The company is the easy part. The decisions before it are not.
Registering a company in Türkiye is a well-worn administrative process. What determines whether the entry works is a set of choices made before that — and most of them are hard to reverse once the structure exists.
Four decisions shape a Türkiye entry: whether to enter at all, which structure, who will be named as the importer, and what the eventual exit will cost. Get these right and the registration is administration. Get them wrong and the registration is the cheapest part of the problem.
We work through them with you before anything is filed — and we will tell you when the answer is that you should not enter.
Whether to enter at all.
Almost nobody in this market will answer this question honestly, because the answer sometimes costs them the engagement. But a structure that does not earn its fixed cost is worse than no structure — you have added an entity, a filing calendar, an accountant and eventually a liquidation, in exchange for revenue you could have had through a distributor.
The evidence usually exists before anyone builds a business case. Your product has a customs code, and that code has a trade history in Türkiye: who imports it, in what volume, from where, at what tariff exposure. That is where we start.
If the data says a distributor already serves this market well, the right advice is to use one.
Why the first conversation is not about company typesThree structures, three different obligations.
Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875 puts foreign investors on the same footing as domestic ones. There is no general requirement for a local partner and no minimum foreign capital. What differs between the structures is not ownership — it is what you are allowed to do, and what you owe afterwards.
Company
Sells, invoices, imports, employs. Full corporate tax, VAT and payroll obligations from day one, and a liquidation at the end that takes months and triggers a tax review.
Most capableBranch
Not a separate legal person — the parent carries the liability directly. Useful in some sectors and for some tax positions; rarely the default answer.
Parent carries riskLiaison office
Permitted under Law No. 4875 with ministry permission. Market research, representation, coordination. It cannot sell, invoice or generate income here. Employee salaries paid in foreign currency from abroad carry an income tax exemption.
Lowest commitmentLegal basisForeign Direct Investment Law No. 4875, Resmî Gazete of 17 June 2003, No. 25141 · company forms under the Turkish Commercial Code, Law No. 6102 · liaison office salary exemption under Income Tax Law art. 23/14. Sector-specific licensing may add requirements on top.
The liaison office is the most misunderstood of the three. Used for what it is, it is the cleanest low-commitment presence available in this market. Used as a disguised trading entity, it is one of the fastest routes to an inspection — and the structure that looked cautious becomes the finding.
Deciding who, after the goods ship, is expensive.
Who imports, and what that costs you.
If your entry involves physical product, the importer-of-record decision sits alongside the structure decision — not after it. Your own entity, your distributor, or a provider acting for you: each keeps or gives away the customer relationship, the price point and the market data.
How the three import routes differ →
Decided at entry, not at the end.
Closing a Turkish company takes months, runs through statutory waiting periods, and the closure filing itself brings a tax review. Whoever runs the liquidation carries personal exposure for what surfaces afterwards.
This is not a reason to avoid entering. It is a reason to choose the structure knowing what it costs to unwind — and to keep the accounts in a state where that review finds nothing. The cheapest version of that decision is made in year one.
What companies ask at this stage.
Taken from first conversations. Where we do not have a defensible answer, we say so rather than estimate.
Can a foreign company own 100% of a Turkish company?
Yes. Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875 puts foreign investors on the same footing as domestic ones, with no general requirement for a local partner and no minimum foreign capital. A few sectors carry their own licensing rules, but the default is equal treatment.
This surprises people who have entered other markets in the region, and it removes a question that often delays the decision for months.
How long does it take to set up?
The registration itself is not usually the bottleneck. Opening a bank account that actually works, getting the tax registration active and completing whatever sector permit applies are what determine when you can trade. Those depend on your ownership structure, your documents and your sector.
We give you a timeline for your case rather than a marketing figure, because a number that ignores your bank and your permits is not a timeline.
Do we need a company to import goods?
Not necessarily yours. The importer of record has to be registered in Türkiye, but that can be your distributor or a provider importing on your behalf. Whether you want your own entity depends on whether you want to keep the customer relationship and the margin.
This is worth deciding before the first shipment rather than after. See customs and foreign trade for how the three routes differ.
What about a liaison office instead?
A liaison office can represent you, do market research and coordinate — but it cannot carry out commercial activity or generate income in Türkiye. It is the right answer for a representation-only presence and the wrong answer if you intend to sell, invoice or import.
Used correctly it is one of the cleanest low-commitment structures available. Used as a disguised trading entity it is one of the fastest ways to attract an inspection.
What does leaving cost?
More than entering, and on a longer timetable. Closing a Turkish company runs to several months, involves statutory waiting periods, and the closure filing itself brings a tax review. The person running the liquidation carries personal exposure for what surfaces afterwards.
We raise this at the entry conversation rather than the exit one. It changes which structure you should choose, and it is the cheapest decision you will ever make about your Türkiye operation.
Should we enter at all?
Sometimes not. If your product already reaches Türkiye through a distributor who is doing well, or the volume does not justify the fixed cost of a structure, entry can destroy margin rather than create it.
We would rather tell you that before you commit than bill you for a structure you did not need. That is what the Opportunity Scan is for.
Legislation named on this page: Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875 and Turkish Commercial Code, Law No. 6102. 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.
Opportunity Scan
Free, prepared by our consultants. What the trade data says about your product before you commit.
Twelve capabilities
Setup, tax, people, goods and operations — and what you can leave out.
Governance
Which parts of this are reserved to licensed professions, and what we answer for.