New developments
Law No. 7440 on Restructuring of Certain Receivables and Amendments to Certain laws (“Law No. 7440“), published in the Official Gazette dated 12 March 2023, introduced a one-time additional tax for certain corporate taxpayers that benefit from certain exemptions and deductions in the calculation of their corporate income tax base. The one-time additional tax, also called the “earthquake tax”, aims at creating funds to meet the urgent necessities of the victims affected by the earthquake centered in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay, as well as for the reconstruction of the area. It is expected that 22,000 corporate taxpayers will be affected by the additional tax.
What does the one-time additional tax mean?
The details of the one-time additional tax introduced by Article 10 of Law No. 7440 for certain corporate taxpayers are as follows:
Scope of the additional tax
The one-time additional tax applies under Article 10 of Law No. 7440, with the following corporate income tax calculation for 2022:
- 10% on exemption and deduction amounts applied on the business income under the Corporate Income Tax Law (CITL) and other laws, and on the tax base within the reduced corporate tax rate under Article 32/A of the CITL, without being associated with the business income of the period
- 5% on the income subject to the participation income exemption under Article 5/1-a of the CITL and on exempt income obtained from abroad and certified to bear a tax burden of at least 15%
The corporate taxpayers in the cities and districts declared as disaster areas are exempt from the one-time additional tax. The additional tax does not also apply to the following exemptions and deductions:
- Exemption provided for the income generated from certain funds under Article 5/1-d of the CITL
- Exemption provided for the amounts that cooperatives return to the shareholders without spending and the patronage dividend/risturn exemption for the consumer cooperatives under Article 5/1-i of the CITL
- Exemption provided for buy-lease and buyback transactions under Article 5/1-j of the CITL
- Exemption provided for income generated from the sale of assets and rights for lease certificate emissions under Article 5/1-k of the CITL
- Exemption provided for currency-protected currency accounts under Temporary Article No. 14 of the CITL
- Sponsorship expense deductions under Article 10/1-b of the CITL
- Certain donations and grants under Article 10 of the CITL as well as the donations and grants regulated under related laws
- Investment deduction exemption subject to withholding under Temporary Article 63 of the Income Tax Law
- Income subject to exemptions and deductions that the micro and small enterprises generated in technology development zones and R&D and design centers
Payments made within the scope of additional tax cannot be deemed an expense or a deduction and cannot be offset from another tax.
Declaration and payment of the additional tax
The one-time additional tax introduced by Law No. 7440 is declared with the corporate income tax return pertaining to the 2022 accounting period. The first instalment of the additional tax will be paid in April when the corporate income tax is paid, and the second instalment will be paid in August, which is four months after the first instalment.
The additional tax applies to corporate taxpayers that use a special accounting period for the accounting period closing in 2023. These corporate taxpayers will declare the additional tax together with their corporate income tax return within the fourth month following the closing of their accounting periods and pay the first instalment of the tax in the same month. Meanwhile, the second instalment of the tax will be paid in the fourth month following the first instalment.
Conclusion
We expect that the procedures and principles regarding the implementation of the one-time additional tax, which was introduced to meet the urgent needs of earthquake victims in the disaster areas and to create resources for the reconstruction of the earthquake-affected region, will be determined by a communiqué to be published by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. Meanwhile, the additional tax gives rise to various discussions in terms of Constitutional principles such as principles of non-retroactivity of laws, predictability and equality in taxation. We recommend that corporate taxpayers consider these discussions, declare the additional tax with a reservation and file lawsuits.
