Tax Consulting and Legal Services

Knowledge of Turkish taxation and commercial law as well as standard business practice minimizes risks and costs for companies seeking international transition. Our network of specialized affiliations provide international guidance, rooted in collaborative experience and poised to assist with every facet of tax and legal consulting needs.

How our expertise serves to strengthen and multiply corporate value:

• Being a trans-atlantic company, we have first-hand experience in both Turkish and domestic tax strategies and legal innerworkings.
• Thorough assessment of client business needs requires the knowledge and experience to ‘ask the right’ questions. Our expertise in tax and legal manners is rooted in a networked international alliance.
• Our proven track record of building from concept to construction to management aims to directly minimize cost by identifying and implementing clear solutions catered to each client need.
• We provide guidance based on most current tax legislation and business best practices in Turkey.

Our experience is catered to you in the following services:

Approval Certificate for Employing Foreign Personnel

Transition of your company to Turkey will likely require the hiring of foreign talent. We provide legal guidance and training necessary, including in some cases certification.

Customs and Foreign Trade Services

Solid understanding of variable demands and their associated production/supply management is essential for minimizing or eliminating product waste so as to maintain market competitiveness. Then there’s the varying legislation and regulation to balance into the national and international trade equation. Our services help minimize the variables, permitting more concrete trade projection methods. Our comprehensive and current knowledge of differing international customs and trade procedures enables us to create depthful strategies tailored to each client need.

Our services in this area include but are not limited to guidance with the following procedures:

• Free Circulation and Export Regimes
• Inward Processing Regime
• FTZ
• Bounded Warehouse
• Outward Processing Regime
• Temporary Importation Regime
• Processing under Customs Control Regime
• Valuation
• Tariff Classification, BTI Application
• Origin Determination
• Simplified Customs Procedures Application
• Excise
• Customs Litigation
• Supply Chain Management
• Foreign Trade Risk / Benefit Analysis
• Customs Exemptions

Indirect Tax Advisory Services

From our expertise in both US and Turkish indirect tax advisory we provide consultation and guidance in the following areas:

• Royalty Payments, as related to indirect tax
• Value Added Tax Liabilities (Reverse Charge, Special Base, applications), Risk Analysis and General Consultancy
• Special Consumption Tax Applications
• Stamp Tax Liability and Risk Analysis

Legal Advisory Services

Whether you are seeking guidance on the formation of a Turkish business, or needing navigation through the complexities of Turkish commercial codes and tax litigation, our myriad consulting experience in this area are sure to be of service.

1. New Company or Business Formations
   1. Corporations
   2. Limited Liability Companies
   3. Branch Offices
   4. Liason Offices
   5. Legal guidance for establishment within Turkish Free Trade Zones (FTZ’s)
2. Turkish Commercial Code and Taxation
   1. Guidance on Applications
   2. Shareholder tax legislation liabilities
   3. Dividend Distribution Analysis
   4. Tax Legislation
   5. Technical Bankruptcy
   6. Establishments, Mergers, Acquisitions, Demergers, Takeovers, Legal Status Conversions
3. Tax Litigation Analysis, Solutions and Support
   1. Petition for Tax Court Application
   2. Tax Return Declaration with Reservation to the Right of Court
   3. Turkish Tax Inspection
   4. Tax Refund / Tax Credit Petition Preparation
   5. Tax Penalty Provisions
   6. Tax and Legal Authority Advance Rulings

Resident Person Document Services

Our Turkish-based offices can obtain the document necessary for evading double taxation avoidance treaty provisions: The Resident Person Document. This article, which also serves as proof of Turkish residency, must be renewed yearly on the fourth-closest month to original issue date.

Assistance with tax certifications, in accordance with both domestic and Turkish Tax legislation, can save your company time, money and the risks associated with overseeing details that we are well versed in providing guidance for.

1. Corporate Tax Return Certification
   1. Audit of statutory records and finances
   2. Corporate tax base determination / confirmation
   3. Tax application preparation guidance
   4. Applications auditing for errors/omissions
   5. Quarterly Advance Corporation Tax Return Compliance Assessment
   6. Tax Return Certificate Report Preparation
2. Other Certification Services
   1. Paid-in Capital Amount (prior to increase)
   2. Revaluation Fund / Internal Reserves to be added to capitol
   3. Investment Allowance Exemption
   4. VAT Refund
   5. Corporate Tax exempt income
   6. Certification Research

Our consultancy on the most up to date Turkish tax legislation, catered to each individual corporate need, includes but not is not limited to:

• a) Corporate Tax Advisory Services
  • Income Tax Law
  • Corporate Tax Law
  • Tax Procedures Code
  • Value Added Tax Law (VAT)
  • Information Requests / Reporting
  • Tax Authority Penalty Notifications
  • Finance Policy Risk Assessment (e.g. thin capitalization)
  • Advance Rulings clarification support
• We also provide analysis and evaluation of various tax liabilities and legislative compliance with tax law:
  • Licensing
  • Royalties
  • Technical Service
  • Cost Sharing Agreements
  • Diistributor Agreements
  • Share Transfer Agreements
  • Banking Law
  • Capital Market Law
  • Tax Legislation
• For companies transferring or based in Turkey we offer taxation assessments related to:
  • Financial Leasing
  • Build-Operate-Transfer / Own
  • Service-Received
  • Foreign Intagible Rights’ Purchasing
  • Transfer of Operating Rights
• b) International Tax Advisory Services
  • Applications of Double Tax Treaties
    • Assessment and validation of operations that constitute for tax purposes a corporate permanent establishment.
    • Guidance on taxation of dividends paid to non-resident shareholders
    • Intangible Payment Taxation (license, know-how, royalty, services, etc.)
    • Specialized assessment and procedures drafting to eliminate double-taxation where applicable
    • Tax refund witholding requests within Double Tax Treaties provisions
  • Transfer Pricing Analysis
    • Through operations and pricing analyses between business parties, related and unrelated, we provide guidance within the constraints of local and foreign legislation and in accordance with relevant Double Tax Treaties’ provisions.
• c) International and Domestic Tax Planning
  • Whether your business is in need of purely domestic, Turkish or transitional taxation consultancy our international team is specialized in the most up-to-date details of tax planning catered to each to business type and need. Our international taxation guidance includes but is not limited to:
    • International Investment
    • Trans-Atlantic Financial Leasing
    • Turkish Free Trade Zone Operations
    • International securities, goods and capital transactions
    • Turkish Currency Legislation
    • Foreign Trade Legislation
    • Thin Capitalization
    • Efficient Tax Model Drafting for Investment and Large Operations
    • Exemptions and Incentives Eligibility
    • Startups, Restructures and Efficiency Guidance for businesses of all sizes
    • Foreign Direct Investments
    • Invisible Transactions
    • Resource Utilization Support Fund (KKDF)
    • Incentive Legislation (investment allowance, VAT exemption, duty exemption, etc.)
    • Foreign Trade Tranactions
    • Export Incentive Legislation
    • Compliance consultancy related to the Foreign Direct Investment Act

We do the legwork to keep up with ever changing international tax legislation. Providing training and seminars, customized to each corporate need, we assure clients’ operational awareness and thus their competitive edge in the global economy. Subjects of our legal and tax-related educational offerings include:

• How to make tax-free firm, acquisition and separation transfer
• Investment Incentives
• Life Insurance and Retirement Tax Applications
• Period End Transactions
• Special Consumption Taxation
• Returns Taxaction on Stocks, Bonds and Immovables
• Taxation Perspective of Profit Distribution
• Derivitives Taxation of Financial Investment Instruments
• Foreign Investment Turkish Tax Incentives
• Basic Tax Laws, domestic and Turkish
• Free Zone Incentives
• Examination Tax and CMB Licensing Tax Legislation and Licensing

• We provide guidance on the essentials of federal taxation of individuals and employees in accordance with employment law and Turkish social security legislation. For sole-proprietors, we also offer consultancy on personal income taxation and filing of annual returns. Double Tax Treaty relief is also an area where our expertise can navigate your business to the reduction of costs.
• When transferring your business to Turkey there are questions that arise related to global employment. Whether your business is based in Turkey, the United States or branched in both we provide guidance related to the employment of foreigners, work and residential permits, split payroll arrangements and the filing of annual tax returns. Our adeptness in these areas enables us to assess your specific international employment needs and provide solutions that minimize your long-term costs.