Eurobond tax in Turkey, 2026

Withholding on the coupon

The withholding on a coupon depends on who issued the bond. For an individual resident in Turkey the rates are:

The Treasury coupon is subject to withholding at a rate of 0% (GVK 94/1-7-a, BKK 2009/14592). That is why it is declared under the 400,000 TL limit for withheld income; the 22,000 TL limit is for income nobody withheld on (GİB Yayın 584, examples 1 and 4).

On bonds Turkish banks and companies issue abroad, the rate follows the bond's original term, from issue to maturity. A bond with a term of exactly one year is in the 7% band. Basis: Presidential Decision 842 (Official Gazette 21 March 2019, no. 30721) and GİB's ruling of 24 November 2016.

A foreign issuer's bond has no Turkish withholding; the issuer's country may withhold. If the coupon is declared, tax withheld there can be credited against the Turkish tax with the document that proves it (GVK 123).

When the coupon is declared

A Treasury or Turkish company eurobond coupon is declared when the year's taxable income total passes the limit (GVK 86/1-c). A total exactly at the limit is not declared; the law says "does not exceed". A foreign issuer's coupon is tested against a separate, lower limit (GVK 86/1-d); above it, all of it is declared and it also joins the 86/1-c total.

The 86/1-c total counts the coupons, other withheld income from securities and property, any other income that has to be declared, and the gain on a eurobond sale. A wage from one employer under its limit does not count, nor does income taxed by final withholding, such as deposits, funds and Treasury bills. When the total passes the limit, all withheld income goes on the return and the tax withheld is credited (GVK 121).

That the gain on a sale counts towards the total rests on a ruling of the Denizli tax office of 31 May 2012; no article of the law says so in as many words. A large gain can therefore pull coupons that were under the limit onto the return.

Basis: GİB's guides to income from securities (Yayın 584) and to other income (Yayın 591), February 2026; the 2026 amounts from General Communiqué no. 332 (Official Gazette 31 December 2025).

Selling before maturity

The gain is worked out in lira: the lira value of the sale less the lira value of the purchase. If the lira fell against the dollar, there is a lira gain even when the bond's dollar price did not move.

The cost can be indexed by Yİ-ÜFE, the domestic producer price index. The factor is the index of the month before the sale over the index of the month before the purchase. If the rise is at least 10%, the cost is multiplied by the factor (GVK repeated article 81). If the indexed cost is above the sale proceeds, there is no taxable gain.

On a bond issued on or after 1 January 2006 nothing is withheld from the gain and the gain is declared whatever its size. The exemption for gains on assets (150,000 TL for 2026) does not apply to securities.

A loss on the sale can be set against the same year's other gains of this kind. It cannot be set against coupons and does not carry forward (GİB Yayın 591, GVK 88).

Accrued interest received on a sale is part of the sale proceeds (GVK 76; ruling of the Balıkesir tax office, 6 May 2024). Accrued interest paid on a purchase comes off the first coupon; if the bond is sold before any coupon, it is added to the cost of what is sold (GVK repeated article 81; on the reading that takes the clean purchase price as the cost, the tax can come out higher). A price paid above par is spread evenly over the coupons left to maturity (GVGT 257 by analogy, the same ruling). On a bond bought below par and held to maturity, the difference at redemption is interest income (ruling of the Ankara tax directorate, 24 December 2024).

On a bond held to maturity, the currency gain on the principal is not income (GVK 75/2-5). What is taxed is the coupons.

Which day's exchange rate

A coupon is converted at the Central Bank's (TCMB) buying rate in force on the day it is paid. The rate TCMB announces at 15:30 on a business day is in force the next business day. No bulletin is published on a holiday; after one, the last rate announced applies. We found no official text saying which bulletin to use. The example on this page uses the rate in force on the payment day, that is, the previous business day's bulletin.

For a purchase or sale made in lira, the rate on the contract note applies. For one made from a foreign currency account, or when the rate cannot be documented, it is the TCMB buying rate in force on the trade date. GİB's rulings of 18 and 27 October 2004 go by the trade date; settlement is usually one or two business days later.

Bonds issued before 1 January 2006

These bonds keep the rules of 31 December 2005 (GVK provisional article 67/9, 10 and 16). The gain on a sale is indexed without the 10% condition. 280,000 TL of the gain is exempt for 2025 income and 350,000 TL for 2026 income, shared with the year's other gains of this kind. GİB has not published the 2026 amount yet; it is taken from the exemption for occasional gains, which it has equalled in every year from 2021 to 2025. What decides is the bond's issue date (GİB's Hazır Beyan guide).

Two of the Treasury's outstanding eurobonds are in this group: US900123AL40 (maturing 15 January 2030) and US900123AT75 (maturing 14 February 2034). Source: HMB's list of central government external debt bonds, 31 August 2026.

Non-residents

For an individual not resident in Turkey, a Treasury eurobond coupon is withheld at 0% and nothing is declared; nor is a gain on a sale declared in Turkey (GİB Yayın 584 example 6, Yayın 598). On Turkish bank and company bonds the same 7%, 3% and 0% rates are withheld, and that withholding is the final tax (GİB ruling, 24 November 2016).

The filing calendar

The return for 2026 income is filed between 1 and 31 March 2027. The tax is paid in two equal instalments, in March and July 2027. The return for 2025 income was filed in March 2026 and carried 1,189.50 TL of stamp duty; the stamp duty for 2026 income has not been published yet.

The 2026 income tax tariff

Eurobond income is taxed on the tariff for income other than wages. A wage from one employer up to 5,300,000 TL stays out of the return, so for a salaried person declared eurobond income starts in the 15% bracket. For someone whose wage is declared too the calculation differs: a wage goes on the return when one employer's wage exceeds 5,300,000 TL, or, with more than one employer, when the second and later employers' wages together exceed 400,000 TL or all of them together exceed 5,300,000 TL (GVK 86/1-b); the examples on this page do not cover that case.

Basis: General Communiqué on Income Tax no. 332 (Official Gazette 31 December 2025, no. 33124, 5th repeat). The Gazette printed it as an image, so the brackets were read from a secondary copy and checked by recomputing the cumulative amounts. With the 2025 tariff, GİB's own example comes out too: 420,000 TL of Treasury eurobond interest gives 82,400 TL of tax and 1,189.50 TL of stamp duty (Yayın 584, example 1).

Example: a 50,000 dollar Treasury eurobond

The bond is a Treasury dollar eurobond issued after 1 January 2006: 6.5% a year, paid on 16 January and 16 July, 30/360 day count. The coupon dates were chosen for the example. Bought for settlement on 16 July 2025 at a clean price of 98.00; sold for settlement on 16 September 2026 at a clean price of 101.00 plus 60 days of accrued interest. Both trades from a dollar account, no commission. The rates are the TCMB buying rates in force on the settlement days; had a trade been made a day earlier, that day's rate would apply.

The index rose 33.37%, so the cost is indexed and the sale leaves no taxable gain. The 2026 coupons, 146,315.00 TL, stay under the 400,000 TL limit. Someone with no other income to declare files no return and owes nothing; 253,685.00 TL of the limit is left.

Had the holding been 150,000 USD, the 2026 coupons would be 438,945.00 TL and pass the limit. All of them would be declared, and someone with no other income would owe 81,015.15 TL. Custody and collection costs can come off interest that is declared (GVK 78); none were taken off here.

Example: a short holding, no indexing

Say the same bond is bought on 16 July 2026 at 98.00, at 46.9253; that day's coupon stays with the seller. It is sold on 16 September 2026 at the price and rate above. The cost is 2,299,339.70 TL and the proceeds 2,478,506.93 TL. The index rose 4.12% from June to August 2026 (from 5,552.52 to 5,781.74). That is under 10%, so the cost is not indexed and the whole 179,167.23 TL gain is declared. With no other income the tax is 26,875.08 TL, in the 15% bracket, on a return filed in March 2027.

Figures are rounded half up to the kuruş. The rates are from TCMB's bulletins of 14 July 2025, 15 January 2026, 14 July 2026 and 15 September 2026 (15 July is a holiday, with no bulletin); the index values are TÜİK's published ones.

You can run this with your own figures in the Bankacı app and the member portal.

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Sources

• GİB, Menkul Sermaye İradı Rehberi (Yayın 584), February 2026: PDF
• GİB, Diğer Kazanç ve İratlar Rehberi (Yayın 591), February 2026: PDF
• GİB, GVK Geçici 67. Madde Rehberi (Yayın 598), February 2026: PDF
• Income Tax Law no. 193, current text, read on 9 October 2026: mevzuat.gov.tr
• General Communiqué on Income Tax no. 332, Official Gazette no. 33124 (5th repeat), 31 December 2025: Official Gazette
• Presidential Decision 842, Official Gazette no. 30721, 21 March 2019
• GİB rulings (özelge), read on 9 October 2026: Denizli, 31 May 2012, Balıkesir, 6 May 2024, Ankara, 24 December 2024, 18 October 2004, 27 October 2004, 24 November 2016
• GİB Hazır Beyan, quick guide (income), read on 9 October 2026: intvrg.gib.gov.tr
• HMB, list of central government external debt bonds, 31 August 2026: Excel
• TCMB, indicative exchange rates, the bulletins in the example: 14 July 2025, 15 January 2026, 14 July 2026, 15 September 2026
• TÜİK, domestic producer price index (2003=100), historical series; TCMB EVDS TP.TUFE1YI.T1, September 2026 bulletin, 5 October 2026: TÜİK

This page is general information, not tax advice. On some points the tax administration's view is not settled; where it is not, the reading we follow is stated beside it. Speak to a certified accountant before you file a return.