Company, branch or liaison office? Five questions.
Most of the confusion about entering Türkiye is really one question wearing three hats. This narrows the field to the structures the law actually leaves open to you — including the liaison office time limits that rarely appear anywhere.
If you will sell, invoice or collect money in Türkiye, a liaison office is closed to you by law and the choice is between a company and a branch. If you will not, the liaison office becomes the cheapest and fastest structure to open — and the fastest to close.
A foreign investor may hold 100% of a Turkish company, with no local partner requirement and no minimum foreign capital, under the Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875 (Official Gazette of 17 June 2003, No. 25141). The thing that sets your timeline is the bank account, not the registry.
Answer what you know. Skip what you don’t.
Nothing is sent anywhere. The result appears below as you answer, and changes when you change an answer.
What each structure may and may not do.
The rows people get wrong are the last three.
| Company | Branch | Liaison office | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Separate legal person | Yes | No — extension of the parent | No |
| 100% foreign ownership | Yes | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Minimum capital | Ltd 50.000 TL · JSC 250.000 TL | None set as share capital | None |
| May sell, invoice, collect | Yes | Yes | No — absolutely prohibitedThe line people cross |
| May be importer of record | Yes | Yes | No |
| May employ staff in Türkiye | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Corporate income tax | Yes | On Turkish-source profit | No commercial income, so none arises |
| Permitted duration | Unlimited | Unlimited | Time-limited by purposeSee section 03 |
| Who carries the liability | The Turkish entity | The parent, directly | The parent |
| Closing it down | Longest — statutory liquidation | Registry de-registration | Shortest of the threeWhy projects use it |
Foreign ownership and equal treatment: Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875, Official Gazette of 17 June 2003, No. 25141. Legal personality and company forms: Turkish Commercial Code, Law No. 6102. Minimum capital: Presidential Decision No. 7887, Official Gazette of 25 November 2023 — figures of 10.000 TL still circulating are out of date. Liaison office permissions, durations and reporting sit with the Ministry of Industry and Technology. Tax treatment stated at principle level only; your own position is settled with a licensed tax adviser.
A liaison office has an expiry date.
Permission is granted for a purpose, and each purpose carries its own clock. Plans built on the wrong one fail in year four.
| Purpose of the permission | Initial | Extension | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Representation or technical support | 3 years | Up to 5 further years | 8 years |
| Regional management centre | 3 years | Up to 10 further years | 13 yearsThe long option |
| Market research | 3 years | Not extendable | 3 years |
Two obligations that come with it: an annual activity report filed each year by 31 May, and the commercial prohibition above. Two advantages rarely mentioned: staff paid from abroad in foreign currency may fall within the income tax exemption in Income Tax Law, Article 23/14, and one key employee is exempt from the five-to-one local employment ratio applied to work permits. Whether the exemption applies to your case is a question for a licensed adviser, not a given.
It narrows.
It does not decide.
Three things it cannot see. Your tax position in your home country, the double tax treaty that applies to it, and what you intend to be doing here in year three. Any of the three can overturn what the law alone would suggest.
It will not tell you the structure is cheap. Registration is the fast part. The bank account is the slow part, and it is a compliance process on the bank’s side rather than a form you file.
It takes the exit seriously, early. The three structures close at very different speeds, and that difference is decided on the day you choose — not on the day you leave. A structure chosen for a defined project and one chosen for a permanent business are rarely the same.
About structures.
Including whether this page keeps anything you typed. It does not.
Is this a substitute for advice?
No. It narrows the field and tells you which options the law leaves open, which is usually where the confusion sits. The actual decision depends on your tax position in your home country, your group structure and what you intend to do in year three — none of which this page knows.
The structure is settled with a licensed tax adviser before anything is filed. What this tool does is make sure you arrive at that conversation knowing which questions matter.
Can a foreign company own 100% of a Turkish company?
Yes. There is no local partner requirement and no minimum foreign capital threshold under the Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875 (Official Gazette of 17 June 2003, No. 25141). Foreign investors are treated the same as domestic ones.
The constraint people actually hit is not ownership. It is opening the bank account, which is a compliance process on the bank's side and the part that sets your real timeline.
What exactly may a liaison office not do?
It may not carry out commercial activity. No selling, no taking orders, no signing commercial contracts, no invoicing and no collecting payment. The prohibition is absolute, not a matter of degree.
What it may do is represent the parent, carry out market research, provide technical support and act as a regional management centre, depending on the permission granted. Each of those categories carries its own time limit.
Why does the branch option exist if a company is simpler?
A branch is an extension of the parent rather than a separate legal person, so it has no separate legal personality under the Turkish Commercial Code, Law No. 6102. That means the parent carries the liability directly.
For some groups that is the point: no new entity in the consolidation, no separate capital, and the parent's own track record travels with the branch. For others it is exactly the reason to avoid it. This is one of the questions worth taking to a tax adviser rather than deciding on structure alone.
What is the minimum capital?
For a limited liability company 50.000 TL and for a joint-stock company 250.000 TL, set by Presidential Decision No. 7887 (Official Gazette of 25 November 2023).
Figures of 10.000 TL still circulate on provider websites and in older guides. They are out of date.
Can we change structure later?
Yes, and it happens often — most commonly a liaison office that reaches its time limit or outgrows the commercial prohibition, and converts into a company. What it is not is free: it means a new registration, a new tax file, a new bank process and the closure of the old structure.
This is the reason the exit belongs in the entry conversation. A structure chosen for a three-year project and a structure chosen for a permanent business are rarely the same one.
Does this tool store my answers?
No. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is sent anywhere and there is no form, no email field and no tracking of what you selected. Reload the page and it is gone.
Business setup
Company, branch or liaison office — and why the bank rather than the registry sets your timeline.
Glossary
Importer of record, permanent establishment, muvazaa — the words that cost money when confused.
Ask us
Tell us what you intend to do and we will tell you which structures stay open. Free.