What Is the Withholding Return (Muhtasar Beyanname), and When and How Is It Filed?

The short answer to “what is the muhtasar return?”: the withholding return (muhtasar beyanname) is the return in which employers required to withhold tax report to the tax office the payments they made within a month, such as wages, rent and self-employment fees, and the taxes they withheld from those payments. The word “muhtasar” means summary. The company filing the return pays not its own tax but the tax of its employee, landlord or lawyer on their behalf. Today, this filing is a single form combined with the monthly premium and service document submitted to the Social Security Institution (SGK).

In this article we explain the legal provisions on which the return is based, who must file it, the deadline and the option to file quarterly. We then cover the step-by-step submission process, the amended return and the consequences of late filing.

What is the muhtasar return, and which law is it based on?

The withholding return (muhtasar beyanname) is regulated in Article 98 of Personal Income Tax Law No. 193. The article requires those obliged to withhold tax (deduct the tax at source at the time of payment) under Article 94 to report their payments within a month and the taxes they withheld to the tax office. Withholdings under Articles 15 and 30 of the Corporate Income Tax Law are also included in the same return.

The current form of the return is based on Article 98/A, added to the Law in 2016. With this article, the withholding return and the monthly premium and service document submitted to SGK under Law No. 5510 were combined into a single form. The implementation procedures were set by Withholding and Social Security Premium Return General Communiqué Serial No. 1, published in the Official Gazette dated 18 February 2017.

You can access the current text of the Law on the Personal Income Tax Law No. 193 (mevzuat.gov.tr) page. In practice, the return is also referred to by its code number: in the e-return system, the form appears with the code “1003A”, or in short as “MUHSGK”.

What did the withholding and social security premium return change?

Before the combined withholding and social security premium return, employers reported tax withholdings to the tax office and insured employee information separately to SGK. Two pieces of information from the same payroll were entered into different systems on different dates. With a single return, the employment income tax base and the earnings subject to premiums now sit side by side on the same screen, and both institutions see the same data.

This combination has a practical consequence. An error in the payroll now affects not only the tax side but also the employee’s service days and premium record. For this reason, the payroll and SGK notifications should be checked together before preparing the return.

Who files the muhtasar return?

The answer to who files the withholding return is in Article 94 of the Personal Income Tax Law. The Law holds the following persons and entities responsible for withholding tax at the time they make payments:

• Commercial companies (including limited liability and joint stock companies), joint ventures and cooperatives,
• Public administrations and institutions, and state economic enterprises,
• Associations, foundations and their economic enterprises,
• Investment fund managers,
• Merchants and self-employed persons required to declare their actual income,
• Farmers who determine their agricultural profits on a balance sheet or agricultural business account basis.

The Revenue Administration’s (GİB) preparation guide adds one more group to this list. Apartment managements that do not withhold tax but employ insured persons, or tradespeople taxed under the simplified method, also report insured employee information with this return. In this case, the return is filed with only the SGK notifications section completed.

For a newly established company, the first step is to open the “0003 Personal Income Tax Withholding” registration. According to the guide, this request can be made by applying in person to the tax office or by petition through the Internet Tax Office. Until the registration is opened, the e-return system does not accept the return.

Does a company with no employees file a muhtasar return?

A company with no employees also files a withholding return in the month it makes a rent or self-employment payment. A company that rents its office from an individual or works with a self-employed lawyer withholds tax at the time of payment and reports it. In months with no withholding and no insured employees, however, no filing obligation arises.

If you pay rent or professional fees to a company, the situation is different. For such payments made to entities, there is often no withholding tax; the other party issues an invoice and VAT comes into play. We explained the VAT side of invoiced payments in our what is VAT article.

Which withholdings and notifications are included in the return?

The return consists of two main sections. In the tax section, the month’s payments are grouped by type, while in the SGK section, each insured person’s earnings subject to premiums and premium days are entered one by one.

The “law type” field in the SGK notifications shows which premium incentive the employer benefits from. Choosing the wrong law number may lead to losing the incentive or to an amended return. We covered the types and conditions of incentives in our SGK incentives article.

Wage withholding tax: the 2026 personal income tax schedule

The personal income tax to be withheld from wages is calculated using the progressive schedule in Article 103 of the Personal Income Tax Law. The bracket amounts are updated every year by communiqué. According to the footnote in the text of the Law, the 2026 amounts were set by Personal Income Tax General Communiqué Serial No. 332, published in the Official Gazette dated 31 December 2025.

The brackets are applied according to the employee’s cumulative tax base within that year. For this reason, the withholding of an employee receiving the same gross wage may increase in the second half of the year as the tax base rises. A change in net pay over the months on the payroll is often not an error but the result of this rule.

Article 23, item 18 of the Personal Income Tax Law regulates the minimum wage exemption introduced by Law No. 7349. Accordingly, the wage corresponding to the amount remaining after deducting the employee’s share of SGK and unemployment insurance premiums from the gross minimum wage is exempt from personal income tax; tax is calculated only on the portion exceeding this amount. The exemption amount is recalculated when the minimum wage changes; the payroll must be closed with the current amount.

When is the muhtasar return filed?

The general answer to when the withholding return is filed is the 26th of the month following the month to which the withholding relates. According to the Revenue Administration’s (GİB) guide, the return is submitted electronically by 23:59 on that day. If the last day falls on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.

The deadline for paying the withheld tax is the same day. Under Article 119 of the Personal Income Tax Law, the withheld tax is paid to the tax office by the evening of the 26th of the month in which the return is to be filed. The payment of social security premiums, however, is subject to the due date set in SGK legislation; this due date should not be confused with the tax payment.

Let us make this concrete with an example. A company paying October 2026 salaries on 31 October reports the tax withheld from this payment and the employees’ October premium information in November 2026, by 26 November. If the payment is not made on the same day, the tax is deemed to have been paid late.

Who can file the muhtasar return quarterly?

Quarterly filing of the withholding return is a convenience the law grants to small employers. Under Article 98 of the Personal Income Tax Law, except for those withholding on payments for agricultural products, employers with 10 or fewer employees may file quarterly, provided they notify the tax office in advance.

However, this option narrowed with the combined withholding and social security premium return. According to the guide, employers with 1 to 10 employees still file the return every month; only the tax withholding section can be declared collectively in the March, June, September and December periods. The SGK section must be completed every month. Taxpayers with no employees, on the other hand, may continue to file the return quarterly.

Quarterly filing eases cash flow but does not reduce the follow-up burden. Withholdings sit in the records for three months and are paid in one go at the end of the period. For businesses that do not track this amount in a separate account, the payment day may come as a surprise.

How is the muhtasar return filed? Step-by-step process

The return is filed only electronically. For companies, submission is mostly made by an accountant who has signed the intermediary agreement under Tax Procedure Law General Communiqué Serial No. 340. The process consists of the following steps in order:

• Registration check: Make sure the 0003 personal income tax withholding registration is open and the SGK workplace registration number is correctly defined.
• Finalizing the payroll: Clarify wage, bonus, overtime, leave and termination information before the month is closed.
• Collecting other payments: Gather the receipts, contracts and bank slips for rent, self-employment and foreign payments.
• Preparing the return: Complete the tax and SGK sections using the Return Preparation Program, the Internet Tax Office or the Ledger Declaration System.
• Check and approval: The submitted package goes through a system check. If there are no errors, a single approval generates one accrual for tax and at least one for SGK.
• Payment: Pay the tax accrual by the evening of the last day, and the premium accrual by the SGK due date.

The guide also sets a rule for employers with withholding tax registrations at more than one tax office. The return containing wage withholdings is filed with the tax office where wage payments are declared. It is therefore possible for a company headquartered in Ankara with a branch in another district to file a separate return for the branch’s rent.

Incorrect returns: amendments and the consequences of late filing

Errors noticed after the return is submitted are corrected with an amended return. According to the Revenue Administration’s (GİB) guide, any number of amended returns may be filed within the legal deadline, and no stamp duty accrues for these amendments. Amended returns filed after the deadline, however, are subject to stamp duty.

The direction of the amendment also matters. For an amendment that increases the tax base, the system generates a new accrual only for the difference. For an amendment that reduces the tax base, the accrual is issued as zero; the error must be documented or the explanation must be found sufficient by the tax office. If the explanation is not found sufficient, the return may be referred for a tax audit.

A return not filed on time has two separate consequences. On the tax side, an irregularity penalty under the Tax Procedure Law (VUK) and late payment interest on tax paid late apply. On the SGK side, Article 102 of Law No. 5510 provides for an administrative fine of one-fifth of the monthly minimum wage per insured person for an original document not submitted on time; the fine cannot exceed twice the monthly minimum wage. SGK notifications submitted late are also processed only after being reviewed by the institution.

Mistakes we often see in practice

The point our clients struggle with most in the withholding return process is the payroll being left until the last minute. Overtime or bonus information that is not finalized at the end of the month triggers a chain of corrections close to the 26th. Moving the payroll closing to the first week of the month significantly reduces this risk.

The second common mistake is overlooking withholding tax on license or consulting payments made to a company abroad. In foreign-owned companies, these payments often come with the parent company’s invoice and reach local accounting late. The withholding rate may vary depending on the type of payment and the double taxation treaty with the relevant country; the contract should be reviewed before making a decision.

The third is choosing the wrong document or law type in the SGK section. Reporting an employee eligible for an incentive under the general code may lead to losing the reduction, while reporting an employee not eligible for an incentive under an incentive code may lead to repayment later.

At Akal CPA, we see the withholding return not as a form filled in on the 26th of the month, but as the last link in the payroll process. In our payroll services , we run all steps, from wage calculation to SGK notifications and submission of the return, on the same calendar. You can follow your other filing obligations through the articles in our tax legislation category.

For official details on preparing the return, you can refer to the Withholding and Social Security Premium Return Preparation Guide prepared by the Revenue Administration (GİB).

Last updated: 17.10.2026