Short answer: Turkish mutual funds are investment funds regulated by the Capital Markets Board (SPK), and most are bought and sold through TEFAS, the Turkey Electronic Fund Trading Platform operated by Takasbank. Investors place orders through a TEFAS member bank, broker or portfolio management company, usually before a 13:30 cut-off, and each fund's prospectus sets when units and cash settle. As of October 2026, gains on equity-intensive funds carry 0% withholding for individuals, while most other funds bought since 9 July 2025 carry 17.5%.
Most Turkish funds sold to the public trade through one platform, TEFAS, which can look unfamiliar to a foreign reader: funds have three-character codes, prices are published once a day, cut-off times decide which price you get, and the tax rate depends on both the fund type and the purchase date.
This guide explains how TEFAS works, the fund types, orders and value dates, costs and the risk scale, withholding, what a foreigner needs to invest, and the funds the SPK ordered liquidated in September 2026. Facts come from SPK, Takasbank, TEFAS, the Revenue Administration (GİB), TBMM and the Resmî Gazete as of October 2026. It recommends no funds.
What is TEFAS and how does it work?
TEFAS (Türkiye Elektronik Fon Alım Satım Platformu) is the Takasbank platform through which portfolio management companies sell and redeem fund units via member banks, brokers and portfolio managers.
Clearing and custody are integrated with the systems of Takasbank and the Central Registry Agency (MKK), and MKK records the units for each holder. Because of this structure, one account at a member firm gives access to funds of other managers.
The public sites, tefas.gov.tr and the English-language fundturkey.com.tr, show fund data only: you cannot trade or open an account there, and orders go through the institution holding your investment account. The English site's Funds Trading on TEFAS and TEFAS Members pages list the funds on the platform and the institutions that distribute them.
Not every fund is on TEFAS. Under the SPK's fund guide, private funds, real estate and venture capital investment funds and guaranteed and capital-protected funds are excluded, and money market, short-term bond and hedge funds join only if the founder chooses. Exchange-traded funds trade on Borsa Istanbul, and pension funds use a separate platform, BEFAS.
Types of Turkish investment funds
SPK rules group funds into umbrella types by what they hold, and the type drives both risk and tax.
| Type | Portfolio rule |
|---|---|
| Debt instruments | At least 80% in public or private debt instruments |
| Equity | At least 80% in shares of domestic or foreign issuers |
| Precious metals | At least 80% in exchange-traded gold, other precious metals and instruments based on them |
| Fund basket | At least 80% in units of other funds and ETFs |
| Money market | Only liquid instruments with up to 184 days to maturity, weighted average maturity of 45 days or less |
| Participation | Only interest-free instruments such as lease certificates, participation accounts, shares and gold |
| Variable | Funds outside the limits above |
| Hedge (serbest) | Units sold only to qualified investors |
| Guaranteed or capital-protected | Aim to return all or part of the initial investment at set dates, with or without a guarantor |
A fund under the equity or hedge umbrella that keeps at least 80% in shares traded on Borsa Istanbul, excluding securities investment companies, counts as an equity-intensive fund (hisse senedi yoğun fon), a label that matters for withholding.
TEFAS cut-off times, value dates and fund prices
The time you place an order decides which day's price you get, and the fund's value date (valör) decides when units or cash reach your account.
| Item | Full day | Half day |
|---|---|---|
| Orders for same-day value funds | 09:00 to 13:30 | 09:00 to 11:30 |
| Orders for forward value funds | 09:00 to 17:45 | 09:00 to 12:30 |
| Cut-off for forward value funds | 13:30 | 11:30 |
An order after the cut-off counts as the next business day's order. Value dates differ between funds, from the same day to several business days, and the fund's prospectus is binding. Under SPK rules, the unit price is the fund's total value divided by the number of units and is calculated and announced daily; the prospectus says which day's price applies to an order. Fincode's Fiva app shows model-based estimates of a fund's daily return before official prices are published; it does not execute trades.
Hypothetical example: an equity fund has a 13:30 cut-off and pays sales on the second business day. A sell order on Monday at 11:00 is priced at Monday evening's calculation and the cash arrives on Wednesday. The same order at 14:00 is priced on Tuesday and paid on Thursday, assuming no holidays in between.
Fund codes, fees and the 1 to 7 risk scale
Each fund has a three-character code, its costs are set by its prospectus, and its risk value from 1 to 7 reflects past price volatility.
The code, ISIN, value dates, minimum order and entry or exit fees appear on the fund's TEFAS page, and the list of funds trading on TEFAS is the closest thing to an official list of Turkish mutual funds. Under the SPK's fund guide, distributors on TEFAS receive a share of the fund's management fee and may not charge investors fees beyond those in the fund's rules and prospectus. Management fees and other expenses come out of fund assets and are already reflected in the price.
| Risk value | Annualized volatility of weekly returns over five years |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0% to under 2% |
| 2 | 2% to under 5% |
| 3 | 5% to under 10% |
| 4 | 10% to under 15% |
| 5 | 15% to under 20% |
| 6 | 20% to under 30% |
| 7 | 30% and above |
The scale measures how much the price has moved, not the chance of a loss, credit risk or liquidity risk. For pulling fund data into your own tools, see TEFAS, KAP and EVDS data APIs.
Withholding tax on Turkish mutual funds
Withholding on fund gains depends on the fund type and the purchase date, and GİB's rate table applies the same rates to resident and non-resident individuals.
| Fund and purchase date | Rate | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Equity-intensive funds | 0% | GİB rate table |
| Equity-intensive hedge funds not traded on TEFAS, bought from 27 March 2026 | 17.5% | Presidential Decree 11107 |
| Other funds bought from 9 July 2025 | 17.5% | Presidential Decree 10041 |
| Other funds bought 1 February to 8 July 2025, except the fund types in the next row | 15% | GİB rate table |
| Variable, mixed, eurobond, foreign-debt, foreign, hedge and FX funds bought before 9 July 2025 | 10% | GİB rate table |
| Other funds bought 23 December 2020 to 31 January 2025 | 0%, 7.5% or 10%, by purchase date | GİB rate table |
| Funds at least 51% in Borsa Istanbul shares, held over one year | No withholding, except hedge funds not on TEFAS | GİB guide, February 2026 |
| Venture capital and real estate investment funds held over two years | 0% | Presidential Decree 11107 |
The intermediary withholds the tax on the gain when you sell, using first-in, first-out cost, and for individuals it is the final Turkish tax. Rates are changed by presidential decree, so the rate on a future purchase may differ. Non-resident companies and funds fall under other provisions, and your home country may tax the gain or treat foreign funds in its own way. Equity-fund rules are compared with direct shares in Turkey's dividend withholding tax.
Can foreigners buy Turkish mutual funds?
Yes: a non-resident can buy TEFAS funds through an account at a TEFAS member bank, broker or portfolio management company, which needs a Turkish tax number.
- Account and tax number: GİB's February 2026 guide says non-residents need a tax number to invest in Turkish financial instruments; see how foreigners get a Turkish tax number and opening a bank account in Turkey.
- Currency: most funds are priced in lira, so returns in your home currency also depend on the exchange rate.
- Hedge funds: these are sold only to qualified investors, and the distributor checks your status before a purchase.
- Protection: under Articles 53 and 56 of Law No. 6362, fund assets are separate from the manager's and the custodian's, cannot be seized for their debts and are held by a portfolio custodian. Fund units are not covered by deposit insurance, according to the deposit insurer TMSF.
The 2026 fund liquidations: impact and payments
In September 2026 the SPK closed all TEFAS funds of seven portfolio management companies to trading and ordered 131 of them liquidated, with proceeds paid to investors in proportion to their units.
- 17 September 2026: SPK Bulletin 2026/60 closed the TEFAS funds of the seven companies to buying and selling under Article 96 of Law No. 6362 and ordered the listed funds liquidated. Bulletin 2026/61 updated the list to 131 funds, appointed two banks as custodians to run the process, set the sale of assets with regard to market depth and liquidity, and provided that cash goes to investors' reconciled custody accounts pro rata.
- 20 September 2026: Bulletin 2026/62 extended the maximum liquidation period from three to six months.
- 30 September 2026: Bulletin 2026/67 set the order of liquidation for some companies' funds, starting with money market funds, and ordered interim payments for funds of four companies, based on net investment amounts calculated by MKK and deducted from the final payment; the SPK's press release of 1 October 2026 caps each interim payment at TRY 1 million per investor in each fund. Bulletin 2026/70 of 16 October 2026 took one of those four companies' funds out of the interim-payment decision and placed them under the liquidation order set for the other three companies.
- 22 October 2026: parliament adopted Law No. 7596 on certain investment funds ordered to be liquidated. It was published in the Resmî Gazete of 27 October 2026 (No. 33413) and under its Article 8 took effect on publication, retroactive to 17 September 2026. The law covers only the funds ordered liquidated on 17 September 2026 whose liquidation is unfinished at publication, lets the SPK set interim and final payments, and gives the deposit insurer TMSF the task of recovering assets wrongly taken from the funds; it sets no payment dates. SPK Bulletin 2026/76 of 27 October 2026 set the procedures for interim and final payments for the funds of three of the companies, starting with money market funds.
The decisions name specific companies and funds; funds of other managers are not covered by them. Investors in an affected fund can match the fund's name with the lists in the SPK bulletins, read the liquidation notices on the fund's KAP page and follow payments in their account statements.
Frequently asked questions
Can I buy funds directly on TEFAS?
No. TEFAS's websites and app show data only. You buy and sell through a TEFAS member bank, broker or portfolio management company where you hold an investment account.
Is TEFAS available in English?
Yes. Takasbank's fund information site fundturkey.com.tr has an English interface with fund returns, members and the list of funds trading on TEFAS, but no trading.
What happens to a fund if its manager fails?
Fund assets are legally separate from the manager and held by a custodian. If a manager goes bankrupt, the SPK transfers the fund to another portfolio management company for liquidation; there is no deposit insurance.
Do non-residents pay withholding on Turkish fund gains?
Yes. GİB's rate table applies the same fund rates to resident and non-resident individuals, for example 17.5% on most non-equity funds bought since 9 July 2025.
Did the 2026 liquidations affect all Turkish funds?
No. They cover funds of seven portfolio management companies, of which 131 were ordered liquidated on 17 September 2026; funds of other managers are not covered.
Sources
- Takasbank: TEFAS trading hours and cut-off times (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- SPK: Communiqué on Principles of Investment Funds (III-52.1) (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- SPK: Guide on Investment Funds, TEFAS rules and risk value bands (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- GİB: Withholding rates under provisional Article 67 for resident and non-resident individuals (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- GİB: Guide to provisional Article 67 for individual investors, February 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- SPK: Press release on interim payments in funds under liquidation, 01.10.2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Resmî Gazete: Presidential Decree 11107 on non-TEFAS equity-intensive hedge funds, 27.03.2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- SPK Bulletin 2026/60 of 17.09.2026: funds closed on TEFAS and liquidation order (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- SPK Bulletin 2026/61 of 17.09.2026: liquidation procedure and list of 131 funds (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- SPK Bulletin 2026/62 of 20.09.2026: liquidation period extended to six months (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- SPK Bulletin 2026/67 of 30.09.2026: liquidation order and interim payments (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- SPK Bulletin 2026/70 of 16.10.2026: one company's funds moved from interim payments to the liquidation order (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TBMM: Law No. 7596 on certain investment funds ordered to be liquidated, adopted 22.10.2026, published 27.10.2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Capital Markets Law No. 6362, Articles 53, 56 and 96 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TMSF: Deposit insurance FAQ, investment products not covered (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.