Claims of a new era in shopping: Mandatory credit card usage on the horizon

Prof. Dr. Şenol Babuşcu, Head of the Department of International Finance and Banking at Başkent University, stated that the Ministry of Treasury and Finance is working on a new regulation, according to which the use of a bank or credit card will be mandatory for payments of 7,000 TL and above.

Here is Prof. Dr. Babuşcu's statement:

"If this draft regulation becomes a communiqué; from now on, whoever they may be, everyone will be required to make payments of 7,000.00 TL and above via bank or credit card.

As seen in the example, Mr. A, who works as a civil servant in a public institution, will have to pay for the 20,000 TL refrigerator he bought for his home via bank or credit card.

Mr. B, who works as an academic in a public institution, will have to pay for the 10,000 TL worth of books he bought for his home library via bank or credit card.

'BANK OR CREDIT CARD WILL BE USED FOR PURCHASES OVER 7,000 TL'

Before this draft, if both parties in a transaction were taxpayers, purchases over 7,000 TL had to be made via bank or credit card. If this draft is published and becomes a communiqué, those who are not taxpayers will also use a bank or credit card for purchases over 7,000 TL; otherwise, they will also be subject to a special irregularity penalty."

Babuşcu also shared the text of the draft regulation in question. Here is that draft text:

COMMUNIQUÉ ON AMENDMENT TO THE GENERAL COMMUNIQUÉ ON TAX PROCEDURE LAW (SERIAL NO: 459) (SERIAL NO: ...)

Article 1- The phrase "and non-taxpayers" has been added after the phrase "taxpayers" in the first paragraph of the 2nd section of the General Communiqué on Tax Procedure Law (Serial No: 459) published in the Official Gazette dated 24/12/2015 and numbered 29572.

Article 2- The phrase "non-taxpayers," has been added after the phrase "tax-exempt tradesmen," in clause (ç) of the first paragraph of the 3rd section of the same Communiqué, and clause (d) has been repealed.

Article 3- The following regulations have been made in section 4.1 of the same Communiqué.

a) The first paragraph of the section has been amended to read: "It is mandatory for those within the scope of the documentation obligation (excluding transactions between non-taxpayers themselves) to make all kinds of collections and payments exceeding 7,000 TL through intermediary financial institutions and to document these collections and payments with documents issued by said institutions."

b) The following example has been added before the last paragraph of the section.

"Example: Mr. (A), who works as a civil servant in a public institution, has purchased a refrigerator worth 20,000 TL from (B) Ltd. Şti., which is engaged in retail trade of white goods, for use in his home.

Since the amount of the refrigerator in question exceeds the 7,000 TL limit, the collection and payment for this transaction must be made through intermediary financial institutions. In case the documentation obligation is not complied with in said collection and payment, a penalty will be applied separately to civil servant Mr. (A) and (B) Ltd. Şti."

Article 4- This Communiqué enters into force on the date of its publication.

Article 5- The Minister of Treasury and Finance executes the provisions of this Communiqué.

News Source: 12punto