Recent Development
The Law No. 7138 on the Tourism Publicity and Development Agency (“Law“), published in the Official Gazette No. 30832 dated 15 July 2019, established the Tourism Publicity and Development Agency (“Agency“), a separate legal entity subject to private law except for certain issues specified in the Law.
One of the Agency’s income resources will be the “tourism share” payment, explained below.
What Does the Law Say?
According to the Law, the Agency’s main activities will be: (i) developing strategies and carrying out publicity activities to reach Turkey’s tourism objectives and promote/market Turkey’s tourism opportunities worldwide; (ii) making recommendations by identifying the needs and trends of the tourism sector and market; (iii) performing works to contribute the tourism potential into Turkey’s economy and to increase tourism investments and tourism share; and (iv) performing the necessary works to increase the service and overall quality of the tourism sector.
Article 6 of the Law states that the tourism share applied to attain the Agency’s objectives and finance the Agency’s activities will be collected from certain enterprises.
Responsible Parties for Paying Tourism Share and the Applicable Rates
The tourism share will be collected from the following enterprises at the below rates:
- TRY 7.5 out of every TRY 1,000 from combined facilities and accommodation facilities;
- TRY 7.5 out of every TRY 1,000 from catering and entertainment facilities certified by the Culture and Tourism Ministry (“Ministry“);
- TRY 7.5 out of every TRY 1,000 from marine tourism facilities and marine tourism vehicles certified by the Ministry;
- TRY 7.5 out of every TRY 10,000 from travel agencies (except for individual air ticket sales);
- TRY 7.5 out of every TRY 10,000 from airline enterprises (from their commercial passenger activities); and
- TRY 2 out of every TRY 1,000 from airport and terminal enterprises, except for those operated by the General Directorate of the State Airports Authority.
The tourism share will be calculated based on the total net sales and leasing income derived by the individuals or legal entities who are the investors or operators of these commercial enterprises from their activities in these enterprises.
These rates will be reduced by 50% for facilities engaged in the tourism types incentivized by the Ministry, such as winter, health, rural and qualified sport tourism.
Declaration and Payment
The tourism share will be declared by the end of the 24th day of the month following the taxpayer’s taxation period under the VAT Law. The tourism share must be declared to the taxpayer’s registered tax office for income tax or corporate income tax purposes. Those who are not income tax or corporate income taxpayers must declare the tourism share to the tax office to be determined by the Revenue Administration.
The payment will be made by the end of the 26th day of the month in which the declaration is made.
Five percent of the tourism share collected will be allocated as a general budget income, and the remaining amount will be recorded under the deposit account and transferred to the Agency’s bank account by the 20th day of the following month at the latest.
Deductibility of the Tourism Share
Income and corporate income taxpayers can treat the tourism share as a deductible expense for the determination of their taxable income.
Enforcement
The provisions of the Law, except for Article 6 regarding tourism share, entered into force with the publication of the Law.
Article 6 of the Law regarding tourism share will enter into force on 1 October 2019.
