Provision to impose SCT on diamonds, gems, and pearls removed from omnibus bill: Following AKP motion

With the regulation in the Higher Education Law, health institutions operating within foundation universities will be excluded from the scope of corporate tax exemption.

With the amendment made to the Value Added Tax (VAT) Law, the VAT exemption provided to hospitals and similar health institutions affiliated with higher education institutions established by foundations that have been granted tax exemption by the President is being abolished.

With the amendment in the Free Zones Law, the earnings obtained by taxpayers engaged in production activities in free zones from the sale of products manufactured in these zones to abroad, within the free zone, or to other free zones will be exempt from income or corporate tax.

According to the change in the Unemployment Insurance Law, the President will be authorized to increase the 1 percent state share in the unemployment insurance premium by up to half or decrease it by up to half.

With the law, a temporary article regarding the Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) is being added to the Natural Gas Market Law.

Accordingly, all kinds of taxes, funds, and shares, administrative fines, and related delay surcharges and delay interest debts of BOTAŞ that have matured but remain unpaid to tax offices affiliated with the Ministry of Trade as of the effective date of the regulation will be written off by the Ministry of Trade through offsetting against BOTAŞ's receivables from the Treasury for service fees, without being associated with the revenue and expenditure accounts of the central government budget. In this context, no secondary receivables will be calculated for the debts subject to offsetting after the date this provision is published.

All kinds of taxes, funds, and shares that BOTAŞ is required to pay to tax offices affiliated with the Ministry of Trade after the effective date of the regulation will be written off monthly by the Ministry of Trade through offsetting against BOTAŞ's service fee receivables that have accrued or will accrue from the Treasury until the end of December 31, 2026, without being associated with the revenue and expenditure accounts of the central government budget, and no secondary receivables will be calculated regarding the principal amounts of any taxes to be written off.

BOTAŞ's accounting records and documents will be taken as the basis for the calculation of the service fee subject to the offsetting process. Following the termination of the service fee practice, if it is determined as a result of an examination conducted in accordance with the procedures regarding the prices to be applied by the enterprises envisaged in the Decree Law on State Economic Enterprises and the service loss practice that the service fee calculated is less than the amounts written off by the Ministry of Trade, the obligations will be fulfilled by BOTAŞ without interest, and the amount in question will be recorded as revenue to the general budget.

The offsetting and write-off transactions to be carried out within the scope of the provision will not constitute an obstacle to the payment of service fees remaining outside the amounts to be offset due to the write-off decision, and will not eliminate or limit the administration's authority to pay these fees.

The Minister of Treasury and Finance will be authorized to determine the amount of BOTAŞ's service fee receivable from the Treasury and to determine the write-off transactions to be made through offsetting.

With the regulation made in the Law on the Evaluation of Immovable Properties Belonging to the Treasury and Amendment to the Value Added Tax Law, public administrations within the scope of schedules 2, 3, and 4 attached to the Public Financial Management and Control Law, and public institutions and organizations affiliated, related, or associated with these administrations, as well as the unions, institutions, companies, and enterprises, funds, revolving funds they have established, public economic enterprises subject to the Decree Law on State Economic Enterprises that are not within the scope and program of privatization, and all kinds of organizations, institutions, unions, enterprises, and companies in which they directly or indirectly own more than half of the capital, either alone or together, may be included in the scope and program of privatization upon the request of the relevant administrations and privatized within the scope of the Law on Privatization Practices.

The portion of the privatization revenue remaining after deducting expenses will be transferred to the account of the relevant administration's accounting unit and recorded as revenue in its budget. The President will be authorized to record the equivalent of these recorded revenues as an appropriation in the relevant administration's budget. Appropriations of an investment nature may be associated with the annual investment program.

In line with the Constitutional Court's cancellation decision, with the amendment made to the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) Law, an SCT exemption will be applied once every 10 years in the first acquisition of vehicles determined within the scope of the Law to individuals with disabilities who have an orthopedic disability rate of 40 percent or more and who have been decided to be unable to obtain a driver's license due to their orthopedic disability.

Regulation regarding the duties and responsibilities of the Defterdar (Provincial Finance Director)

In line with the Constitutional Court's cancellation decision, a regulation is being made regarding the duties and responsibilities of the Defterdar in the Law on Certain Regulations Regarding the Revenue Administration. Accordingly, the Defterdar, as the highest-ranking official of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance in the province where they are located and the head of the provincial and affiliated district organization, will be responsible for the execution and supervision of the transactions in the Ministry's provincial organization in the province, answering questions asked from the center and the provinces, and pursuing those seen to be acting against the law.

With the law, a regulation is being made regarding the "earnings subject to premium" provision of the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law.

Accordingly, benefits in kind, death, birth, and marriage benefits, duty travel allowances, mobile duty, seniority, notice, and cash compensation, end-of-service compensation or collective payments in the nature of severance pay, discovery fees, child and family allowances whose amounts will be determined by the institution over the years, private health insurance premiums and individual pension contributions paid by employers for insured persons, provided that the monthly total does not exceed 30 percent of the minimum wage, and in cases where meals are not provided by the employer at the workplace or its premises, the portion of the daily meal cost for the days worked up to 300 liras will not be subject to earnings subject to premium.

This amount will be applied by increasing it each year at the revaluation rate determined according to the relevant paragraph of the Tax Procedure Law for the previous year. Fractions not exceeding 5 percent of the amount calculated in this way will not be taken into account.

With the amendment made to the Corporate Tax Law by the law, expenses for advertisements and announcements related to all kinds of games of chance and betting will not be accepted as expenses in the determination of corporate earnings.

Military service exemption fee increases by 25 percent

With the law, the amount to be collected from those applying for paid military service is being increased by 25 percent.

With the regulation made in the Military Service Law, among those who are willing and eligible for military service, a number of conscripts to be determined by the Ministry of National Defense, taking into account the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces, will be considered to have fulfilled their military service if they pay the fee amount found by multiplying the 300,000 indicator figure by the civil servant monthly coefficient valid on the day of payment in advance within the period to be determined by the Ministry before being taken into service, and complete one month of basic military training.

The amounts collected within the scope of the paid military service practice will be deposited into the account of the Ministry of National Defense central accounting unit. The portion of this amount found by multiplying the 240,000 indicator figure by the civil servant monthly coefficient will be recorded as revenue to the general budget, and the remaining portion will be transferred to the Defense Industry Support Fund. Amounts collected as additional fees will be recorded as revenue to the general budget.

Discount on debt amounts for disaster housing and workplaces

With the law, it is aimed to provide a temporary and exceptional financial convenience to mitigate the effects of the extraordinary conditions caused by the disaster.

With the temporary article added to the Law on the Acceptance of the Presidential Decree on Settlement and Construction within the Scope of the State of Emergency, if the debt amounts related to housing and workplaces produced within the scope of national and international projects carried out in places accepted as disaster areas affecting general life due to the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023, are paid in full by those accepted as beneficiaries within the scope of the Law on Aids to be Provided with Measures to be Taken Due to Disasters Affecting General Life and the Law on the Transformation of Areas Under Disaster Risk by December 31, 2026, a discount of up to 74 percent for at most one residence and up to 48 percent for at most one workplace will be applied to this amount.

In terms of workplaces produced within the scope of projects in this framework, the provision in the Law on Aids to be Provided with Measures to be Taken Due to Disasters Affecting General Life regarding "the debts of those who benefit from disaster allocations for buildings constructed or to be constructed through trusteeship, tender, or aid to those building their own homes, may be discounted by up to half of the cost and debt amounts by Presidential decree in mandatory cases, taking into account the living conditions of the relevant persons and the degree of influence of factors increasing building costs due to the characteristics of the region" will be applied.

The indebtedness of housing and workplaces to be given to those who are beneficiaries within the scope of the Law on Aids to be Provided with Measures to be Taken Due to Disasters Affecting General Life in areas within the scope of the Urban Transformation Law will be carried out according to the relevant provisions of the Urban Transformation Law.

If the debt amounts related to workplaces by the applicants determined within the scope of the relevant article of the Organized Industrial Zones Law are paid in full within at most 6 months from the date of delivery, the discount rate determined for workplaces will be applied. For workplaces delivered before the effective date of the regulation, the 6-month period will start from the effective date.

One article removed

During the deliberations of the proposal in the TBMM General Assembly, the article regarding the SCT rate being 20 percent for natural or cultured pearls, diamonds whether or not worked, precious stones or semi-precious stones, precious or semi-precious stones obtained synthetically or by composition, dust and powders of natural or synthetic precious or semi-precious stones, and articles of natural or cultured pearls or precious or semi-precious stones was re-evaluated with a motion for reconsideration by the Advisory Board. With the accepted motion of the AKP, this article was removed.

Following the acceptance and enactment of the regulation in the General Assembly, TBMM Deputy Speaker Bekir Bozdağ closed the session to meet on Tuesday, April 7, at 15.00.