Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has introduced a comprehensive economic bill to parliament that would establish a formal tax regime for cryptocurrencies. The draft legislation, currently before the Turkish Grand National Assembly, seeks to amend the Income Tax Law and Expenditure Taxes Law to create a new framework for digital assets, as reported by the state news agency Anadolu Ajansı.
The core of the proposal is a 10% withholding tax on cryptocurrency gains, to be applied each quarter. This tax would be levied by regulated crypto platforms and applies universally, regardless of whether the investor is an individual or a company, resident or non-resident. In addition to the income tax, service providers would be subject to a 0.03% transaction tax on the sale amount or market value of the crypto assets they broker.
The bill places significant responsibility on intermediaries for tax compliance. Crypto brokers and other platforms would be responsible for tax checks based on their own records. If a user provides incorrect or incomplete information, tax authorities would pursue that individual directly for any resulting tax shortfall.
Key terms such as "crypto asset," "wallet," and "platform" are explicitly defined to carry the same meaning as in Turkey's existing Capital Markets Law, effectively integrating the new tax rules into the country's established financial regulatory framework.
The legislation also grants the country's president discretionary power to adjust the withholding tax rate. The 10% rate could be lowered to 0% or raised as high as 20%, with adjustments potentially based on factors like the type of token, holding period, issuer, or the wallet used.
Further provisions in the bill exempt crypto deliveries subject to the new transaction tax from value-added tax (VAT). It also includes a separate measure to exclude foundation university hospitals from corporate tax exemptions starting in 2027. The proposed crypto tax rules are slated to take effect two months after publication, pending parliamentary approval.
