What Is E-TUYS and How Do You Check an Incentive Certificate?

The short answer to what E-TUYS is: it is the system through which the Ministry of Industry and Technology handles investment incentive certificate procedures and the notifications of foreign-capital companies electronically. As defined in the legislation, E-TUYS (Electronic Incentive Application and Foreign Capital Information System) is a web-based application managed by the Directorate General of Incentive Implementation and Foreign Investment. Your company can access this system only through a user it has authorized and that user's qualified e-signature.

In this article we explain what the system is used for, what awaits you on the login screen, how user authorization is managed and how to track the status of your certificate. We touch on the contents of the application file and the support measures only as far as necessary.

What is E-TUYS, and which procedures run through it?

E-TUYS is the common gateway for two separate areas of legislation. On one side are incentive certificate procedures under Decree No. 9903 on State Aid for Investments; on the other are notifications to the Ministry by companies within the scope of Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875. In the system's name, “TU” stands for incentive implementation and “YS” for foreign capital.

On the incentive side, Implementation Communiqué No. 2025/1, published in the Official Gazette on June 21, 2025, leaves no room for paper applications. Article 6 of the Communiqué states that every procedure relating to the certificate is carried out by users through E-TUYS. The same Communiqué leaves how procedures are carried out to the user manual on the Ministry's website; this manual is the text to follow for the screen steps.

Procedures on the incentive certificate side

For the investor, E-TUYS works like a file covering the entire life of the certificate. The table below shows which procedures are carried out in the system and their legal basis.

The Communiqué also brings a convenience: you are not asked to bring the originals of documents uploaded with an e-signature to the Ministry separately. In addition, an incentive certificate registered in E-TUYS may be shared electronically by the Ministry with the relevant institutions and organizations. This provision shows that the system record of the certificate is decisive in customs or tax office procedures.

Foreign capital notifications

Companies with foreign shareholders that think E-TUYS is only an incentive system may overlook an obligation. Under Law No. 4875, foreign direct investment covers setting up a new company, opening a branch, acquiring shares outside the stock exchange, or becoming a shareholder in an existing company by acquiring at least 10% of the shares or the same percentage of voting rights on the stock exchange. Companies and branches within this scope also provide information to the Ministry through E-TUYS.

Article 5 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Foreign Direct Investment Law sets out the timeline for these notifications:

• Within 1 month at the latest after the user is authorized, the “Investor”, “Shareholder List” and, if any, “Affiliates” fields are completed.
• The activity information form is recorded by the end of May each year at the latest.
• After a capital increase or decrease or a share transfer, the shareholder list is updated within 1 month at the latest.
• If there is a payment relating to a capital increase or share transfer, the capital information form is completed within 1 month following the payment.
• If a foreign shareholder joins a fully domestic-capital company, the company comes within scope and enters the same information into the system within 1 month after the share transfer.

We cover separately how these notifications look for branch and liaison structures in our liaison office guide; what matters here is that the same user account is used for both incentive and foreign capital procedures.

What awaits you on the E-TUYS login screen?

The E-TUYS login address is etuys.sanayi.gov.tr , and the page redirects to the Ministry's e-document login screen. The screen offers an “E-TUYS E-Devlet Login” option, which leads to the Ministry's single sign-on service. However, being able to log in does not mean you can carry out procedures on behalf of the company.

E-TUYS e-Devlet login versus authorized user

The E-TUYS e-Devlet connection verifies your identity; access to the company file is determined by authorization. The 2018 Authorization Communiquédefines the user as a “person authorized to notify the Directorate General, on behalf of the investor and through E-TUYS, of the information requested from the investor”. In other words, to view company records and submit procedures, the company must first have registered you as a user.

Document upload and approval steps are carried out with a qualified electronic certificate (an e-signature meeting the requirements of Electronic Signature Law No. 5070). A valid e-signature obtained for another purpose may also be used. The question our clients ask most often is: “I logged in with my e-Devlet password, so why can't I see my company?” The answer is almost always the same: the authorization application has not yet been approved, or the user's period has expired.

Preparing E-TUYS for an incentive certificate application in 5 steps

We explain the contents of the application file, the required documents and the evaluation process in detail in our guide how to obtain an investment incentive certificate . Here we give only the technical sequence needed to get ready for the system:

1. KEP account and e-signature: The company obtains a registered electronic mail (KEP) account, and each person who will carry out procedures obtains a qualified e-signature. Since the 2020 amendment, authorization correspondence has been conducted via KEP.
2. Authorization file: The application petition, the signature circular or its notarized copy, a Turkish letter of undertaking drawn up before a notary for each user, and the user authorization form are sent to the Directorate General's KEP address.
3. Approval notification: The Directorate General checks the documents and notifies the result to the e-mail address declared by the user.
4. Investor and shareholder information: Within 1 month at the latest after approval, the “Investor” and “Shareholder List” fields in the system are completed.
5. First procedure: Once these steps are complete, the user can start the incentive certificate application or the foreign capital notification through the system.

A letter of undertaking signed abroad requires consular certification or an apostille. For public institutions and organizations, the requirement for the letter of undertaking to be drawn up before a notary does not apply.

How is user authorization managed?

Authorization is not something done once and forgotten. The Authorization Communiqué separately regulates the situations you may face during the life of a user account. Most of the problems we often see in practice arise not on the day of application but years later, when these provisions are overlooked.

We would like to underline two points. First, once the authorization period ends, the user cannot carry out procedures until the extension is approved; if time-bound procedures such as the completion visa or machinery registration fall into this gap, there is a risk of losing rights. Second, the Directorate General is not held responsible for e-mail notifications that do not arrive. It is therefore important that the user's e-mail address is one that is actually read within the company.

How do you check an investment incentive certificate?

An investment incentive certificate is checked from within E-TUYS by the authorized user of the company holding the certificate. When the user logs in, they see the certificates registered to the company, the status of applications, machinery lists and the expenditure records entered. Since the screen steps change from time to time, we recommend checking the current menu path in the Ministry's user manual.

Requests to check an incentive certificate often come from outside the company: a machinery seller, customs broker, bank or new shareholder wants to know whether the certificate is valid. The legislation does not give these parties access to your file. You share the certified printout of the certificate and the relevant machinery list; official institutions, on the other hand, can obtain the record electronically from the Ministry under the sharing provision in the Communiqué.

What should you look at in regular checks?

Certificate status should be checked at regular intervals, not only when a problem arises. At Akal CPA, we put the following items on a schedule in incentive files:

• The end date of the investment period and any additional period, because the 3-month period for the completion visa runs from this date.
• The remaining quantity on the machinery list, because a procedure must be started in the system in advance for each new purchase.
• The status of any pending revision or change request, and whether the Ministry has sent a notice of deficiencies.
• The validity period of user letters of undertaking.
• For companies with foreign shareholders, the end-of-May activity information form and the 1-month notification period after capital movements.

Carrying out these checks together with the accounting records lets you spot early any divergence between the values in the certificate and the amounts in the books. We explain which amounts the support measures apply to in our article investment incentives .

Common mistakes when using E-TUYS

E-TUYS is not technically a complicated system. Most mistakes stem from it not being clear within the company who will use the system and on what schedule:

• Not having the authorization of a departing employee cancelled, leaving the account with the former employee.
• Depending on a single user and missing a time-bound procedure while that person is on leave.
• Making a change of trade name or address in the trade registry but not updating it in E-TUYS.
• Not knowing that re-authorization is needed when the tax number changes.
• Thinking the foreign capital forms are unrelated to incentive procedures and missing the end of May.
• Not keeping uploaded documents in the company archive; the 10-year responsibility rests with the investor, not the Ministry.

Every item on this list can be prevented with a check of a few minutes. The hard part is keeping up the check with the same discipline for years.

How does Akal CPA support E-TUYS procedures?

Answering what E-TUYS is is easy; the hard part is using the system without errors from the first day of the investment to the completion visa. Our expert team prepares the authorization file, monitors user periods and notification dates, and matches incentive certificate records with the accounting records. For this process, you can review our investment incentive certificate advisory service, and you can find other guides in Investment Guide category .