Starting a business in Turkey: foreigner's guide (2026)

From 1 January 2025, every Turkish company keeping accounts under the balance sheet method must maintain statutory books electronically via the Revenue Administration's e-Defter platform; paper ledgers lose legal standing and notary certification of books is replaced by monthly digital receipt (berat) files, eliminating a recurring post-incorporation compliance cost.

Published in the Official Gazette on 29 May 2024, Law No. 7511 codifies higher minimum capital thresholds (TRY 250,000 for joint-stock companies; TRY 500,000 under the registered-capital system) and requires all existing under-capitalised companies to raise their capital or face automatic dissolution by 31 December 2026, creating a sector-wide re-registration wave.

Signed 24 November 2023 and effective 1 January 2024, the Decree increases minimum paid-in capital for newly incorporated limited liability companies from TRY 10,000 to TRY 50,000 and for joint-stock companies from TRY 50,000 to TRY 250,000, reflecting years of inflation erosion and significantly raising the cost of entry for all new business founders.

The Turkish Revenue Administration (GİB) expanded mandatory e-Fatura obligations so that companies with annual gross sales above TRY 4 million must issue and receive all invoices electronically, making e-invoicing a standard compliance requirement that new companies must build into their operations from day one.

The World Bank's Doing Business 2020 report placed Turkey at 33rd out of 190 economies, a 10-place improvement driven partly by streamlined property registration and tax compliance reforms; the 'Starting a Business' sub-indicator reflected single-day registration via MERSIS and Trade Registry one-stop shops.

Published in Official Gazette No. 29796, the Investment Environment Improvement Law allows founders to sign articles of association directly before the Trade Registry Manager without a notary, eliminating a significant cost and multi-day procedural step; the law also abolished stamp duty on incorporation documents for all company types.

The Central Registry Record System (MERSIS) became operational at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce on 25 February 2014, completing its phased national rollout (Ankara and İzmir had joined c. 2012); all trade registry filings are now processed digitally through a central database, enabling same-day company formation for most incorporation types.

Published in Official Gazette No. 28541, the Regulation operationalised the TCC's mandate by designating Trade Registry Offices within Chambers of Commerce as single points of contact for all incorporation procedures, consolidating tasks previously spread across multiple agencies and enabling completion within one business day.

Enacted February 2011 and effective 1 July 2012, the TCC replaced the 1956 Commercial Code; it mandated MERSIS electronic registration, introduced European-aligned corporate governance rules, required company websites for statutory disclosures, and modernised formation requirements for all company types — the foundational legislation underpinning today's business formation framework.

Enacted 5 June 2003, the FDI Law replaced Turkey's decades-old approval-based foreign investment regime with a notification-based system; foreign investors gained equal rights with domestic founders to establish any company form without prior government screening or approval, removing the single biggest barrier to foreign-owned business creation.