Capital gains tax on property in Turkey (2026)

If you sell a home, a plot or a shop in Turkey within five years of buying it, the gain can be subject to income tax. In Turkish it is called değer artışı kazancı, the tax on the increase in value, and it works much like a capital gains tax. Many sellers have either never heard of it or expect it to be far higher than it is. Because the purchase price is adjusted for inflation, a good share of recent sales end up owing nothing at all. This article explains who the tax applies to, how it is worked out with the 2026 figures, and when it is paid, based on the Turkish Revenue Administration's own guidance.

What is değer artışı kazancı?

Under Article 80 (repeated) of the Turkish Income Tax Law, the gain an individual makes from selling real estate they bought for a price within five years of acquiring it is taxed as a "value increase gain". A flat, a plot, farmland, a shop or an office: all of them are covered.

It is not a separate tax. The gain is declared on the annual income tax return and taxed at the same rates as your other income. Nor is it charged at the land registry on the day of sale; what you pay there is the title deed fee.

How the five-year rule works

The five years start on the date the property is registered in your name at the land registry, and they are counted in calendar days. If you sell after five full years, no tax arises on the gain, however large it is.

In some cases the clock starts on a different date. If you took over a ready-to-live-in home from a cooperative, TOKİ or a developer and can prove the date you actually moved in with water, electricity or gas bills or a handover report, the five years start from that date. For flats received from a developer in exchange for land, the count starts on the date the flat is registered at the land registry.

Who does not pay it?

• Sellers past five years. Anyone who sells after five full years of ownership.
• Heirs and recipients of gifts. The law excludes property acquired without payment. Even if you sell an inherited flat the day after it passes to you, this tax does not arise. The same holds for flats built on, or received from a developer in exchange for, inherited land.
• Gains below the exemption. For sales made in 2026, the first TL 150,000 of gain is exempt. If the gain does not exceed that amount, no return is filed.

People who buy and sell property continuously and for profit are treated differently. For someone who sells several properties in the same year or in successive years and has turned it into a business, the gain can count as commercial income instead, and the five-year rule does not apply.

How the gain is calculated

The calculation has four steps.

1. Update the purchase price. The purchase price is adjusted by the Yİ-ÜFE, Turkey's domestic producer price index. The index for the month before you bought is compared with the index for the month before you sold. If the rise is 10% or more, the purchase price is increased by that rate; below 10%, it stays as it is.
2. Deduct the costs of selling. From the sale price, subtract the updated purchase price and the documented costs of the sale: your share of the title deed fee paid on the sale, the estate agent's commission, notary and valuation fees.
3. Deduct the exemption. From what is left, subtract the exemption for the year of sale. For sales in 2026 it is TL 150,000.
4. Apply the tax rates. The income tax scale is applied to the remaining amount.

The inflation adjustment is the heart of the calculation. Because the Yİ-ÜFE has risen so much in recent years, most of the paper gain disappears once the purchase price is updated.

Income tax rates for 2026

The gain is taxed on the scale for income other than wages. For income earned in 2026 the scale is:

If you also have rental income or other declared income in the same year, the scale is applied to the total. Your tax can therefore come out higher than a calculation based on the sale alone. Tax on rent is covered in our article on Turkish rental income tax.

Worked example: a sale that owes tax

Say you bought a flat for TL 5,000,000 in March 2023 and sold it for TL 15,000,000 in October 2026. On the sale you paid your 2% share of the title deed fee, TL 300,000.

The tax falls in the third band: TL 70,500 on the first TL 400,000, and 27% on the remaining TL 349,370. A small stamp duty is also paid with the return. Without the inflation adjustment the paper gain would have been TL 9,700,000; with the updated purchase price it comes down to TL 899,370.

Worked example: a sale that owes nothing

Say you bought a flat for TL 8,000,000 in November 2024 and sold it for TL 10,000,000 in October 2026. The Yİ-ÜFE was 3,707.10 in October 2024 and 5,901.26 in September 2026. The rise is above 10%, so the purchase price is updated to TL 12,735,044. The sale price is below that, so there is no taxable gain and no return to file.

A loss on a sale like this cannot be set against other income such as a salary or rent.

When to declare and pay

The gain on a sale made in 2026 is declared on the annual income tax return in March 2027. The return can be filed online through the Revenue Administration's pre-filled return system (Hazır Beyan) or at a tax office. The tax is paid in two equal instalments: the first by the end of March, the second by the end of July.

The exemption that applies is set by the year of sale, not the year you file. For sales made in 2025 it was TL 120,000.

Foreign owners and people living abroad

Foreigners who own property in Turkey are subject to the same five-year rule, and the gain is calculated the same way. What differs is when it is declared. People who are not resident in Turkey and do not otherwise have to file an annual return must declare the gain on a one-off return to the tax office where the property is located within 15 days of the sale, and pay the tax within the same period.

Holders of a foreign identity number can log in to the Hazır Beyan system with that number. Turkish citizens living abroad can obtain an e-Devlet password from a Turkish consulate.

If you bought the property for citizenship by investment, the three-year no-sale annotation on the title deed applies on top of this. You can sell once the three years are up, but a sale before five years still needs the value increase calculation.

Before you sell

• Put the real price on the title deed. The calculation uses the actual sale price. Declaring a lower price at the land registry exposes you to penalty assessments for both the title deed fee and income tax. Remember that the buyer will also use this price for their own calculation later.
• Keep your purchase documents. You need to be able to prove the purchase price with the title deed record and payment records.
• Get receipts for your costs. Commission, notary and valuation fees can only be deducted with an invoice or receipt.
• Check the date if five years are nearly up. Waiting a few weeks can remove the tax entirely.

The figures in this article are for sales made in 2026. For your own sale we recommend speaking to a Turkish accountant. For the land registry costs of a sale see our article on the costs of buying a home, and for the state of the market see Türkiye home sales statistics.