Estimate the Turkish income tax liability on the sale of Istanbul real estate using the official Revenue Administration (GİB) formula — PPI indexing, the ₺150,000 annual exemption for 2026, and the full 15–40% progressive bracket schedule are all applied automatically.
When foreign investors sell property in Turkey within 5 years of purchase, any profit is subject to capital gains tax under Article 80 of the Turkish Income Tax Law. The Revenue Administration (Gelir İdaresi Başkanlığı, GİB) publishes an official formula that indexes the purchase price for inflation before computing the gain — which is why you cannot simply subtract what you paid from what you sold for.
Divide the Yİ-ÜFE (Producer Price Index) of the month before sale by the Yİ-ÜFE of the month before purchase.
Multiply the original purchase price by the index ratio. The 10% threshold rule applies if inflation is below 10%.
Subtract the adjusted purchase price from the sale price. A negative result means no taxable gain exists.
Add the 2% title deed fee paid on sale plus any documented notary, legal, and commission expenses.
Gross gain minus total deductible expenses. This is the figure before exemptions are applied.
Subtract the year-specific exemption (₺150,000 for 2026) — set by the Revenue Administration each January.
Net gain minus the annual exemption. If the result is zero or negative, no income tax is owed.
Apply the 15–40% income tax brackets to the taxable base to reach the final liability.
The 2% title deed transfer fee is always owed on sale regardless of the 5-year exemption, and indexing is skipped entirely if the Yİ-ÜFE increase between purchase and sale is below 10%.
The Revenue Administration updates the capital gains exemption every January in line with the revaluation rate. Use the correct value for the year of sale, not the year of purchase.
| Tax Year | Annual Exemption (TRY) |
|---|---|
| 2026 | ₺150,000 |
| 2025 | ₺120,000 |
| 2024 | ₺87,000 |
| 2023 | ₺55,000 |
| 2022 | ₺25,000 |
| 2021 | ₺19,000 |
| 2020 | ₺18,000 |
| 2019 | ₺14,800 |
Turkey applies progressive brackets to the taxable base. The marginal rate climbs from 15% on the first slice up to 40% on income above ₺5,300,000.
| Taxable Base (TRY) | Marginal Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to 190,000 | 15% |
| 190,001 – 400,000 | 20% |
| 400,001 – 1,500,000 | 27% |
| 1,500,001 – 5,300,000 | 35% |
| Above 5,300,000 | 40% |
Property held for 5 years or longer is completely exempt from capital gains tax. The clock starts on the date recorded in the title deed (tapu) and runs to the date of the new transfer. For investors planning an exit, pushing the sale past the 5-year mark is often the single largest tax decision on the table.
If the Yİ-ÜFE increase between the purchase month and the sale month is less than 10%, the indexing adjustment is skipped. In practice this almost never applies to Turkish lira purchases given recent inflation, but it can matter for very short holding periods or low-inflation windows.
A lump-sum exemption is deducted from the net gain before the progressive brackets apply. For 2026 this is ₺150,000. If your entire indexed gain falls below this amount, you owe no income tax — though the 2% title deed fee is still due.
If you're selling Istanbul real estate before the 5-year threshold, indexing and the annual exemption materially change your net return. Running the numbers in advance lets you compare the after-tax outcome of selling this year versus waiting.
The 3-year holding requirement for citizenship is separate from the 5-year tax exemption. Investors who plan to sell as soon as they legally can — at year three — will almost always owe capital gains tax on the indexed gain above the annual exemption.
If you're weighing a Turkish apartment against Dubai, Lisbon, or Athens, the headline yield is only half the story. Post-tax proceeds after the GİB formula, the title deed fee, and the progressive brackets give you the real figure to compare.
The calculator applies the exact formula published by the Revenue Administration, so it's suitable for modelling individual units inside a larger development exit or for running scenarios with different purchase and sale dates.
Common questions from foreign investors selling real estate in Turkey. For situation-specific guidance, contact our team.
Our team works with foreign investors every week on the timing, structuring, and documentation of Istanbul property sales. A 30-minute consultation often pays for itself several times over.
Talk to a Specialist