Company Formation in Turkey for Foreigners 2026 Guide

Company formation in turkey for foreigners: are you eligible?

Yes, and on the same terms. The Turkish investment agency states that the Foreign Direct Investment Law rests on equal treatment: "Türkiye's FDI Law is based on the principle of equal treatment and allows international investors to have the same rights and liabilities as local investors."

In practice that means no required Turkish partner, no different minimum capital and no parallel process. What differs is how your documents issued abroad must be authenticated, not your right to incorporate.

Minimum company capital in Turkish lira after Presidential Decision 7887, effective 1 January 2024.

What company types exist in Turkey?

The Turkish Commercial Code provides two corporate forms that foreign investors use in practice, alongside non-corporate partnership forms:

Form	Turkish name	Who usually chooses it
Limited liability company	Limited Şirket	Small and medium businesses, services, trade
Joint stock company	Anonim Şirket	Larger ventures, share issuance, bringing in partners
Partnerships	General, limited, limited by shares	Narrow special cases

The working rule: the limited company is simpler and cheaper to form, while the joint stock company suits anyone planning to admit shareholders or sell stakes later.

What is an LLC in Turkey and what minimum capital does it need?

A Limited Şirket is the Turkish limited liability company, and its minimum capital changed in a way much published guidance still gets wrong. Under Presidential Decision No. 7887, published in Official Gazette No. 32380 of 25 November 2023, the figures rose with effect from 1 January 2024:

Form	Before 2024	From 1 January 2024
Joint stock company	50,000 lira	250,000 lira
Limited liability company	10,000 lira	50,000 lira
Non-public registered capital system	—	Not less than 500,000 lira

Capital also has its own payment rule: "25 percent of the subscribed share capital must be paid prior to the new company registration. The remaining 75 percent must be paid within two years." What is actually required up front is a quarter, not the whole.

Corporate tax rates in Turkiye for the 2026 accounting period per the Turkish Revenue Administration.

Steps to form a company in Turkey through MERSIS

The official investment guide sets out the sequence:

1. Submit the company's details through MERSIS, the central electronic registry for commercial registry processes.
2. Execute the notarised company documents.
3. Obtain tax identification numbers.
4. Deposit the capital at a bank.
5. Apply to the Trade Registry Directorate for registration.
6. Certify the legal books.
7. Issue the signature circular.

The order is not advisory. Depositing capital before tax numbers exist does not clear, and registration before notarisation is not accepted.

Company formation fees in Turkey

The only fee published as an explicit percentage is the Competition Authority fee: "0.04 percent of the company's capital must be paid to the account of the Competition Authority via Trade Registry Directorate pay office." A limited company with 50,000 lira of capital therefore pays 20 lira.

⛔ Notary fees, sworn translation, trade registry and accountancy costs are published in no unified official schedule and vary by province and by document volume. No total formation cost figure is printed here, because any such number is a market estimate rather than an official fee.

Corporate taxes in Turkey for 2026

This is the canonical tax table for this article, published by the Turkish Revenue Administration for the 2026 accounting period:

Company category	Corporate tax rate
Companies in general	25 percent
Banks, financial institutions, insurance and reinsurance	30 percent
Exporters	20 percent
Manufacturers holding an industry registry certificate	24 percent
Listed companies with an IPO of 20 percent or more	23 percent
Listed and exporting	18 percent
Listed and manufacturing	22 percent

The point most guides miss: there is no single rate. An exporter pays 20 percent rather than 25, a registered manufacturer 24, and a listed exporter drops to 18. Choosing the company's activity is a tax decision, not only an administrative one.

Remote versus in-person company formation in Turkey

Documents issued outside Turkiye are not accepted as they stand. The official guide requires that they "must be notarized and apostilled or alternatively ratified by the Turkish Consulate" and then "must be officially translated and notarized by a Turkish notary."

In practice: a power of attorney, apostilled or ratified by a Turkish consulate, then sworn-translated and notarised inside Turkiye. That is what makes remote formation possible, and it is also what delays it when a single stamp is missing.

The steps to form a company in Turkiye as the official investment guide publishes them, from MERSIS to the signature circular.

Documents required to form a company in Turkey

• Partners' passports, sworn-translated and notarised
• Tax identification numbers for the foreign shareholders
• The articles of association prepared through MERSIS
• The company's registered address and its lease
• An apostilled or consulate-ratified power of attorney for remote formation
• The bank receipt for the quarter of capital paid in
• The Competition Authority fee receipt
• Photographs of the shareholders and the director

Does forming a company grant residence in Turkey?

The company does not grant residence by itself. What it opens is the work permit route: the company may apply for a work permit for its foreign shareholder or director, and that permit stands in place of a residence permit. The conditions are set out in work permits in Turkey for foreigners.

An investor with a strong file has a broader alternative in the Turquoise Card, granted on employment impact and carrying the rights of an indefinite work permit.

How much money to invest in Turkey to get citizenship?

Citizenship by investment is a separate statutory route from company formation, with its own qualifying categories and thresholds, and it is set out in Turkish citizenship by investment. Forming a company does not by itself qualify.

What company formation does provide is the operating vehicle: the entity that employs staff, holds assets and files the tax returns that any investment route eventually rests on.

What is the best business to start in Turkey?

No official body answers that, but the tax table above gives an explicit signal: exporters pay 20 percent and registered manufacturers 24, against 25 percent for companies generally and 30 percent for financial institutions. Export-facing and manufacturing activity is favoured in the tariff itself.

For where to place property-linked capital, see the best investment areas in Istanbul, and for the property route itself buying property in Turkey.

An investor creating real jobs has a broader route than an ordinary work permit, set out in the Turquoise Card in Turkey.

Book your company formation consultation with Livist Group

Most stalled formation files fail on one of three things: a power of attorney without an apostille, capital written at the pre-2024 figure, or an activity chosen without looking at the rate difference it carries. Livist Group prepares the articles through MERSIS, arranges notarisation and sworn translation, and picks the form and activity around your tax position rather than your paperwork alone. Talk to us before you sign.

Sources for this company formation guide

• Invest in Türkiye — investment guide, establishing a business in Türkiye. Read live 22 September 2026.
• Turkish Ministry of Trade, Directorate General of Domestic Trade — announcement of the minimum capital increase under Presidential Decision 7887, Official Gazette No. 32380 of 25 November 2023. Read live 22 September 2026.
• Turkish Revenue Administration — table of corporate tax rates by accounting period. Read live 22 September 2026.