Law No. 7582 · Art. 20/D · in force since 4 June 2026 · retroactive to 1 Jan 2026
Every rule we can verify from the published law, in plain English — who qualifies, what is exempt, how it compares globally, and an honest list of what is still unclear.
| Legal basis | Law No. 7582 — passed 21 May 2026, signed 3 June 2026, published in the Official Gazette (issue 33270) 4 June 2026. New Art. 20/D (Mükerrer Madde 20/D) regime. |
|---|---|
| Who qualifies | Individuals who become Turkish tax residents on or after 1 January 2026 (applies retroactively) |
| Prior-residence rule | No Turkish domicile or full tax liability in the three calendar years before becoming resident |
| Carve-out | Prior Turkish tax paid only on local rental income, securities income or capital gains does not disqualify you |
| Citizenship | Not required. The test is tax residency, not what passport you hold |
| What's exempt | Foreign-source income and capital gains — they never appear on a Turkish return |
| Duration | 20 years from establishing tax residency |
| Trade-offs | No expense deductions and no foreign tax credits relating to exempt income |
| Minimum stay | No separate minimum-stay requirement in the article — but you must genuinely be tax resident under general rules |
| Inheritance & gift | Reduced 1% rate (vs. progressive rates up to 10% on inheritance and up to 30% on gifts) for transfers during the eligibility period |
| Asset repatriation | Separate scheme: declare foreign-held cash, gold, FX and securities at 0–5% until 31 July 2027, with no tax audit on declared assets |
The exemption is implemented as Income Tax Law (GVK) Mükerrer Madde 20/D — the cite-handle a Turkish CPA will use. The operative text, in plain English:
You qualify if:
You do not need: Turkish citizenship · citizenship by investment · any specific visa type. A Digital Nomad Visa, Tourist Residence Permit, Work Permit, Family Permit or Investment Residence all appear acceptable in principle.
Two fine-print rules: there is no foreign tax credit during the exemption window (you don't need one at 0%), and exempt foreign income is not declared on your annual Turkish return — only Turkish-source income flows through normal filings.
| Profile | Usual path to qualification | Typical foreign income |
|---|---|---|
| Solo remote worker | DNV → tax residency | $5K–15K / month |
| High-earning remote worker / consultant | DNV → tax residency + planning | $15K–40K / month |
| Tech founder / crypto wealth | Investment residence or CBI → tax residency | $200K–$2M / year |
| Returning Turkish dual citizen | Re-establish residency after 3 years abroad | Any |
| Family-office principal | Investment residence or CBI + family permits | $1M+ / year |
The exemption shelters income and gains arising outside Turkey. In practice, for most of our clients that means:
Salary from a foreign employer, freelance and consulting fees billed to foreign clients, foreign business profits.
Dividends and interest from foreign companies, banks and brokers; gains on foreign shares, funds and other assets.
Rental income from property located abroad and foreign pension payments. Foreign-exchange crypto gains likely qualify, pending the communiqué.
What stays taxable: anything Turkish-source — local employment, a Turkish company you operate, Turkish rental property, Turkish-listed (BIST) securities, or work physically performed for a Turkish counterparty. The exemption changes nothing about Turkish-source taxation.
You qualify only if you had no domicile in Turkey and were not a full (resident) taxpayer during the three calendar years before the year you become resident. Two important nuances:
With Law 7582 in force, Turkey is one of the most competitive personal-tax-relocation regimes available today — longest duration, lowest entry cost, no annual flat charge.
| Country | Regime | Duration | Annual flat charge | EU passport route? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey (Law 7582 · Art. 20/D) | 0% on foreign income | 20 years | None | No (non-EU) |
| Italy | Lump-sum on foreign income | 15 years | €200K / year | Eventually (10 yrs) |
| Greece | Non-dom regime | 15 years | €100K / year | Eventually (7 yrs) |
| Portugal NHR 2.0 | Reduced (not zero) | 10 years | None | Eventually (5 yrs) |
| Cyprus non-dom | Various reductions | 17 years | Conditions apply | Eventually (7 yrs) |
| UAE | 0% income tax | Permanent | None | No |
The trade-off: Turkey wins on tax math and cost of entry; EU programmes win on freedom of movement within Europe. Which matters more depends entirely on your situation — exactly what the eligibility review weighs for you.
The 20-year exemption is the headline, but the same law carries related measures worth knowing if you are planning a move:
| Provision | Detail |
|---|---|
| 20-year foreign-income exemption | 0% Turkish tax on foreign-source income and capital gains for 20 years; requires no Turkish tax residency in the prior 3 years; retroactive to 1 January 2026. |
| 1% inheritance / gift rate | Reduced rate for individuals inside the Art. 20/D regime, vs. progressive rates otherwise. |
| Asset-declaration scheme | Declare previously undeclared assets (cash, gold, FX, securities) held in Turkey or abroad at 0–5% until 31 July 2027, with no audit on declared assets. |
| Istanbul Finance Centre (IFC) | Qualified service-centre staff: salary up to 4× minimum wage tax-free outside IFC, 6× inside IFC. |
| Corporate tax cuts | Manufacturing exporters 25% → 9%; other exporters 25% → 14%; transit trade through IFC largely exempt. |
Often overlooked next to the 20-year story: the same law opens an asset-declaration scheme running to 31 July 2027. Individuals can declare previously undeclared cash, gold, foreign currency and securities — held in Turkey or abroad — at preferential 0–5% rates, with no tax audit on the declared assets. For someone relocating under the 20-year regime, it is a clean window to also bring offshore wealth onshore. Pairing a tax-residency incentive with an amnesty like this is unusual.
Turkey DNV holders already had partial protection under Income Tax Code Art. 23(14): foreign salary paid by a non-Turkish employer in foreign currency was exempt. Law 7582 extends this dramatically:
The entitlement is live. The right move is establishing residency cleanly now — paperwork, banking and a CPA lined up — so your current-year filings already reflect the exemption under the retroactive 1 January 2026 date.
Model the math honestly. Above roughly $250K/year of foreign income, Turkey usually wins on tax alone versus Italy/Greece/Cyprus. Below ~$150K/year the setup overhead may not be worth it.
The look-back likely excludes you for now. The clean path is to establish tax residency elsewhere for 3+ calendar years, then return — a long but workable horizon for location-flexible earners.
We would rather tell you this up front. As of mid-2026, secondary regulation is still developing on:
This is why our process starts with a conservative eligibility check by a licensed Turkish CPA, not with a sales pitch. If your case sits in a grey zone, we say so.
Find out in 48 hours whether you qualify — free, no commitment.
Check My EligibilityPotentially yes. The law applies retroactively to anyone who became tax resident on or after 1 January 2026, provided you pass the three-year look-back.
No. The law uses tax residency, not citizenship. Even Turkish dual citizens who have been abroad for the prior three calendar years can qualify when they re-establish Turkish tax residency.
In principle yes, if you establish Turkish tax residency and meet the three-year look-back. The law doesn't enumerate which permits qualify — that detail is expected in the implementation communiqué — but any genuine pathway to tax residency should work if the three-year condition is met.
Yes. Comparable regimes typically run 10–17 years (Italy and Greece 15, Portugal NHR 10, Cyprus non-dom 17). Twenty years from the establishment of residency is currently among the longest such windows anywhere — and unusually, at a 0% rate with no annual flat charge.
You remain a Turkish tax resident, so you can generally request a tax residency certificate and claim treaty benefits abroad — but no foreign tax credit applies to income that Turkey exempts. Source-country withholding becomes your final cost on that income, which is exactly what the eligibility review models for you.
Genuinely unclear in some fact patterns — it depends on where the income is sourced and how it is characterized. This is one of the grey zones we route to the CPA before giving any answer.
Primary sources: Law No. 7582 (Official Gazette issue 33270, 4 June 2026); Turkish Revenue Administration (GİB) announcement of publication; EY Global Tax News alert 2026-1215; IMI Daily coverage of the gazetted text. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice.
