Let us listen to the voice of 2 million workers

Following my article last week, Barış Tansever, the owner of Sunset Restaurant, called me.

Tansever is also the Chairman of the High Advisory Board of TURYİD – Tourism Restaurant Investors and Gastronomy Enterprises Association.

TURYİD is a very important non-governmental organization that brings together restaurants focused on tourism in Turkey under one roof.

The number of brands owned by businesses that are members of TURYİD has reached 180 today.

These brands own a total of approximately 3 thousand establishments.

Although they make up only 1.5 percent of the approximately 200 thousand food and beverage businesses across Turkey, they generate approximately 25 percent of the total turnover.

This turnover is expected to reach 1 trillion TL for the year 2025.

TURYİD members alone account for 250 billion TL of this amount.

As for the tax dimension; TURYİD members pay 30 percent of the total VAT and approximately 50 percent of the corporate tax collected by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance from the sector.

In other words, we are talking about a structure that has a major economic and public impact.

Last week, I wrote, "Is a 20 percent service charge acceptable?" Following this, Tansever opened up, explaining that they are struggling with major problems.

The food and beverage sector is in deep trouble.

Labor costs and material expenses are the sector's biggest concerns.

According to Barış Tansever, in the first 5 months of 2025, personnel costs (including items such as salary, meals, and transportation) have reached an average of 50 percent of the total turnover.

He says, "If 50 percent of the turnover goes to personnel costs, it would be better not to open the shop," and adds that the picture becomes even bleaker when items such as rent, energy, and raw materials are added.

The service charge, also known as a tip, is an issue for 2 million workers.

With the decrease in cash usage, tourists and local guests want to tip with credit cards, but this system is both legally ambiguous and unfair.

Tansever says that the service charge is not part of the employer's wage, but a gesture based on the goodwill between the customer and the service worker.

The work carried out with the ministries on this issue for a year has reached its final stage.

The solution is ready and is a model applied in many developed countries:

The customer pays the bill with a credit card. Then, tip options such as 5, 10, or 15 percent appear on the waiter's POS device. The customer chooses if they want to, or can proceed without leaving a tip if they do not.

Thus, while voluntariness is preserved, transactions are recorded.

With this system, only a symbolic 10 percent withholding tax is deducted from the tip.

In other words, approximately 90 liras of a 100-lira tip go directly into the employee's pocket.

In the current system, this rate drops to as low as 50 liras due to tax deductions that reach nearly 50 percent.

TURYİD High Advisory Board Chairman Barış Tansever says, "If this is enacted, it will be a revolution."

However, when it was met with a false perception in the public eye such as "A 10 percent tax is coming to the waiter's tip," the proposal was removed from the omnibus bill by the President, despite its positive effects.

Tansever has an interesting observation:

President Erdoğan is currently having the law examined by experts. Our expectation is for a zero percent withholding tax on tips. Being able to pay tips with credit cards is a method that benefits not only the employees but also the consumer and the treasury—in short, everyone wins.

Informality will decrease significantly in payments made with credit cards.

In addition, approximately 1.8 billion dollars in additional VAT and corporate tax collection will be realized annually.

The incomes of workers will increase by rates reaching up to 90 percent, service quality will rise, and our competitiveness in tourism will increase.

Thus, the sector will protect its sustainable human resources by preventing qualified labor from migrating abroad.

This law will both increase service quality and contribute directly to the country's economy by reducing informality.

Stating that there should be no upper limit or restriction on the tip income to be transferred to employees, Tansever clearly states that the Ministry of Finance could collect 1 billion dollars in VAT and 800 million dollars in corporate tax with this regulation alone.

Let us listen to the voice of 2 million workers... This law must be enacted as soon as possible through the efforts of the Ministries of Finance, Tourism, and Labor...