Capital gains tax Turkey: property, shares, non-residents

Short answer: Capital gains tax in Turkey does not exist as a separate tax: gains fall under income tax as value increase gains (değer artışı kazancı) under Income Tax Law repeated Articles 80 and 81. An individual who sells purchased property within five years pays 15% to 40% on the gain after cost indexing and a TRY 150,000 exemption for 2026 gains (Communiqué 332); a sale after five years, or of inherited or gifted property, creates no such tax. A non-resident with no annual return to file reports on a special return within 15 days of the gain; a resident files in March of the following year.

If you are selling a flat in Turkey, three questions decide the tax: how long you held it, how you acquired it and where you are tax resident. The gain is measured in lira, after your purchase price is raised by the domestic producer price index (D-PPI, Yİ-ÜFE) of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), which can remove a large part of a nominal gain. Nationality does not change the rate.

It covers individuals, checked on 6 November 2026 against Income Tax Law No. 193 and the February 2026 guides of the Revenue Administration (GİB). Title deed fees and annual tax are in the Turkey property tax guide. It is general information, not tax advice, and your home country may tax the same gain.

Is there capital gains tax in Turkey?

No separate capital gains tax exists; Turkey taxes the gains listed in repeated Article 80 of the Income Tax Law as income, at the same rates for residents and non-residents.

For real property the test is repeated Article 80(1)(6), read on 6 November 2026:

• Five-year rule: a gain is taxable if land, a building or a right registered as real property is disposed of within five years of acquisition. The consolidated text, current to Law 7587 of June 2026, shows no change since Law 5615 raised the period from four years to five in 2007.
• Disposal: a sale, exchange, transfer for payment, expropriation or contribution to a company.
• Inherited or gifted property: outside the rule whatever the holding period, including a flat received from a contractor in return for inherited property (brochure No. 583). The transfer itself falls under inheritance and gift tax.
• Repeated dealing: frequent sales for profit, or sales through a business organization, are commercial income with no five-year limit, as is land bought and parceled within five years, whenever sold (Article 37; brochure No. 583).

The five years run in calendar days from acquisition, normally the title registration date. For cooperative, mass-housing and auction purchases, GİB accepts an earlier date if you document actual use with a handover record or utility bills. If you build on a purchased plot, or swap it for flats with a contractor, a new period starts when the new units are registered.

Capital gains tax on property in Turkey: the calculation

The taxable gain is the sale price minus the indexed purchase price, minus selling costs you bore, minus the annual exemption (repeated Articles 80 and 81).

1. Indexed cost: purchase price × D-PPI for the month before sale ÷ D-PPI for the month before purchase, the pairing used in GİB's worked examples. Indexing applies only if the index rose by 10% or more.
2. Selling costs: expenses, taxes and fees you paid because of the sale, such as the seller's 2% title deed fee (see the title deed fee calculator).
3. Exemption: TRY 150,000 for gains made in 2026 and TRY 120,000 for 2025 (Communiqué 332; brochure No. 583). No return is needed if the year's gain does not exceed it.

A sale at or below the indexed cost leaves no taxable gain, and a loss here cannot be set against other income (Article 88). The table shows past index moves, not a view on property values.

The gain is in lira, whichever currency you paid in. Repeated Article 81 ignores exchange-rate gains only on securities and shareholdings bought by non-residents with permitted foreign capital, not on property. If you are not a Turkish citizen, Article 13 of the central bank's Capital Movements Circular has you declare to the land registry, as the price, the lira amount on the bank's foreign exchange purchase certificate; that figure is normally your documented cost.

Capital gains tax rate in Turkey and a worked sale

The rate is progressive: Communiqué 332's 2026 non-wage bands run from 15% up to TRY 190,000 to 40% above TRY 5,300,000, with all bands in the code and in Turkey income tax brackets.

This function reproduces the example (Python 3.11, run on 6 November 2026). It uses decimals because floats leave some exact 10% rises unindexed (1,000.10 to 1,100.11), and it rejects negative, infinite or blank inputs. It assumes a sale within five years and no other income.

from decimal import Decimal as D, ROUND_HALF_UP

BANDS = [(190_000, "0.15"), (400_000, "0.20"), (1_000_000, "0.27"),
         (5_300_000, "0.35"), (None, "0.40")]  # 2026, non-wage income

def tariff(base):
    tax, low = D(0), 0
    for top, rate in BANDS:
        if top is None or base < top:
            return (tax + (base - low) * D(rate)).quantize(D("0.01"), ROUND_HALF_UP)
        tax += (top - low) * D(rate)
        low = top

def gain_tax(cost, price, costs, idx_buy, idx_sell, exemption=150_000):
    v = [D(str(x)) for x in (cost, price, costs, idx_buy, idx_sell, exemption)]
    if not all(x.is_finite() and x >= 0 for x in v) or v[3] == 0:
        raise ValueError(f"bad input: {v}")
    cost, price, costs, ib, isl, ex = v
    indexed = cost * isl / ib if isl >= ib * D("1.1") else cost
    return tariff(max(D(0), price - indexed - costs - ex))

print(gain_tax(3_000_000, 10_000_000, 200_000, "2138.04", "5998.51"))
# 314107.73

Turkey non-resident capital gains tax: the 15-day return

A non-resident individual with no annual Turkish return to file reports the gain on a special return (münferit beyanname) at the tax office where the property is, within 15 days of the gain, and pays in the same period (Articles 101 and 120; brochure No. 583).

In the example above, a non-resident seller would have until 1 December 2026. The 31 March deadline comes from Tax Procedure Law Circular No. 115 of 29 March 2019; Article 92 itself says 25 March. Residence means domicile in Turkey or a continuous stay of more than six months in a calendar year, with exceptions for foreigners on temporary assignments or here for study, treatment or travel (Articles 3 to 5).

Two points are open. Article 101 covers only non-residents with no annual return to file; by its wording, one who already files, say for declarable rental income, would report the gain on that return, but neither GİB guide gives an example, so ask the tax office in writing before the 15 days end. The exemption draws no line between residents and non-residents, though neither guide gives a non-resident example.

A treaty will not normally remove the Turkish tax: Article 13(1) of the 2011 Germany-Turkey and 1996 US-Turkey treaties lets the country where the property lies tax the gain, and the home country gives any relief; see Turkey tax treaties.

Article 13(1) of the Capital Movements Circular lets banks transfer abroad a non-resident's net sale proceeds after taxes.

Selling property in Turkey for foreigners: records and risks

Keep every purchase and sale record: the gain is proved from documents, and a cost you cannot prove is set by an assessment commission (repeated Article 81).

• Keep: both title deeds, the foreign exchange purchase certificate, title deed fee receipts and invoices for selling costs.
• Identity: have your foreign identity number or Turkish tax number ready for the tax office.
• Filing and paying: GİB's pre-filled system (Hazır Beyan) takes annual returns and accepts a foreign identity number login; its Digital Tax Office takes cards of banks operating abroad (brochure No. 583).

Do not put a lower price on the deed: it is unlawful. Under Article 63 of Fees Law No. 492, if the declared price does not reflect the real one, the missing fee is assessed with a one-fold tax loss penalty, and a false price also misstates your gain.

Shares, funds and crypto: which rule applies

Securities mostly follow withholding rules, not the five-year test, and the TRY 150,000 exemption excludes securities and other capital market instruments (repeated Article 80).

The Income Tax Law, read on 6 November 2026, has no crypto-specific rule, which is not the same as crypto gains being tax free; see Turkey crypto tax.

Capital gains exemption for 2027: what is known

The exemption for gains made in 2027 had not been announced when checked on 6 November 2026; repeated Article 123 raises TRY 150,000 by the revaluation rate, and GİB publishes the result by communiqué (Communiqué 332 appeared on 31 December 2025).

The rate follows the 12-month average change in D-PPI to October; TÜİK reported 27.83% on 3 November 2026, an indicator rather than the announced rate. Fractions up to 5% of the result are dropped, and the President may raise or cut the amounts by up to half.

Frequently asked questions

Is there capital gains tax in Turkey?

Not as a separate tax. Gains listed in repeated Article 80 are taxed as income; for property, only a sale within five years of a paid acquisition is caught, at 15% to 40%.

What is the capital gains tax rate in Turkey on property?

There is no flat rate. For 2026 gains, the indexed gain above the TRY 150,000 exemption goes through the income tax tariff, from 15% up to TRY 190,000 to 40% above TRY 5,300,000.

Do foreigners pay capital gains tax when selling property in Turkey?

Yes, on the same terms as Turkish owners, if the sale is within five years of purchase; a non-resident with no annual return files a special return where the property is, within 15 days.

Is inherited property taxed when sold in Turkey?

No. Repeated Article 80 excludes property acquired without payment, whatever the holding period. Inheritance and gift tax covers the transfer itself, and the seller's title deed fee still applies on sale.

Sources

• Mevzuat: Income Tax Law No. 193, Articles 3 to 7, 37, 80, repeated 80 and 81, 88, 92, 101, 103, 117, 120 and repeated 123, consolidated text read 6 November 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• GİB: Income tax return on disposal of real property within five years, brochure No. 583, February 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• GİB: Guide to taxation of other income and gains, February 2026, including the non-resident special return and the D-PPI table (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• Resmî Gazete: General Communiqué on Income Tax No. 332, 2026 amounts, 31 December 2025 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• TÜİK: Domestic Producer Price Index, October 2026, press release of 3 November 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• TÜİK data portal: Domestic Producer Price Index levels (2003=100), total industry, to October 2026, read 6 November 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• TCMB: Producer price change table, used to cross-check the 2026 index values (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• GİB: Guide to provisional Article 67 of the Income Tax Law, February 2026, shares and funds (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• TCMB: Capital Movements Circular, Article 13, real property proceeds and foreign exchange purchase certificates (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• Mevzuat: Fees Law No. 492, Article 63 on the declared price and tariff 4, item 20(a), the 2% fee (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: United States-Turkey income tax treaty of 1996, Article 13 (opens in a new tab)
• Bundestag paper 17/8841: Germany-Turkey tax treaty of 2011, Article 13, with English text (opens in a new tab)
• GİB: Return filing and payment periods table (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• GİB: Tax Procedure Law Circular No. 115, 29 March 2019, return filing period (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)

This guide is general information, not investment, legal or tax advice. Amounts, rates and rules in Turkey change often: check the date given for each figure and the official source before you rely on it, and ask a licensed adviser about your own situation. Sources, checks and corrections: see the editorial policy.