How easy is to set up a business in Turkey?

After establishing the desired type of business (limited liability companies, joint stock companies, comandite companies, collective companies or commercial partnerships), the process of registration doesn’t take longer than a week. The investor must also beneficiate from some capital before starting a business, for example, the limited liability company requires a minimum share capital of 10,000 TRY while the joint stock companies must register in the beginning 50,000 TRY.

It is advisable to contact an attorney in Turkey in order to respect all the procedures and submit the correct documents at the Turkish authorities.

How easy is to hire personnel in Turkey?

The Turkish workforce is constituted by more than 26 million of young people, well-educated and responsible. Finding suitable candidates for the vacant places can be performed by posting ads in newspapers or websites or by hiring a workforce agency which will find the suitable candidate for the valid position.

If the company wants to hire foreigners it must keep in mind that the work permits must be received first.

The work permits can be obtained outside Turkey (through the Turkish Consulates or Embassies) or directly from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, if the person has a valid Turkish residence permit.

The necessary documents for the Turkish Consulate or Embassy are the passport, a work visa application, 1 photo and 1 copy of the work contract.

The residents must fill an online application to the Ministry.

The decision of granting the work permit is released in maximum one month.

What are the main points of interest for foreign investors?

The main points of interests for the foreign investors are represented by the three major special investment zones:

– The free zones (20 zones specially designed to increase the number of export investments, with 100% exemption for custom duties, corporate income tax for the manufacturing enterprises, VAT, income tax on the personnel’s salary for companies which exports at least 85% of the goods produced here, the possibility to deposit goods free of charge unlimited and with the possibility to transfer the profits abroad and to Turkey);

– Organized industrial zones (263 zones with low costs on natural gas, water, telecommunication, no municipality tax on construction or on solid waste-the last one if the zone don’t beneficiate from the municipality service, no VAT on land acquisition, exemption from the real estate duty for five years from the construction);

– Technology development zones (39 zones with major exemption until 2024 on corporate and income taxes on the revenue coming from software development, VAT on software application sales, salaries of R&D personnel-but without exceeding 10% of the number of employees).

Other incentives offered for the foreign investors are granted by the double tax treaties (which provide the release of paying the same taxes in the country of residence and in Turkey) and by the Free Trade Agreements (signed with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Mauritius, Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Norway, Palestine, Serbia, South Korea, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia) which is allowing the trades between these countries and Turkey with no custom taxes.

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