How to Obtain an Investment Incentive Certificate in Turkey and What Benefits It Provides

The short answer to how to obtain an investment incentive certificate: before spending a single lira on the investment, an E-TUYS user is authorized on behalf of your company, the application is made electronically through this system, and if the Ministry of Industry and Technology approves the project, the certificate is also issued electronically. An investment incentive certificate is an official document that records the key values of the investment, such as amount, capacity and employment, and allows you to benefit from the incentives stated on it if the investment is carried out in line with those values.

In this guide we break the application into six steps: preliminary preparation, authorization, the E-TUYS application, review and issuance of the certificate, investment-period procedures, and the completion visa. We do not explain the incentive items themselves in detail; the focus here is how the file is built and at which points rights are lost.

What is an investment incentive certificate, and who can apply?

Article 4 of Communiqué No. 2025/1 gives a clear answer to what an investment incentive certificate is: the certificate contains the characteristic values of the investment and, if the investment is made in line with these values and the specified conditions, enables you to benefit from the registered incentives. In other words, the certificate is not an “approval letter” but a kind of roadmap between the investor and the Ministry. If spending, machinery and employment go outside this roadmap, the incentives are also put at risk.

Under the Communiqué, individuals, ordinary partnerships, capital companies, cooperatives, unions, joint ventures, public institutions, associations and foundations, as well as Turkish branches of foreign companies, may apply. Applications made on behalf of legal entities whose formation process has not been completed are not considered. If your company has not yet been registered with the trade registry, you must first complete its formation.

Let us also correct a misconception from the start. Obtaining an incentive certificate does not replace permits to be obtained from other authorities, such as an EIA (ÇED) decision, a building permit or a business opening license. The Communiqué states explicitly that the certificate does not remove the obligation to obtain these permits.

What are the benefits of an investment incentive certificate?

The benefits of an investment incentive certificate depend on the incentive scheme under which the certificate is issued. The certificate lists one by one which of the following incentives apply: customs duty exemption, VAT exemption, tax reduction, interest or profit share support, machinery support, allocation of an investment site and, depending on the region, social security premium support. For the rates of these incentives and how they differ by program, see our in our investment incentives guide .

Here are the practical benefits you need to know when planning the application process:

• The customs duty exemption and the VAT exemption apply when you purchase the machinery covered by the certificate; in other words, the cash benefit is felt from the first day of the investment.
• Decree No. 9903 defines the customs duty exemption as applying the rate set under the Import Regime Decree at 0%.
• The tax reduction comes into play after the investment starts generating profits and is spread over years.
• Employment-linked premium support, on the other hand, starts after the completion visa; delaying the visa therefore means losing money directly.

Premium support linked to the incentive certificate and the general employment incentives arising from Law No. 5510 are separate systems. We cover the conditions of the latter in our SGK incentives article.

How to obtain an investment incentive certificate: the application process in 6 steps

The process is governed by Decree No. 9903 on State Aid for Investments, published in the Official Gazette dated 30 May 2025, the 21 June 2025 Implementing Communiqué No. 2025/1 and the 2018 Authorization Communiqué regulating E-TUYS authorization. The table below summarizes the six steps; we then explain each step separately.

1. Preliminary preparation: investment subject, NACE code and incentive scheme

The first step is taken on paper. You determine the subject of the investment, the product to be manufactured and the corresponding NACE code (the European Union’s classification of economic activities); Decree No. 9903 also defines sectors by NACE Rev.2.1 codes. Next, the region of the investment site, whether it is inside an organized industrial zone (OSB), and the type of investment (complete new, expansion, modernization, product diversification, integration, relocation) are considered.

At this stage we look for answers to these questions: Does the investment fall under one of the Türkiye Century Development Initiative programs, or under the Sectoral Incentive System? Is the planned fixed investment amount above the minimum investment amount announced for that year? Since the TL amounts in the Decree are updated every year by the revaluation rate, the minimum amount should be checked against the Ministry’s announcement for the year of application.

In preliminary preparation, one rule takes precedence over everything. Under Article 5 of the Decree, investment expenditures made before the application date are not covered by the incentive certificate. Machinery orders, advance payments or the start of construction should be planned for after the application.

2. KEP address, e-signature and E-TUYS authorization

The person who will carry out transactions on behalf of the company in E-TUYS (Electronic Incentive Application and Foreign Capital Information System) is called the “user”. Under the Authorization Communiqué, the user must have a qualified electronic certificate (e-signature), and the investing company must have a registered electronic mail (KEP) account. An e-signature and KEP account previously obtained for another purpose and still valid may also be used.

For authorization, the following documents are sent to the KEP address of the General Directorate of Incentive Implementation and Foreign Capital:

• An application letter prepared by the persons authorized to represent the company,
• For each user, a letter of undertaking in Turkish, issued before a notary, in line with the Ministry’s template,
• A User Authorization Form in line with the Ministry’s template, signed by the persons authorized to represent the company.

If the letter of undertaking is issued abroad, Turkish consular legalization or an apostille is required; in foreign-owned companies, this is usually the item that extends the timeline the most. After the authorization is approved, the user must complete the “Investor” and “Shareholder List” fields in E-TUYS within 1 month at the latest. The user’s authority is limited to the period stated in the letter of undertaking; when the period ends, the authority is suspended.

3. Incentive certificate application in E-TUYS and required documents

The incentive certificate application is made by completing the defined fields in the E-TUYS application and uploading the documents electronically. The fields cover the location, type, capacity, employment and financing structure of the investment, as well as the lists of imported and domestic machinery. Under Article 7 of Communiqué No. 2025/1, the main documents to be uploaded are:

• A letter or barcoded document showing that there is no overdue premium or administrative fine debt to the Social Security Institution (SGK) (or that the debt has been deferred, put in installments or restructured),
• If the investment subject requires it, an EIA (ÇED) decision or related letter obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change,
• For investments specified by the General Directorate, a business opening and operating license,
• Documents that must be obtained in advance from other authorities depending on the nature of the investment,
• If the investment amount is 1 billion TL or more, a feasibility report in the format annexed to the project-based state aid decree.

You do not need to take the paper originals of documents uploaded with an e-signature to the Ministry. On the other hand, the Communiqué places on the investor the responsibility to retain every uploaded document in full for 10 years from the application date and to account for them in audits. That is why we recommend setting up your archive system from the first day of the application.

4. Review and issuance of the investment incentive certificate

The Ministry evaluates the project for compliance with the conditions in the Decree, macroeconomic policies, the supply-demand balance and from sectoral, financial and technical perspectives; where necessary, it obtains the opinions of other institutions. If the project is found suitable, the incentive certificate and the lists of imported and domestic machinery and equipment are approved by the General Directorate. The investment incentive certificate is issued as an electronic document through E-TUYS.

Missing information is the most common cause of delay at this stage. If information is incomplete or inconsistent, the application is not considered. When a deficiency is identified, the Ministry notifies the investor; if no deadline is stated in the notification, the period for completion is 30 days, and a file completed on time is concluded under the legislation in force on the original application date.

The investment period is also set when the certificate is issued. Under Article 29 of the Decree, the investor proposes the period; if the proposed period is longer than 3 years, the Ministry may reduce it to up to 3 years. If the investment is not completed within the planned period, an extension of up to half of the original period on the certificate may be granted. In the Development Initiative programs, however, decisions are made by committees on a project basis; under the Strategic Initiative Program, the General Directorate forwards a project that passes the preliminary assessment to a development and investment bank chosen by the investor for a feasibility report.

5. Investment period: machinery lists, expenditure records and revisions

The work is not over once you have the certificate; the real follow-up begins. Under Article 20 of the Communiqué, for each imported or domestic machine covered by the certificate, the user must open a transaction in E-TUYS before the purchase. As long as the quantity stated on the list is not exceeded, a higher or lower amount than on the list does not require a list change.

As of 1 January 2026, the Decree requires that an e-Invoice or e-Archive invoice be issued for goods and services purchased domestically under the certificate. On the accounting side, this means recording purchases under the incentive certificate in a structure that can be tracked separately. For investments under the Development Initiative, an investment progress report must also be submitted to the Ministry by the end of March each year for interest and machinery support payments.

If the fixed investment amount, capacity or any other information on the certificate changes, a revision request is filed with justification and supporting documents. Investor information such as trade name, tax office or contact details, however, is updated by the user in E-TUYS without applying to the Ministry. If the investment subject changes, the incentives used for machinery unrelated to the new subject are recovered.

6. Closing the certificate with the completion visa

The completion visa certifies that the investment has been completed in line with the certificate. Within 3 months after the investment period or extension ends, the user applies for the visa by completing the fields in E-TUYS and uploading the documents listed in the annex to the Communiqué. If no application is made, the Ministry sends a notification; if no application is made within 2 months of the notification either, the certificate is canceled.

The visa concludes with a completion inspection at the investment site. The inspection may be carried out by General Directorate staff, development agencies, the Ministry’s provincial directorates or KOSGEB provincial directorates; for investments deemed appropriate by the General Directorate, the visa may also be granted based on a Sworn Financial Advisor (YMM) report. If it is found at the visa stage that the conditions have been partly unmet, the incentives are revised and the excess benefit is recovered under Law No. 6183.

Most common mistakes in incentive certificate applications

Technically, an incentive certificate application looks like a form-filling exercise. The losses we see in the field, however, mostly occur before the form or after the certificate is obtained:

• Making invoice or advance payments before the application. These expenditures are never covered by the certificate.
• Buying machinery without opening a transaction in E-TUYS. Incentives do not apply to purchases not recorded in the system.
• Including items the Communiqué excludes, such as raw materials, spare parts, used domestic machinery or passenger cars, in the investment budget.
• Trying to apply on behalf of a company whose formation has not been completed.
• Not tracking the term of the letter of undertaking. Once the authority is suspended, the user cannot carry out visa or revision transactions.
• Delaying the completion visa. Premium support starts only after the visa.

One more detail: under Decree No. 9903, the share of intangible assets such as trademarks, licenses and know-how cannot exceed 25% of the total fixed investment amount on the certificate (excluding the Digital Transformation Program). In software- or license-heavy projects, the budget should be structured with this limit in mind.

Once the certificate is issued, you can track its status through E-TUYS. We will cover the other functions of E-TUYS and the certificate inquiry steps in a separate article.

What does Akal CPA look at in an incentive file?

At Akal CPA, we think of the incentive certificate not in terms of the application day but together with the completion visa. That is why, in preliminary preparation, we design the accounting records, the machinery list and the e-Invoice flow in the same table; for foreign-owned companies we also add the letter of undertaking and apostille timeline to this plan. For the entire process from authorization to visa, you can use our investment incentive certificate advisory service, and you can find our other guides in our Investment Guide category .

A well-prepared incentive file is set up before the first invoice and proceeds in the same orderly way until the final inspection.