Tax Residence Certificates for Use in Türkiye

Non-residents who want to benefit from a double taxation treaty with Türkiye must show where they are resident for tax purposes. The Revenue Administration's circular on double taxation treaties sets the rules, and its rulings apply them to companies from countries such as the United States.

The certificate and its translation

Those who want to benefit from a treaty must obtain from the competent authorities of their country of residence a certificate showing that they are fully taxable there. The circular states that they must submit the original of this certificate together with a copy of its Turkish translation certified by a notary or by the Turkish consulate in that country to the tax office concerned or, where tax is withheld on payments to them, to the withholding agent.

The Revenue Administration's rulings describe the content: in one, a company resident in the Czech Republic had to prove with a document from that country's competent authorities that it was fully taxable there and taxed on its worldwide income; in another, a United States enterprise had to provide a residence certificate where treaty provisions change the result under domestic law.

Without a certificate

Withholding agents keep the residence certificates they receive in order to show them to the competent authorities when needed. If no residence certificate is submitted, domestic law applies instead of the treaty. Non-residents, in person or through representatives, may apply to the tax office concerned for a refund of tax withheld.

The texts we quote do not require an apostille on the certificate itself; ask the tax office or the withholding agent. We prepare notarised Turkish translations of foreign residence certificates in Ankara through translators sworn before a Turkish notary. The tax office decides on treaty benefits and refunds.