder AcademyBook an intro call