Before you start

A valid passport — the only thing needed for the tax number itself, no residence permit required
An e-Devlet login if you want to file or check online, or just walk into any vergi dairesi
Clarity on your day-count and home base for the calendar year, which drives the 183-day test
For freelancers only: a muhasebeci (accountant) and a Turkish address to register the business

Step-by-step

1
Get your tax number (vergi kimlik numarası)
Free and open to any foreigner. Apply online through GİB's Dijital Vergi Dairesi 'Potansiyel Vergi Kimlik Numarası' form — name in CAPITALS exactly as printed in the passport, with the photo page uploaded — or in person at any Bursa vergi dairesi with your passport and a photocopy. The 10-digit number is usually issued instantly. Once you hold a residence or work permit, your YKN functions as the tax number.
OnlineWho: YouMinutes online; same day in personFree
2
If you're employed, understand your payslip and then stop worrying
Employees have income tax withheld through payroll (stopaj) across the progressive brackets, plus SGK contributions, and generally never file a return. Ask HR for a breakdown of your bordro (payslip) in your first month: gross, income tax withheld, SGK employee share, stamp duty and net. The brackets are inflation-indexed and re-set annually, so a mid-year jump in the withheld amount usually means you crossed a bracket rather than that something is wrong.
Via employerWho: Your employer's payroll teamMonthly, automatic
3
Work out your tax residency and worldwide-income exposure
You become a Turkish tax resident if you establish a legal residence (ikametgah) here OR stay more than six months — about 183 days — in a calendar year. Residents are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents only on Turkish-source income. There is a narrow exception for people present solely for a specific temporary assignment, which is worth checking with an accountant if you are here on a fixed-term posting. The practical bite for Bursa's employed arrivals is foreign rental income and investments left at home.
OnlineWho: You, ideally with an accountantAssess on arrival; reassess each calendar year
4
Freelancers: register a sole proprietorship, and check the teknokent
Remote workers and freelancers register a şahıs şirketi at the tax office, then file monthly VAT, quarterly provisional tax and an annual return — in Turkish, through GİB systems, which is why an accountant is effectively mandatory. If you are 18-29 and it is your first business, file the start-up notice within 10 days for the genç girişimci exemption; note the matching Bağ-Kur premium support was repealed on 1 January 2026, so you pay your own premiums. Separately, wages of R&D, design and support staff inside ULUTEK Teknokent are income-tax exempt under Law No. 4691, with support-personnel status capped as a share of headcount.
In personWho: You + a muhasebeci (accountant)Registration about a day; then a monthly and quarterly cycleAccountant a recurring monthly fee, plus VAT and Bağ-Kur premiums
5
File the annual return if you need to (most employees don't)
Türkiye's tax year is the calendar year; annual returns are filed in MARCH for the previous year, with tax payable at the end of March and the end of July. File through GİB's İnteraktif Vergi Dairesi, or use Hazır Beyan — the pre-filled 'ready declaration' — for simple income such as rent. A single withheld salary usually requires no return at all, but a second income source, foreign rental income or self-employment does.
OnlineWho: You / your accountantMarch each year; payment in March and July

Documents you’ll need

Passport, and a photocopy of the photo page for in-person applications
Residence or work permit / foreigner ID (YKN) if you have one — it links to your tax number
Your bordro (payslip) records, if employed
Income and expense records and e-invoices, for freelancers' VAT and annual filing

Things most newcomers don’t know

Being an employee in Bursa is itself the tax simplification — most people here genuinely never file.

Payroll withholding (stopaj) settles employees' income tax at source, so a single-salary employee has no annual return, no VAT, no provisional tax and no accountant. Newcomers who arrived somewhere else as freelancers often keep budgeting for a muhasebeci they no longer need.

Source: GİB — employment income and withholding; PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (Turkey)

The 183-day line still applies to employees, and it is your income back home that it catches.

Employment income is already withheld, so the residency test bites elsewhere: once you are a Turkish tax resident, rental income, dividends and gains from your home country come into scope. People assume 'my tax is deducted' means the question is settled, and it isn't.

Source: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (Turkey)

ULUTEK is the local Law No. 4691 zone, and it changes take-home for R&D and software roles.

Wages of R&D, design and support staff working inside a technology development zone are exempt from income tax, and Bursa's zone sits at Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi. Given how much of the city's engineering work is automotive R&D, whether a specific role is inside the zone is a real question to put to an employer before signing.

Source: Law No. 4691 (Technology Development Zones); GİB guidance

Read your first bordro line by line, and keep them.

The payslip is your only tax record as an employee, and it is what you'd need if you later have to prove Turkish tax paid to a home-country authority under a double-tax treaty. Brackets are inflation-indexed and re-set every year, so keeping the run of payslips is also how you spot a payroll error.

Source: Turkish payroll practice; GİB

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming payroll withholding settles everything, then finding your foreign rental income is now Turkish-taxable.
Paying for an accountant you don't need as a single-salary employee.
Freelancing or invoicing clients without registering a sole proprietorship and charging and filing VAT.
US citizens forgetting they must still file with the IRS, using FEIE or FTC, on top of any Turkish obligations.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.