10.10.2024/56
Procedures and Principles of Earnings Exemption for Social Content Creation, Services Provided on the Internet and Similar Electronic Environments and Application Development for Mobile Devices have been Determined
The Income Tax General Communiqué Serial No. 325 Amending the Income Tax General Communiqué Serial No. 318 was published in the Official Gazette dated September 26, 2024 and numbered 32674.
With the “Income Tax General Communiqué Serial No. 325”; the amendments made by Law No. 7491 within the scope of the social content production exemption have been incorporated into the Communiqué Serial No. 318, which includes the relevant regulations and explanations, and some additional explanations have also been made.
With the amendment made, the scope of the exemption in Article 20/B of the Income Tax Law has changed as follows;
Earnings from these activities of social content producers who share content such as text, image, audio, video over the Internet and similar electronic media and earnings from services such as individual courses, training, data processing and development, product promotion provided through these media and earnings from electronic application sharing and sales platforms of those who develop applications for mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets are exempt from income tax. Within this scope;
- Real persons who are social content producers who share content such as text, images, audio, video, etc. through social network providers and real persons who develop applications for mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, and the earnings from these activities from 01.01.2022,
- Social content producers who share content such as text, image, audio, video, etc. over the Internet and similar electronic media, will be able to share their earnings from these activities from 01.01.2024,
- Earnings of real persons who earn from services such as individual courses, training, data processing and development, product promotion provided over the Internet and similar electronic media, from 01.01.2024
It is within the scope of the exemption.
In order to benefit from the exemption, an account must be opened in banks established in Turkey and all revenues related to these activities must be collected exclusively through this account.
The fact that taxpayers have earnings or revenues arising from other activities does not prevent them from benefiting from the exemption.
Banks are obliged to withhold income tax at the rate of 15% on the amount of revenue transferred to the accounts opened within this scope, as of the date of transfer, and to declare and pay it in the withholding declaration.
Taxpayers whose total income exceeds the amount in the fourth income bracket of the tariff written in Article 103 of the Income Tax Law (3.000.000 TL for 2024) and those who do not collect all income related to the activity according to the stipulated conditions cannot benefit from the said exemption.
In the exemption application, it does not matter whether the taxpayers are full or limited taxpayers.
Taxpayers who meet the exemption conditions will not submit an annual income tax return for the earnings obtained due to their activities within the scope of the exemption, and if a declaration is submitted due to other income, these earnings will not be included in the declaration.
Taxpayers are required to apply to the authorized tax office in the place of their residence for the exception certificate after the establishment of the taxpayer for the activities within the scope of the exemption and obtain the “Exception Certificate Regarding the Application of Repeated Article 20/B of Law No. 193” in the annex of the Communiqué from the relevant tax offices regarding the activities within the scope of the exception.
Following the determination by the tax office that these activities are among the activities exempted according to the provision of the aforementioned article or the establishment of the appropriate activity code, the exemption documents will be issued to the applicants.
The Communiqué entered into force on 01.09.2024, effective from 01.01.2024.
The Communiqué includes detailed examples regarding the implementation of the regulations.
Communiqué No. 325 published in the Official Gazette dated September 26, 2024 and numbered 32674 is available here.
Sincerely,
BİLGENER
