Turkey's app developer tax exemption: how to get the certificate, conditions and the 2026 ceiling

What is the app developer tax exemption?

Article 20/B, added to Türkiye's Income Tax Law by article 2 of Law 7338 of 26/10/2021, exempts from income tax the earnings that developers of apps for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets make through electronic application sharing and sales platforms, effective from 1/1/2022. The same article covers social content creators; Law 7491 extended it from 1/1/2024 to individual tuition, education, data processing and development and product promotion services delivered over the internet.

It is commonly called a tax exemption in the sense of being excused, but technically it is an exclusion rather than an exemption from taxpayer status: you remain registered, you hold a certificate, and the conditions are audited.

Who can use it?

Individuals who develop applications for mobile devices. Whether they are full or limited taxpayers does not matter; being an individual does. Corporate taxpayers cannot use the exemption, and neither can ordinary partnerships made up of individuals — though people carrying out the same activity personally, outside the partnership, can, provided the other conditions are met.

The decision here is organisational rather than technical: whose name the app is published under. If the store account is opened through a limited company, the income flows to the company and this exemption falls away.

What are the conditions?

• An account opened at a bank established in Türkiye to collect all revenue from the activity.
• An "Exemption Certificate for the Application of Article 20/B of Law 193" obtained from the assessment-authorised tax office where you reside.
• The certificate used when opening the account — or presented to the bank if an existing account will be used.
• The bank name, branch and IBAN reported to the tax office within one month of the account opening, or of the date the certificate was presented.
• All revenue from the activity collected through that account.

The fifth is the condition broken most often. The account has to be used exclusively for this revenue, because the bank withholds from every amount transferred into it.

How much does the bank withhold?

Banks withhold income tax at 15% of the revenue transferred into these accounts, as at the transfer date, and declare and pay it with the withholding and premium service return by the 26th of the following month. No further withholding is applied under article 94. Where foreign currency lands in the account, the exchange rate on the transfer date applies — which, with Apple and Google paying in dollars, is a monthly detail rather than an edge case.

Which income is covered?

Only earnings obtained through electronic application sharing and sales platforms. The Revenue Administration lists them: paid app sales, advertising income, in-app purchase income, sponsorship income and paid subscription income. Earnings obtained outside those platforms are not treated as within the exemption.

What is the ceiling, and what happens above it?

The ceiling is not a fixed figure; it tracks the amount in the fourth income bracket of article 103 of the Income Tax Law and is updated annually.

Exceeding it does not remove the exemption. Above the ceiling an annual income tax return is filed for those earnings, and the tax withheld under the article can be offset against the income tax calculated on the return. Nothing changes on the VAT side either.

Is bookkeeping or invoicing required?

Those using the exemption are released from certifying books, keeping books and issuing documents, regardless of whether total earnings exceed the ceiling. Where the person also has commercial, agricultural or professional income from other activities, those obligations continue, and revenue, cost and expense items inside and outside the exemption must be tracked separately.

The duty to retain records survives: documents issued in your name and records of expenses and purchases are kept for the five-year statute of limitations in the Tax Procedure Law. On the paying side, while payments to exempt individuals are in principle documented with an expense voucher, bank receipts carrying the information an expense voucher requires (signature aside) can take its place under article 234.

Can you enter the exemption mid-year?

Yes. After the certificate is issued, the exemption begins on the account opening date for a new account, or on the date the certificate is presented to the bank for an existing one. For the stub period between the start of the calendar year and that date, annual and provisional income tax returns are filed, and bookkeeping and document obligations apply to that period.

When testing whether the ceiling has been exceeded, only earnings from the stub period covered by the exemption are counted. Leaving the exemption is also possible: you exit as of the date you notify the tax office, and bookkeeping and document obligations resume within ten days.

Does this replace an accountant?

No. Every item here comes from the Revenue Administration's own published text, with the sources listed below; the point is to let a developer see the process before release. Applying it to your own situation — particularly if you have other activities — is your accountant's work. Because Neuros opens store accounts in clients' own names, the question comes up regularly on projects, and we answer it as a step in the pre-release setup rather than as tax advice.

“The wording of the condition is "all of it": part of the revenue landing elsewhere removes the exemption for that period.”