Tax residency rule, Türkiye

Türkiye Tax Residence

Summary

Türkiye treats you as settled in the country, and taxes your income from the whole world, in two cases. The first is that your legal home is in Türkiye. The second is that you live in Türkiye continuously for more than six months in one calendar year. Temporary departures do not break the stay, so a short trip abroad does not restart the count. Some foreigners who come for a set temporary job, for study, for treatment or for travel are not treated as settled even after six months. The rule is in articles 3 to 5 of the Income Tax Law, and the Revenue Administration applies it.

Limit
Six months of continuous stay
Period
One calendar year, 1 January to 31 December
What is counted
The length of your stay. Temporary departures do not break it
Law
Income Tax Law No. 193 (Gelir Vergisi Kanunu), articles 3, 4 and 5
Run by
Gelir İdaresi Başkanlığı, the Revenue Administration

Who it applies to

The rule

Article 3 of Income Tax Law No. 193 says that people who are settled in Türkiye are taxed on all the earnings and income they get inside and outside Türkiye. This is called full liability. Article 6 says that people who are not settled are taxed only on what they earn in Türkiye, which is called limited liability.

Article 4 defines settled. It covers two groups. The first is people whose legal home (ikametgâh) is in Türkiye. The article points to article 19 and the following articles of the Civil Code for the meaning of legal home, which is the place where a person lives with the intention of staying. The second group is people who live in Türkiye continuously for more than six months in one calendar year. The article adds in brackets that temporary departures do not interrupt the period of living in Türkiye.

Article 5 lists foreigners who are not treated as settled even if they stay for more than six months. The first group is business people, scientists, experts, officials, press correspondents and people in a similar position who come to Türkiye for a specific and temporary task or job, and people who come for study, medical treatment, rest or travel. The second group is people who were kept or had to stay in Türkiye for reasons beyond their control, such as detention, a prison sentence or illness.

Article 3 has a second case of full liability. Turkish citizens who live in foreign countries because of the work of official offices and institutions, or of organisations and enterprises with their centre in Türkiye, are fully liable. If they already pay income tax or a similar tax in that country on what they earn there, those earnings are not taxed again in Türkiye.

Why it exists

Türkiye taxes people who have made the country their base on all their income, and taxes other people only on Turkish income. A legal home shows the intention to stay. The six-month test catches people who in fact live in Türkiye for most of a year without registering a home. Because temporary departures do not break the stay, a person cannot avoid the rule with short trips abroad.

Counting the days

You measure how long you lived in Türkiye in one calendar year, from the start of your stay to its end. Short trips abroad in the middle are treated as part of the stay.

  1. Check first whether your legal home is in Türkiye. If it is, you are settled and no count is needed.
  2. Take one calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December.
  3. Find the day your stay in Türkiye started in that year and the day it ended.
  4. Do not take out temporary departures, such as a holiday or a business trip abroad, when you came back to continue living in Türkiye.
  5. If the stay is longer than six months inside that calendar year, you are settled for that year.
  6. Check whether one of the exceptions in article 5 applies to you, for example a specific temporary job or study.
Countr and this rule. Countr lists the Türkiye Tax Residence rule, but it does not count it yet. Countr counts the separate days on which you were in a country and adds them up. Türkiye's test is different: it asks for a continuous stay of more than six months in one calendar year, and temporary departures do not break that stay. A simple sum of days can be wrong in both directions. It can be too low, because days on a short trip abroad still belong to your stay. It can be too high, because many separate visits are not one continuous stay. The rule will be counted when the app can measure a stay from start to end. Also, a legal home in Türkiye can make you resident with any number of days.

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Examples

A stay with a short trip abroad

Clara rents a flat in Izmir and lives there from 1 February to 20 August 2026. In May she spends 10 days in Greece and comes back. From 1 February to 20 August is more than six months inside one calendar year. The trip to Greece is a temporary departure and does not interrupt the stay. She is settled in Türkiye for 2026 and is taxed there on her income from all countries.

Six months across two calendar years

Peter lives in Antalya from 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026 and then goes home. His stay is six months long, but it is split: three months in 2025 and three months in 2026. In neither calendar year did he live in Türkiye for more than six months. The six-month test is not met. The tax office can still look at whether his legal home is in Türkiye.

An engineer on an eight-month job

Kenji, a Japanese engineer, comes to Türkiye on 1 March 2026 to install a machine line and leaves when the job ends on 31 October 2026. He stays for eight months in one calendar year. But he came for a specific and temporary job, which is one of the cases in article 5. He is not treated as settled, and Türkiye taxes only his Turkish income.

Exceptions

Common misconceptions

“The rule is 183 days in any 12 months.”
The law does not say 183 days. It says a continuous stay of more than six months in one calendar year. The year runs from 1 January to 31 December.
“A weekend abroad restarts my six months.”
No. Article 4 says that temporary departures do not interrupt the period of living in Türkiye. The stay continues through a short trip.
“Without six months I cannot be a full taxpayer.”
You can. If your legal home is in Türkiye, you are settled from that fact, and the length of stay does not matter.
“Every foreigner who stays more than six months is taxed on worldwide income.”
Not everyone. Article 5 takes out foreigners who come for a specific temporary job, for study, for treatment, for rest or for travel, and people kept in the country against their will.

Questions and answers

How many days can I stay in Türkiye before I become a tax resident?

The law gives no number of days. You are settled when you live in Türkiye continuously for more than six months in one calendar year, or when your legal home is there. Many people use 183 days as a working number, but the text says six months.

Does a residence permit make me a tax resident of Türkiye?

Not by itself. A residence permit is an immigration document. Tax residence depends on your legal home or on a continuous stay of more than six months in a calendar year. The tax office looks at the whole situation.

I stay from November to April every year. Am I a tax resident?

Not under the six-month test, if no calendar year has a stay of more than six months. November and December fall in one year and January to April in the next. The legal home test can still apply if Türkiye is where you live with the intention to stay.

What is the difference between full and limited liability?

A fully liable person is settled in Türkiye and is taxed on income from inside and outside the country. A person with limited liability is not settled and is taxed only on earnings and income obtained in Türkiye.

Do tourists who stay more than six months become taxpayers?

Article 5 says that foreigners who come for rest or travel are not treated as settled even if they stay longer than six months. The purpose of the stay must be real, and a legal home in Türkiye would change the answer.

Why does Countr not count this rule yet?

Because the law measures one continuous stay and keeps short departures inside it. Adding up separate days of presence gives a different number. Countr will count the rule when it can measure a stay from start to end.

Sources

Read more: The 183-day rule: what it means and what it does not.

Other rules for Türkiye

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This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.