Attention property owners: Ministry takes action in 81 provinces

The Revenue Administration (GİB), under the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, has placed real estate transactions under scrutiny with the Spatial Data Analysis System (MEVA), which it implemented as part of its efforts against the informal economy. With this new system, more than 16,000 properties that changed hands during the year were examined, and 9,150 individuals were requested to provide an explanation after discrepancies were detected between the declaration in the title deed and the actual value.

The Ministry closely monitors whether income derived from real estate sales or rentals, as well as the taxes and fees arising from these transactions, are declared correctly. Developed to prevent informal earnings, MEVA has become one of the most important digital audit tools in this field.

Developed by the Revenue Administration's technology teams, MEVA operates as a software based on a geographic information system. In this system, numerous data sources are combined, including GİB's own tax returns, notifications, and inspection records, as well as land registry and cadastre data, building permits, residence information, bank loans, and real estate listings on advertising platforms. Additionally, reports prepared by valuation experts are used in the analysis.

The system can reveal the actual purchase-sale or rental value of a property by both visualizing all this data on a map and analyzing it with various algorithms. Thanks to these analyses, the differences between the real market value of the real estate and the figure reported in the title deed are easily detected.

MEVA was recently activated in the central provincial directorates of 81 provinces across Turkey. In these provinces, special teams manage audit processes based on analyses conducted through the system. To determine actual sales prices, transactions that took place in the last few months are examined in detail and compared with the declarations in the title deeds.

Buyers and sellers are asked for an explanation for transactions found to be reported below the actual value. Individuals in this situation can pay their missing fees by benefiting from "remorse" provisions without facing any penal sanctions. However, if the explanations provided are not found sufficient or if voluntary payment is not made, the taxpayers are referred for a tax audit.

In the first stage, more than 16,000 real estate transactions were evaluated in the analyses conducted by the provincial directorates. Due to the value difference, 9,150 people were informed and called to provide an explanation. During this process, 2,475 people complied voluntarily, and 113.9 million TL in title deed fees were collected without penalties over a total sales value of 5.9 billion TL.

However, a tax audit process has been initiated for those who did not respond positively to the call. The fees that these individuals underpaid will be collected along with a 25% tax loss penalty.

"RENTAL INCOME WILL ALSO BE DETECTED"

Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek stated that the MEVA system will soon be actively used in all tax offices and made the following assessment:

"Thus, every tax office will have the opportunity to track all real estate within its area of responsibility by instantly accessing a wealth of information on a map. In this way, in addition to ensuring that purchase and sale transactions are carried out at real values, properties that are rented out to generate income and require tax returns can also be easily identified, and necessary actions can be taken quickly. Those who conduct real estate purchase and sale transactions at a price lower than the actual sales price in the title deed can pay their fees without penalties by benefiting from remorse provisions before being asked for an explanation. With the MEVA application, it is aimed to reduce informality and increase voluntary compliance by ensuring that transactions are carried out at correct and real values."