The amendments made to the Stamp Tax Law dated 11 July 1964 and numbered 488 (the "Stamp Tax Law") and the Legal Fees Law dated 17 July 1964 and numbered 492 (the "Legal Fees Law") with the Law Regarding the Amendment of Certain Laws for the Improvement of Investment Environment dated 9 August 2016 and numbered 6728 (the "Amending Law") and the related Stamp Tax General Communiqué dated 29 September 2016 and numbered 60 and the Legal Fees General Communiqué dated 4 October 2016 and numbered 77 decrease the amounts payable on various documents and, in some cases, remove these obligations completely.
An amendment to the Stamp Tax Law has been made for documents issued in more than one copy. If the document is subject to a fixed tax (maktu vergi), each copy of the document will be subject to stamp tax in the same amount. However, if the document is subject to a proportional tax (nispi vergi), this will only be applied to one of the copies.
The Stamp Tax Law introduced certain agreements for which the stamp tax will be set at 0.948% of the value of the agreement. Some of these agreements are agreements related to permits, rights of easement and rights of usage with respect to properties under the private ownership of the Treasury or within the disposal of the State; promises for the sale of property issued in the official form; agreements with the relevant authority related to tenders for the purchase of goods and services and certain other agreements subject to specific legislation (e.g. Electricity Market Law, Consumer Protection Law).
In the case of documents issued in more than one copy, the notarial legal fee will apply to only one of the copies and will be calculated according to the number of signatures on that copy. In addition, the amendments made by the Amending Law also remove the obligation to pay legal fees for certain transactions and documents such as transactions related to share transfers of joint stock companies, limited liability companies and so-called commandite companies (eshamlı komandit şirket); transactions related to the transfer, purchase, sale, lease, management by proxy of the assets and rights which are the basis of the issuance of a lease certificate, being a partner in a joint venture for the purposes of issuing a lease certificate; transactions related to being a guarantor of the Credit Guarantee Fund (Kredi Garanti Fonu); loans that are provided by financing companies and transactions related to the collateral and repayment processes of these loans.
Overall, the amendments to both the Stamp Tax Law and the Legal Fees Law are intended to foster a more investment friendly environment by either decreasing or completely abolishing these financial obligations.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.