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1-THE EXISTING PROCEDURE FOR PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN TURKEY BY DENMARK CITIZENS
To own property by a Denmark Citizen in Turkey soley depends on him/her obtaining a ‘Resident Permit’. To obtain a ‘Resident Permit’, first and foremost, applying before the relevant 'County Governor' with a petition is required.
The reason for the request for a ‘Resident Permit’ and the address (address required for the Police Investigation which will take place later on) should be explicitly stated in the petition. Presentation of the ‘Lease’ is not required. Police officers state that most often there has been no connection between the applicant and the address provided due to the fact that during this phase, the applicant may have been gone back to his/her country. According to police officers, in this case, that doesn’t mean that the application for the ‘Resident Permit’ will be rejected. However on the other hand, Assistant of the 'County Governor' made it very clear that the application shall be refused under these circumstances.
After getting the petition issued by the County Governor, it should be personally delivered to the 'Foreign Affairs Department of the relevant Police Station' by the applicant. After the petition has been issued by the Police, it should be sent to the relevant ‘Alien Office’.
The documents that should be forwarded to the Police along with the petition are as follows:
-8 passport size photos of the applicant
-Passport photocopy (particularly copies of the photo attached page and the page which ‘Entry Stamp’ issued by the Turkish Customs
-Documents that declare income (strictly speaking; exchange receipts, credit cards copies, bank accounts in Turkey if applicable).
The role of the 'Police Station' is to act as the transmitter, sending the documents accentuated above to the ‘Alien Office’. The next step in the process would be that of the Police Officers informing the applicant with the phone number of the ‘Alien Office’ in order to get an ‘Appointment Date’. If the application gets approved after the interview,the 'Resident Permit' can be obtained one week later, but this period may be extended anywhere from one week to ninety days depending on the heavy work schedule.
As expressed by the ‘Assistant of the County Governor', after having the documents issued by the 'Police', it may speed the process if the applicant personally delivers the relevant paperwork to the 'Allien Office'.
Denmark Citizens should apply at least one week before the expiration date of their visas. Denmark citizens are able to get a ‘Resident Permit’of up to the five years since Denmark is a member of EU.
Relevant Article no.2006/1040 issued and sent by the 'Presidency of Foreign Affairs Department of Title Deed and Cadastral Office’ to the ‘Regional Directorates’ on 13.04.2006. Pursuant to this Article, Denmark Citizens may own one Real Property by presenting ‘Working and Resident Permits with the period of six months’ on the condition of ‘Reciprocity Principle’ and following the legitimate restrictions. Furthermore, presenting the ‘Working and Resident Permits’ along with the approval of ‘Competent Office’, Denmark Citizens may own a second Real Property.
An officer from the ‘Presidency of Foreign Affairs Department of Title Deed and Cadastral Office’ stated that there is not a problem on behalf of Denmark Citizens but he received some complaints from the Russian Citizens about the inability of purchasing Real Estate in practice. In reality, if a Russian Citizen comes to Turkey as a tourist, they cannot purchase Real Estate. However, this does not hold true for Demark Citizens. If the Denmark Citizen come as tourists and if they are able to present a ‘Resident Permit’, they may purchase Real Property in Turkey. An officer from the ‘Foreign Affairs Directorate of Ministry of Foreign Affaires’ declared that the ‘Circular’ with no.1625 on 13.04.2006 was merely issued for Denmark Citizens at the time of declaration. However, in the course of this period, it has been vastly extended to include Russian Citizens. It has also been addressed to include the Countries Citizens who may purchase property in Turkey with this 'Circular'. However, the contents of this ‘Circular’ may be updated frequently and changes made in accordance with the ‘Reciprocity Principle’ of International relations. For instance, pursuant to this ‘Circular’, an article addressed to the ‘Ministry of Foreign Affaires’ should have been provided for Citizens of the Ukraine as well.
Expenses Scheme:
*Resident Permit’ fee for one year…...456.40 YTL
*Single Entry Visa Fee………………….........152.40 YTL
*Inventory Fee…………………………...............70,00 YTL
The above mentioned fees are required to be paid at the Tax Office in advance after which the foreigner may apply at any office by presenting the ‘Residenct Permit’that was obtained.
The foreigner should apply personally as doing so through a Power of Attorney is not an option.
CONCLUSION:
Denmark Citizens may own Real Estate in Turkey. However, they face much more bureaucracy than the other EU Citizens in regards to Real Estate purchase.
Fatih Erkol
Uslu Law Office
Attorney at Law
Bodrum/Muğla
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2- TAXATION of PROFITS GAINED THROUGH REAL-ESTATE SALES IN ACCORDANCE WITH TURKISH LAW:
1-Taxation of the profits earned by Real Persons:
Profits earned through sales of Real-Estate are subject to taxation as ‘Appreciation Profits’ unless carried out by commercial entities for commercial purposes or constant sales by real persons.
In order to tax the profits gained through Real-Estate sales as ‘Appreciation Profits’;
- Real-Properties owned before January 1st, 2007 must be sold within four years of the registeration of the property in question under the seller’s name whereas it is five years for the Real-Properties owned after January 1st, 2007.
- Profit gained must be over the ‘Set Limit’ determined in the year that sale was carried out.
Seller is not required to file any tax form therefore no tax will be incurred arising from the sale of the property if the real-property was acquired before January 1st, 2007 is sold after 4 years of the date of acquisition and the ones acquired after this date is sold after 5 years of the date of acqusition on the grounds that the profit no matter the amount will not be deemed as ‘Appreciation Profits’.
*The method in which to calculate the 4 and 5 year time period mentioned above:
- In case of buying a real-property, acqusition date is the registration date at the Title Deed Office,
- Acqusition date for Real-Properties that were allocated to Cooperative Enterprise is the date of allocation (e.g. date of drawing of lots),
- For the Real-Properties under construction, the periods will be calculated from the date that the ‘Certificate of Occupancy’ was obtained,
- For the Real-Properties bought in exchange for the land, these periods will be calculated from the date that‘Certificate of Occupancy’ was obtained after completion of the construction,
- Acqusition date for Real-Properties owned through ‘Poinding’ or ‘Partition’ is the completion date of the official transaction which is prior to the registration at the Title Deed Office,
- For the Real-Properties that are physically delivered to the buyer for usage before the title deed transfer in accordance with clauses of a signed ‘Real-Property Sale Promise Contract’, these periods will be calculated from the date of acqusition of the ‘Right of Disposal’ by the buyer.
*The method in which to calculate Appreciation Profit:
When income tax is the issue at hand, as known by and large, net income would be the subject of taxation. When it comes to selling of a Real-Property, subject of taxation will be calculated by excluding the cost of the property in question and the cost of relevant rights to it, any expenditure, taxes and duties met by seller from any profit obtained as assests or any monetary profit due to sale.
In order to determine the acquisition cost when selling and transfering the Real-Properties, cost in question will be raised in proportion with the PPE (Product Price Index) which is determined by SSI (State Statistic Institute) excluding the month in which sale was carried out. Nevermore, in order to conduct this index, rate of increase should be at least 10% or over.
Therefore in order to determine the sale profit :
-Purchase price will be raised in proportion with the PPE for the period of time that Real-Property in question has been in possession,
- Raised (indexed) cost and expenses have been made for sale will be excluded from the sale price,
- ‘Set Limit’ will be deducted from the profit that was found after calculation as described above (Set Limit for 2008 is YTL 6.800),
- The amount found after deduction of the Set Limit as described above will constitute the subject of ‘Income Tax’ and be declared with an Income Tax Declaration Form,
- Income Tax will be calculated in accordance with ‘Income Tax Rate Card’.
INCOME TAX RATE CARD
(Income Tax Code (ITC) Article.103)
2008 (ITC article.103) INCOME TAX RATE CARD
(Including Wage Incomes)
Up to YTL 7.800: 15%,
Up to YTL 19.800: for the initial YTL 7.800, it is YTL 1.170; and 20% of the remaining
balance
Up to YTL 44.700: for the initial YTL 19.800, it is YTL 3.570; and 27% of the remaining
balance
Over YTL 44.700: for the initial YTL 44.700, it is YTL 10.293; and 35% of the remaining
Balance
2-Taxation of the profits earned by Companies:
If the Real-Property sale is carried out as a commercial organization and in a constatnt manner, profits gained through these activities will be taxed as ‘Business Income’.
On the other hand, if the conditions below are met all together, companies are only liable to pay 5% of the profit arising from the Real-Property sales whicih is called as ‘Corporation Income Tax’.
These conditions are;
- Real-Property must be in the Companies asset at least for two years,
- Company in question must be a Corporation Income Tax Payer,
- Company must not be engaged in the Real-Estate business,
- Real-Property must be transfered and delivered through sale,
- Profit gained through this transaction must be kept in a seperate fund account for five years
or added into company capital.
However, there is an exception to this on some conditions for companies that are involved in Real-Estate business regarding the sale of Real-Properties for non-commercial purposes (e.g. selling Company’s head quarters edifice).
Fatih Erkol
Uslu Law Office
Attorney at Law
Bodrum/Muğla
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3-APOSTILLE:
Apostille is a certification system that allows any document which its authentication has been certified to be used in another country. The rules for Aposttille System hve been set forth with Lahey Convention, 6th of October, 1961.These rules effect only the members or participant states of this convention.
In this system, a local authority, ministryship or a similar institute designated by the member or participant state certifies the authenticity of any document in order for it to be used in an other member or participants state to an extent where its borders have been drawn by the rules of Lahey Convention.
All members or participant states to this convention shall regard any document as being valid which has been sealed with Apostille.
Components of an Apostilled Document:
1-It is required that headline written in French as “Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 Octobre 1961)” for any document. Other components are as follows;
--Issuing state,
--Signaturer’s name,
--Signaturer’s capacity,
--Authority’s name who sealed the document,
--Location of Certification,
--Date of Certification,
--Authority by whom the apostille was prepared,
--Apostille Number,
--The seal or the Cachet of the Authority by whom the apostille was prepared,
--Signature of the Authority by whom the apostille was prepared.
‘Lahey Convention on 5th of October, 1961 for Annulation of Obligation of Certification of the Foreign Documents’ came into force in Turkey on 29th of September 1985 upon its publication in Official Gazzette no.18517 and dated 16th of September, 1984. First article of the given convention says that Apostille Note shall be applied to the official documents which has been drafted by one of the member states and which will be used in an other member state. The goal set with this regulation is that to provide efficient, convenient and swift transactions for the citizens of a member state who has their documents drafted by their country of origin and willing to use them directly in an other member state. Following documents are deemed as the official documents as to the purpose of the convention;
A- Official Documents are to be apostilled:
a-Any document issued by any authority or authorized officers of any judicial body or courts of the member state including Public Prosecutors, court clerks, judicial officer,
b-Administrative Documents,
c-Notarial Documents,
d-Official Declarations that have been signed by an authority due to a specific capacity to certify certain issues such as the signatures, registration of the documents or actuality of the document for a specific period of time by the official authorities or Notaries.
B-The documents that given convention shall not apply, in other words, documents are not to be apostilled according to same clause of the convention are;
a-Any document issued by Diplomatic or Consular services,
b-Any Administrative Document pertinent to Trade or Custom affairs.
3-Pursuant to 6th clause of the convention, all member states are requested to determine the authority that will issue apostille and to declare to Ministry of Foreign Affaires of Holland if the designated authority has been changed.
4-9th clause of the convention stipulates that all member states shall implement necessary regulations that will allow their own consulate or diplomatic services to carry out apostille transactions where it is necessary and therefore explains any document that has been apostilled is not subject to any other certification.
5-The Articles of the Convention, up-to-date list of member states and authorized bodies to issue apostille of each member state can be viewed at "http://www.hcch.nct/e/status/index.html"
Fatih Erkol
Uslu Law Office
Attorney at Law
Bodrum/Muğla
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Property Purchase İn Turkey By Denmark Citizens, Taxation Of Profits Gained Through Real-Estate Sales İn Accordance With Turkish Law And Apostille
