VAT Return: Deadline, Attachments and Common Mistakes

A VAT return is the return in which a company reports to the tax office the VAT it calculated on its sales in a tax period, the VAT it incurred on its purchases, and the tax payable or carried forward arising from the difference. Companies that file monthly submit VAT return No. 1 by 23:59 on the 28th day of the month following the period and pay the tax within the same deadline. The deadline for return No. 2, filed in the capacity of a responsible party, is the 25th.

We have already explained what VAT is and how it is calculated. This article focuses on the form side: which sections the return consists of, which annexes are completed and when, how corrections are made, and what the e-Beyan transition that took effect in 2026 means for you.

Who files a VAT return, and what types are there?

Every company registered for VAT files a return for each tax period, even if it made no sales in that period. Article 40 of VAT Law No. 3065 also obliges taxpayers with no taxable transactions to file a return. For a newly established company, the obligation begins with the period that includes the date of commencement of business.

In practice, the returns companies encounter are as follows:

• VAT return No. 1 (KDV1): The main return a company files for its own supplies and services. Calculated VAT, deductions, exemptions and the result appear here.
• VAT return No. 2 (KDV2): Filed in the capacity of a responsible party where the buyer pays the tax instead of the seller, i.e. for purchases subject to withholding and services received from abroad.
• VAT return No. 4 (KDV4): The return for taxpayers taxed on a revenue basis; most companies do not use it.

Revenue Administration announcements also add the forms coded KDV2B and KDV9015. Which form you use depends on your activity; for a typical limited liability or joint stock company, the relevant ones are KDV1, filed every month, and KDV2, filed when needed.

VAT return deadline: the 28th and the 25th

The text of the Law sets the 24th of the month for filing and the 26th for payment. The Revenue Administration, using the authority granted by the Law, extended these deadlines by circular. The deadlines currently in force appear in the Revenue Administration’s table of return filing and payment deadlines as follows:

One exception to the VAT return deadline rule is the calendar. Under Article 18 of the Tax Procedure Law, if the last day of a deadline falls on an official holiday, the deadline moves to the end of working hours on the first following business day. For example, for the October 2026 period, 28 November 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the deadline moves to Monday, 30 November. Since GİB may grant additional extensions by circular during public holiday periods, the calendar should be checked again every month; we have compiled the detailed list of dates in our tax calendar article.

How is a VAT return filed? The process in 6 steps

Completing the return is really a matter of putting the records kept throughout the month into a set order. The six steps below follow the tab structure of VAT return No. 1 and show which information goes where at each step.

1. Complete documents and records before the month closes

The return is generated from the entries in the statutory books; an invoice that is not in the books cannot go on the return. Sales and purchase invoices, customs declarations and return invoices must have reached accounting by month-end. Article 29/3 of the Law allows the right of deduction to be used in the period in which the document is recorded in the books, provided the calendar year following the year in which the taxable event occurred has not passed.

2. Complete the tax base tab

In the tax base section, you enter your supplies and services subject to VAT by rate. Sales on which you applied partial withholding are shown in a separate table with the transaction type code and withholding rate. The “Other Transactions” table carries corrections such as previously deducted VAT on goods that were lost or VAT on non-deductible expenses.

3. Complete the deductions tab

VAT paid on domestic purchases is entered on line 108, VAT paid on imports on line 110, and VAT declared and paid as a responsible party on line 109. From the January 2024 period onward, GİB compares the amount entered on line 110 with payment data it receives from the General Directorate of Public Accounts. An excess amount on this line may cause the return to get stuck at the approval stage.

4. Enter exemptions and transactions giving rise to a refund right

Transactions under full exemption, such as exports, and reduced-rate sales are shown with their transaction code on the “Exemptions-Other Transactions Giving Rise to a Refund Right” tab. These tables are the basis of the refund claim; a company seeking a refund also submits its lists through the Internet Tax Office. For how these lists are prepared, see deductible VAT list guide.

5. Check the result accounts

The result accounts section shows the VAT payable or the VAT carried forward to the next period. The VAT-inclusive amount of sales collected by credit card is also requested here. GİB compares this field with POS data from banks and data from the Turkish Association of Payment and Electronic Money Institutions; the amount declared should not be less than this total.

6. Complete the annexes, approve and plan the payment

In the last step, you complete the relevant annex tables, approve the return and receive the assessment slip. In addition to the VAT payable, stamp tax is also assessed for the return. Since the payment deadline is the same as the filing deadline, both amounts should be entered in the cash plan together.

VAT return annexes: which table is completed and when?

VAT return annexes are not mandatory every month; they come into play depending on the transactions you carried out. The tables companies encounter most often on the “Annexes” tab are:

• Notification of Transactions Subject to Withholding: Completed when you have transactions subject to partial or optional full withholding.
• 109-Notification Relating to VAT Paid as a Responsible Party: When you make a deduction on line 109, it shows how the tax on return No. 2 was paid.
• Notifications for Deduction Types Coded 107 and 111: When a deduction is made with these codes, the period and amount of the related VAT receivable are entered in this table.

In its January 2024 announcement, GİB renamed line 109 “VAT Declared and Paid as a Responsible Party.” The basis for the change is the provision added to Article 29 of the VAT Law by Law No. 7491: withheld VAT is now deducted in the period in which it is paid, not the period in which it is declared. Payment of the tax declared on return No. 2 by offset against a refund receivable is also indicated in this table.

A reminder: Form Ba and Form Bs notifications were abolished from the September 2024 period by General Communiqué on the Tax Procedure Law No. 565. These notifications are no longer part of VAT return preparation.

The e-Beyan transition: where is the return filed now?

In 2025, the Revenue Administration launched the “e-Beyan” project to replace the old e-Beyanname (BDP) application with a new open-source system. KDV1, KDV2, KDV2B, KDV4 and KDV9015 returns started to be received through the new system first in Eskişehir and Kırşehir from the August 2025 period, then expanding province by province. Taxpayers create the return by entering the e-Beyan application in the Digital Tax Office and using the “+ New Return” button; accounting professionals can also submit it via web service through integrated accounting software.

Update (October 2026): According to the Revenue Administration’s announcement dated 14 October 2026, VAT returns are received through the new e-Beyan system in all provinces except Istanbul, and therefore in Ankara as well. In Istanbul, the transition starts on 1 November 2026, with the October 2026 period. Returns for earlier periods being filed for the first time, and corrective returns for those periods, continue to be filed through the old e-Beyanname (BDP) system.

When is a corrective VAT return filed?

A corrective VAT return is a return filed again for a period when missing or incorrect information is found in the return previously filed for that period. If the correction increases the tax payable, it is generally filed under the voluntary disclosure provisions of Article 371 of the Tax Procedure Law. If the correction reduces the tax or changes the carried-forward amount, its effect on the returns of subsequent periods should also be tracked.

The conditions for correction under voluntary disclosure are listed in the Law. The taxpayer must report the situation on its own initiative by petition, the report must be made before an audit or a tip-off, and the corrective return must be filed within 15 days. The tax is also paid within 15 days, together with a voluntary disclosure surcharge calculated at the late payment interest rate for each month or part of a month of delay. Under Presidential Decree No. 10556 published in the Official Gazette, the late payment interest rate is 3.7% per month.

The point most often overlooked in corrections is the chain effect. A correction that reduces deductible VAT in the March period also reduces the amount carried forward to April; the April and subsequent returns may also need to be reviewed accordingly.

What happens if a VAT return is not filed on time?

A return not filed on time is a first-degree procedural irregularity under Article 352 of the Tax Procedure Law; penalty amounts are updated every year by communiqué. Late payment interest accrues under Law No. 6183 on tax not paid on time. If the delay resulted in a tax loss, a tax loss penalty may also come into play; since the details of penalties are a separate topic, we have only given the framework here.

VAT return errors we often see in practice

Our clients’ problems on filing day often arise not from the calculation but from line selection and sequencing. The ones we encounter most often are:

• Taking a deduction on line 109 without paying return No. 2. Since 2024, the deduction depends on the period in which payment is made; withheld VAT whose payment is late cannot be deducted that month.
• Entering the VAT on a non-deductible expense on line 108. According to GİB’s explanation, this VAT should not enter the deduction line in the first place, and if identified later, it should be corrected on line 509.
• Not reconciling VAT paid on imports with customs records. If the amount on line 110 exceeds the Public Accounts data, the return may not be approved.
• Under-reporting POS sales. The credit card collection field is checked against bank and payment institution data.
• Not carrying services received from abroad to return No. 2. For consulting or license services received from the parent company abroad, the company in Turkey declares the VAT as a responsible party.

What these errors have in common is preparing the return on the last day. A preliminary check in the first week of the month eliminates most of the surprises that would otherwise come up on the 28th.

Who should prepare the VAT return?

Since the VAT return is a task that recurs every month, errors can recur every month too. That is why the real value lies less in completing the form than in running the document flow and line checks regularly throughout the month. At Akal CPA, we see the return as the last link in the bookkeeping chain; as part of our general accounting services , we handle the month-end closing and the VAT and No. 2 return checks together.

You can find the basic logic, rates and calculation of VAT in our article what is VAT , and your other filing obligations on the Tax Legislation knowledge base page. For official deadlines, the Revenue Administration’s table of return filing and payment deadlines, and for the e-Beyan transition, the Digital Tax Office announcements are the reference sources. The stamp tax amount was taken from GİB’s 2026 stamp tax amounts list.