Registering is quick. Choosing what to register is not.
Three structures are available to a foreign investor in Türkiye and they are not interchangeable. They differ in what you may do, what you owe while it exists, and what it takes to end it — and the third of those is the one nobody raises at the beginning.
A company can do everything and costs the most to unwind. A branch trades but exposes the parent directly. A liaison office is the cheapest presence and cannot sell, invoice or earn income here.
Foreign investors may own 100% of any of them. What decides the answer is what you intend to do and for how long — not which is fastest to register.
No local partner. No minimum foreign capital.
Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875 places foreign investors on the same footing as domestic ones. There is no general requirement for a Turkish shareholder, and no threshold of foreign capital you must bring.
This surprises companies that have entered other markets in the region, and it removes a question that can otherwise delay a decision by months. Regulated sectors — financial services, some transport and energy activities, defence — have their own conditions layered on top.
Company
Sells, invoices, imports, employs. Full corporate tax, VAT and payroll obligations from registration. Limited or joint stock under the Turkish Commercial Code, and the choice between them has consequences years later.
Highest capabilityBranch
Not a separate legal person — the foreign parent carries the liability directly. Useful in particular sectors and for particular tax positions, rarely the default answer.
Parent exposedLiaison office
Ministry permission under Law No. 4875. Market research, representation, coordination, and staff to do it. 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 and liquidation procedure under the Turkish Commercial Code, Law No. 6102 · liaison office salary exemption under Income Tax Law article 23/14.
The structure that is cheapest to open is not always the cheapest to have owned.
Why we ask how long you intend to stayThe bank account is the part that decides when you can trade.
Banking, not registration.
Registration is a known process with a known sequence. What actually determines when you can operate is the bank, and banks apply their own onboarding standards on ownership, beneficial ownership and source of funds — stricter than anything the registry asks.
A structure with several layers of holding companies across different jurisdictions takes longer. Sometimes considerably longer. That is worth knowing before the company exists and cannot receive money, rather than after.
What sits under this capability.
Formation is the visible part. The rest is what makes the structure usable.
- 01
Company formation
Structure selection with your tax adviser, articles drafted for what you actually intend to do, registration and statutory books.
- 02
Branch registration
Where a branch is the right answer — parent documentation, apostilles, translations and registration.
- 03
Liaison office
Ministry permission, annual reporting obligations, and the boundary between representation and commercial activity — which is where these go wrong.
- 04
Tax registration
Registration active and correct from the start, including the activity codes that will later determine what your company may invoice for.
- 05
Banking coordination
Preparing the ownership and source-of-funds file before the application, rather than responding to questions one at a time over three months.
- 06
Permits and licences
Sector permissions, municipal licences and the operating permit for your premises where one applies.
- 07
Office and presence setup
Registered address, physical space where needed, and the practical apparatus that makes an entity operable rather than merely registered.
The activity your company is registered for, and the objects clause in its articles, set the boundary of what it can invoice for later. A company registered narrowly for one activity and then invoicing for another creates a problem that is cheap to prevent and awkward to fix.
Amending articles means a general assembly resolution and re-registration. Doing it at formation costs almost nothing; doing it in year three costs a filing, a delay and sometimes a tax position.
Questions we are actually asked.
Including the one about timing, where a single published figure would be misleading.
Do we need a Turkish partner?
No. Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875 puts foreign investors on the same footing as domestic ones. There is no general local partner requirement and no minimum foreign capital. Certain regulated sectors carry their own licensing conditions, but the default is equal treatment.
If someone has told you otherwise, they were either describing a different country or selling you a shareholding.
Which company type — limited or joint stock?
Both exist under the Turkish Commercial Code, Law No. 6102 and both are used by foreign investors. The choice turns on capital requirements, how you intend to transfer shares later, whether you may bring in investors, and some differences in how public debts are pursued against shareholders and directors.
It is a real decision with consequences years later, not a formality. We work through it with your tax adviser rather than defaulting to whichever is faster to register.
How long does registration take?
Registration is rarely the constraint. What determines when you can actually trade is the bank account, the tax registration being active, and any sector permit. Those depend on your ownership chain, your documents and how quickly apostilled papers arrive from your home country.
We give you a timeline for your case once we have seen the documents. A single published figure for company formation in Türkiye would ignore the three things that actually decide it.
What is the hardest part in practice?
Opening a bank account that works. Banks apply their own onboarding standards on ownership, beneficial ownership and source of funds, and those standards are stricter than the registration process itself. A structure with several layers of holding companies in different jurisdictions takes longer, sometimes much longer.
We prepare for that at the start rather than discovering it after the company exists and cannot receive money.
When is a liaison office the right answer?
When your presence is genuinely representation, research and coordination — not selling. A liaison office operates with ministry permission under Law No. 4875, cannot carry out commercial activity, and cannot generate income in Türkiye.
Its underrated advantage is that salaries paid in foreign currency from abroad carry an income tax exemption under Income Tax Law article 23/14. Its risk is that companies use it to trade quietly, which converts a cautious structure into a finding.
What does it cost to close what we open?
More than opening it, and on a longer timetable. Liquidation runs through statutory waiting periods under the Turkish Commercial Code, and the closure filing brings a tax review with personal exposure for whoever runs it.
This belongs in the structure decision, not in a conversation three years later. A company intended for a defined project should be chosen knowing what unwinding it involves.
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.
Enter Türkiye
The four decisions that come first — including whether to enter at all.
Tax & Accounting
Filings, certification and why the cheapest decision about your exit is made in year one.
Your Office
Presence without building an organisation — and when a liaison office is enough.