What we check before we start. Published, so you are not surprised by it.
Every provider runs acceptance checks and most of them spring the document list on you after you have decided to proceed. The list is the same either way, so here it is in advance — along with what happens if something does not check out.
We check four things before an engagement begins: who owns and controls the company, where the money comes from, what the Türkiye activity actually is, and whether the arrangement survives the substance test Turkish authorities apply.
None of this is unusual. The bank opening your account and the authorities registering your structure will ask the same questions later — and it is cheaper for everyone if they are answered first.
Not caution. Sequence.
The questions get asked regardless. The only variable is whether they get asked before the work starts or in the middle of it.
- 01
The bank will ask
Opening a corporate account is a compliance process on the bank's side, not a form you file. It is the single most common reason a Türkiye entry runs late, and it turns on exactly these documents.
- 02
The authorities will ask
Registration, customs and the tax office each want to know who stands behind the entity. Answers that differ between filings create problems that are expensive to unwind.
- 03
Substance over form is applied here
An arrangement whose paperwork does not match what will actually happen damages the client first and the provider second. We look at that before signing rather than after — the engagements we decline are listed on the governance page.
- 04
Our partners run their own checks
A customs broker filing in their own name and a sworn-in fiscal adviser certifying your return each answer for what they sign. Our acceptance work sits alongside theirs, not instead of it.
Four checks, in this order.
The order matters: the cheapest question to answer is asked first, so a mismatch surfaces before anyone has spent much.
| Check | What we are establishing | Usually takes |
|---|---|---|
| What the activity is | What you will actually do in Türkiye, and whether the structure you have in mind permits it. A liaison office that will invoice is the most common mismatch | One conversation |
| Ownership and control | Who owns the company and who ultimately controls it — the beneficial owner rather than the registered shareholder alone | Days, if documents exist |
| Source of funds | Where the capital and operating money come from. This is the question the bank will press hardest onWhere entries stall | Days to weeks |
| Substance | Whether what is written will match what happens — who directs the work, who bears the risk, where the activity sits | One conversation |
Beneficial ownership is defined in the glossary. Reserved professional acts and the engagements we decline: Advocacy Law No. 1136, Law No. 3568, Customs Law No. 4458 — set out in full on the governance page. Documents you send are handled under the Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698; see sub-processors. Legislation named on this page: Advocacy Law No. 1136, Law No. 3568 on sworn-in fiscal advisership, Customs Law No. 4458 and Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698. The Official Gazette date and issue for each is on the key figures page, read at source rather than restated here — a citation does not change, but a copy of the law goes stale.
Seven documents, typically.
Published so you can start gathering before the conversation rather than after it. Some groups need weeks for an apostilled registry extract.
- 01
Certificate of incorporation or registry extract
Current, from the registry of the parent's jurisdiction. Usually needs an apostille and a sworn translation for Turkish filings.
- 02
Articles or constitutional documents
What the parent is permitted to do, and who may bind it.
- 03
Ownership chain to the beneficial owner
Where there are holding layers, the chain through them. Nominee and trust arrangements are documented rather than glossed over.
- 04
Identification for directors and signatories
For whoever will sign in Türkiye or be named in the structure.
- 05
Evidence of source of funds
Audited accounts, a bank reference or a financing agreement — whatever genuinely evidences it. The bank will want this in any case.
- 06
Board resolution or power of attorney
Authorising the Türkiye step and whoever will act on it. Frequently the slowest item, because it needs a board meeting.
- 07
A plain description of the intended activity
Not a form. What you will sell or do, whether goods move, who the customers are, and how long you expect it to run.
What happens
if something does not check out.
Complexity is not a failure. Holding layers, funds, arrangements in other jurisdictions — these take longer to document and are entirely ordinary. What stops an engagement is a structure that cannot be explained, or an explanation that keeps changing.
You hear it directly. If we cannot proceed you are told why, in the conversation rather than in a letter weeks later. Where the obstacle is fixable, we say what would fix it.
What you sent is deleted. If we do not proceed, your documents are not kept on file against a future approach.
Acceptance is not permanent. If the facts turn out to differ from what was described, or we are asked mid-engagement to do something we said we would not do, the engagement ends in an orderly way — records and filings handed over in usable form. We are not going to hold an operation hostage to a disagreement about scope.
About acceptance.
Including what happens to the documents you send us.
Why publish this instead of just asking when the time comes?
Because being asked for ownership documents late in a sales process feels like an obstacle, and being told about it at the start feels like a process. It is the same list either way.
It also lets you check whether you can supply it before you spend time on the rest. Some groups need weeks to get an apostilled extract from their own registry.
Is this an anti-money-laundering obligation?
We are describing our own acceptance policy rather than claiming a particular statutory status for ourselves. What is certain is that the bank opening your account and the authorities registering your structure will ask these questions regardless.
Where a specific obligation applies to a step, the licence holder performing it runs their own checks as well. Our policy sits alongside that, not instead of it.
What if our group structure is genuinely complicated?
Complicated is normal and not a problem. Funds, holding layers, nominee arrangements in other jurisdictions — these take longer to document but they are ordinary.
What stops an engagement is not complexity. It is when the structure cannot be explained, or when the explanation keeps changing.
How long does it take?
The checking itself is quick once the documents exist. What takes time is obtaining them — a certified registry extract, an apostille, a translation. Groups that already keep these current move in days; groups that do not can take weeks.
This is one reason the list is on this page. The clock starts when you start gathering, not when we start asking.
What happens to the documents we send?
They are held as part of the engagement record and handled under the Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698. Who else may see them is set out on the sub-processors page, and the named list is given in the data processing agreement.
If we do not proceed, what you sent is deleted rather than kept on file against a future approach.
Do you ever decline after accepting?
Yes, and it is written into the engagement rather than left to judgement. If the facts turn out to differ from what was described, or if we are asked mid-engagement to do something we said we would not do, the engagement ends in an orderly way.
An orderly ending means your records and filings are handed over in usable form. We are not going to hold an operation hostage to a disagreement about scope.
Governance
Which acts are reserved to licensed professions, what we answer for, and the work we decline.
Sub-processors
Who else touches your data, what we commit to before adding one, and what happens on exit.
Business setup
Company, branch or liaison office — and why the bank rather than the registry sets your timeline.