Corporate Income Tax Rate 2026 in Turkey: Different Rates by Sector

As a general rule, the corporate income tax rate in 2026 is 25%; banks, insurance companies and certain financial institutions pay 30%. The corporate income tax rate is the percentage set in Article 32 of Corporate Income Tax Law No. 5520 and applied to a company’s taxable net corporate profit. However, not every company is subject to one of these two rates. In cases such as export earnings, production by holders of an industrial registry certificate, initial public offerings and investment incentive certificates, the rate falls by a few points, sometimes by more than half.

In this article we explain which rate applies to which earnings in the 2026 accounting period, the five reduction cases in the law and how the reductions are calculated together. If you are wondering who corporate income tax covers and how the tax base is determined, we recommend that you first read our what is corporate income tax article.

What is the corporate income tax rate in 2026?

The general rate applied to corporate earnings in 2026 is 25%. This is the rate that a company using the calendar year as its accounting period will apply when declaring its 2026 earnings in April 2027. For certain institutions in the banking and finance sector, the rate is 30%.

According to the Revenue Administration’s (GİB) March 2026 guide “Rate Applications in Corporate Income Tax”, corporate income tax is levied at 25% as a rule, while certain entities pay 30%. The full guide is available in the Revenue Administration’s corporate income tax rate guide (gib.gov.tr) . The guide explains each of the reduced rates with sample calculations.

The table below brings together the rates and their legal basis for the 2026 accounting period in one place. Rates are shown based on the general rate (25%).

Which companies are subject to the 30% rate?

The 30% rate applies to the financial and insurance institutions listed one by one in the law. Banks, financial leasing, factoring, financing and savings financing companies, electronic payment and money institutions, authorized foreign exchange offices, asset management companies, capital market institutions, insurance and reinsurance companies, and pension companies are in this group.

Law No. 7524 added two more groups to this list. For earnings in 2025 and later periods, companies that are parties to the contract in projects carried out under the build-operate-transfer model and in public-private partnership projects in the healthcare sector also pay 30%. If the subsidiary that a foreign financial group will set up in Turkey falls within this list, the tax calculation in the business plan should be made at 30% instead of 25%.

Is there a difference in the corporate income tax rate between 2025 and 2026?

There is no difference in terms of the general rate and the 30% rate; the corporate income tax rate was also applied as 25% and 30% in the 2025 period. The rates were last raised by Law No. 7456, from 20% to 25% and from 25% to 30%. The return and payment for the 2025 accounting period were made between 1-30 April 2026 for companies using the calendar year.

The real difference between the two periods arose in investment incentives. Article 32/A, as amended by Law No. 7555, fixed the reduction at 60% for incentive certificates obtained from 24 July 2025 onward and limited it to ten accounting periods. A significant portion of investments entering operation for the first time in 2026 will be subject to these new rules.

The 5 reduction cases in the law

The law lowers the rate below the general rate for certain earnings. The Revenue Administration (GİB) groups these under two headings: “reduced rate applications” and “reduced corporate income tax”. To make reading easier, we list them as five cases.

1. Corporate income tax reduction for exports: 5 points

For exporting entities, the corporate income tax rate on earnings derived exclusively from exports is reduced by 5 points. For a company subject to the general rate, this means export earnings are taxed at 20%. The reduction started at 1 point in 2022; Law No. 7456 increased it to 5 points for earnings in 2023 and later periods.

Manufacturers and suppliers that export through foreign trade capital companies or sectoral foreign trade companies under an intermediated export agreement may also benefit from this reduction. The point to watch is this: the reduction applies not to the company’s entire profit but only to the earnings attributable to exports. These earnings are calculated separately using the apportionment method permitted by the law.

2. Production earnings with an industrial registry certificate: 1 point

For entities that hold an industrial registry certificate and are actually engaged in production, the rate on earnings derived exclusively from production is reduced by 1 point in the 2026 period, i.e. applied as 24%. Both conditions are required together. An entity that has the certificate but does not produce, or that produces but does not have the certificate, cannot use this reduction.

According to the Revenue Administration (GİB), production in the software and IT field under an industrial registry certificate may also benefit from this reduction. If the goods produced are exported, however, only the 5-point reduction applies to the earnings attributable to exports; an additional 1 point is not deducted from the same earnings.

3. Initial public offering: 2 points for five accounting periods

Entities whose shares are offered to the public at a rate of at least 20% for trading for the first time on the Borsa Istanbul Equity Market apply a rate reduced by 2 points for five accounting periods, starting from the period in which the public offering takes place. Under the general rate, this means 23%. Banks, insurance companies and the other financial institutions listed in the law are excluded from this reduction.

The 20% condition must be met in the initial public offering. A company that floats 15% in the first offering and 17% in the second cannot benefit from the reduction even if the total exceeds 20%. If the share ratio condition is lost within the five periods, the underpaid tax is recovered without a penalty but with late payment interest.

4. Investment with an incentive certificate: reduced corporate income tax

Under Article 32/A, reduced corporate income tax applies to earnings from investments covered by an investment incentive certificate issued by the Ministry of Industry and Technology. For certificates obtained on or after 24 July 2025, the rate is reduced by 60%; for a company subject to the general rate, this means a rate of about 10%. The reduction lasts until the investment contribution amount is reached and for a maximum of ten accounting periods, including the first period of use.

There are two further restrictions in the new system. An investment contribution amount that is not used despite there being earnings cannot be carried forward to subsequent periods. The reduction applied to earnings from the company’s other activities is limited to four accounting periods.

For certificates applied for before 16 June 2025 or obtained before 24 July 2025, the old provisions continue to apply. Financial and insurance institutions and joint ventures cannot benefit from this scheme.

5. Production earnings in SME mergers

If small and medium-sized enterprises with an industrial registry certificate that are actually engaged in production merge in line with the conditions in the law, the President may reduce the rate applied to the production earnings of these entities by up to 75%. The reduction covers three accounting periods, including the period in which the merger takes place. To qualify as an SME, the annual number of employees must be fewer than 250, and either net sales revenue or the balance sheet total must not exceed 1 billion TL.

This reduction does not operate automatically; the President sets the rate and may differentiate it by sector, region or technology level. A manufacturing company planning a merger needs to check the decree in force and the SME criteria based on the previous period’s financial statements before carrying out the transaction.

How are reductions applied together in the same company?

A company may both export and go public in the same year, or earn production income alongside an investment with an incentive certificate. In this case the law provides an order: the export and production reductions are applied to the rate remaining after the other reductions in Article 32 have been applied. For example, for an exporter making its first public offering, 2 points are deducted first, and then a further 5 points for export earnings.

The calculation below is entirely fictitious and does not belong to a real company. Assume that a trading company that has no industrial registry certificate, exports and is not publicly listed has a 2026 corporate income tax base of 2,000,000 TL, and that after apportionment the tax base attributable to exports is 800,000 TL.

In the example, the export reduction lowers the tax by 40,000 TL. In a real calculation, the apportionment formula, exempt earnings and prior-year losses change the result. For this reason, tracking the revenue, cost and expense items of the earnings subject to the reduction in separate accounts is essential for a calculation that can be defended during a tax audit.

Does the minimum corporate tax limit the reduced rates?

It may. Under Article 32/C of Law No. 5520, the tax calculated taking into account Articles 32 and 32/A cannot be less than 10% of corporate earnings before deductions and exemptions. This rule applies to earnings for 2025 and later periods.

According to the Revenue Administration (GİB) guide, taxes not collected because of the export, production, public offering and 32/A reductions can be deducted from the minimum tax. In other words, reduced rates are not entirely lost in the minimum tax calculation. Still, companies using high exemptions need to check the minimum tax in every advance tax period; entities starting operations for the first time are excluded from this rule for their first three accounting periods.

At what rate is advance tax paid?

Corporate income taxpayers pay advance (provisional) tax at the corporate income tax rate of the current period. In other words, in 2026 a company subject to the general rate calculates advance tax at 25% on its quarterly earnings. The President is authorized to reduce this rate by up to 5 points.

Reduced rates may also be taken into account in advance tax periods. For example, the reduced rate can be used from the advance tax period in which the public offering condition is met; however, no correction can be made for advance taxes calculated at the general rate in previous periods.

Common rate mistakes we see in the field

In the year-end checks we carry out with our clients, most rate-related mistakes stem from conditions being read incompletely. The ones we encounter most often are:

• A company that outsources production or has no industrial registry certificate applying the 1-point production reduction.
• A company that exports goods it produces itself deducting both 5 points and 1 point from the same earnings.
• Applying the export rate of 20% to the company’s entire tax base without apportionment.
• Applying the 12.5% rate in Law No. 7582 to 2026 earnings; this rate is for 2027 and later.

The corporate income tax reduction and the VAT exemption are also often confused. The VAT exemption and refund right for export deliveries are a separate regime; they are not subject to the same conditions as the 5-point reduction in corporate income tax. We explained the VAT side in our what is VAT article.

Choosing the right rate is a matter of planning

Which reduction applies to you depends on the company’s business structure, its certificates and its bookkeeping. At Akal CPA, we see reduced rates not as a privilege remembered at year end but as a compliance matter tracked from the advance tax period onward. In our Tax advisory and planning service, we check in advance whether the incentive certificate, industrial registry certificate and export records meet the rate conditions.

You can follow other filing and rate topics in this section in our tax legislation category.

Last updated: 17.10.2026