The 100% Service Export Deduction in Mixed-Customer SaaS: Two Tax Regimes From One Set of Earnings, and the TRY 560,000 Certified Public Accountant Threshold (2026)

Regulatory note. This article is based on: Articles 10/1-(ğ), 32/7, 32/9 and 32/C of the Corporate Tax Code No. 5520; Presidential Decision No. 11257 (Official Gazette 30/4/2026-33239); sections 10.5.3, 32.1.2.9.1 and 32.5.6 of Corporate Tax General Communiqué No. 1 as revised by Communiqué No. 23 (Official Gazette 28/9/2024-32676); General Communiqué No. 49 on the Law on Independent Accountancy, Certified Public Accountancy and Sworn-in Certified Public Accountancy (Official Gazette 30/12/2025-33123); and decisions E.2023/10354 K.2025/3526 and E.2023/10818 K.2025/3525 of the 3rd Chamber of the Council of State. Legislation changes; confirm the current text and your own position before acting.

In mixed-customer SaaS, the revenue, expenses and costs of activities within Art. 10/1-(ğ) and of work outside it are determined separately; splitting the records by customer country supports that, but does not by itself determine scope. The whole of the TRY 1.8 million of foreign revenue in the example does not automatically enter the deduction; nor does mixed use automatically destroy the entire deduction.

Short answer: the 100% deduction hardens the discipline in a mixed-customer portfolio. First the nature of the SaaS supply — service, licence or mixed supply — is determined from the contract and the actual performance. Art. 10/1-(ğ) targets the service earnings listed in the sub-paragraph.

For foreign earnings within scope, five conditions are required together: the service must be supplied in Turkey; an individual must not be resident in Turkey, or a company must have its place of business, registered office and place of management abroad; the benefit of the service must be enjoyed exclusively abroad; the invoice must be issued in the name of the foreign customer; and the whole of the earnings must be transferred to Turkey by the date on which the relevant corporate tax return is due. Domestic earnings are, as a rule, subject to the 25% rate, and the company as a whole is separately subject to the Art. 32/C comparison. A deduction exceeding TRY 560,000 falls into YMM certification.

Two regimes and three axes in a mixed portfolio

In a mixed-customer (domestic + foreign) portfolio, three separate rules operate for SaaS. The same corporate earnings are subject at once to the earnings deduction under CTC Art. 10/1-(ğ), the rate reduction under CTC Art. 32/7, and the minimum tax comparison under CTC Art. 32/C at company level. The table below summarises which provision arises on which set of earnings; note that the Art. 32/C column is computed at company level and is not split by customer or revenue item.

Foreign earnings to which Art. 10/1-(ğ) does not apply do not automatically generate a right under CTC Art. 32/7. Despite the computation set out in Communiqué section 32.1.2.9.1, the Revenue Administration’s ruling on healthcare services is against applying 32/7 to services in the nature of Art. 10/1-(ğ). The ruling is not binding for SaaS; but because no direct and favourable administrative view specific to SaaS has been verified, the 32/7 advantage should not be treated as a settled element of tax planning.

Communiqué section 10.5.3.2, for its part, says how the earnings computation is to be split where work within scope and work outside it are carried on together; having made the split does not by itself prove the service character or the exclusive-benefit-abroad condition. The order is therefore: (1) the service/licence/mixed character of the SaaS supply, (2) all of the scope conditions, (3) the computation.

Splitting the earnings: direct expenses plus common expenses

The official rule for the split is in Communiqué section 10.5.3.2: revenue, expenses and costs within scope are determined separately, and common general expenses that cannot be separately determined are apportioned by the current-year revenue ratio.

Step one — direct expenses. A support shift, commission, or dedicated CDN and server cost shown by technical records to be allocated to the foreign channel alone goes into the foreign earnings bucket. Common CDN, application server and database costs are likewise split by channel where tenant, traffic, transaction, storage or resource-consumption records allow that to be determined reliably; where separate determination is not possible, they are apportioned as common general expenses by the current-year revenue ratio.

Step two — common expenses. Management, developer, rent, accounting and legal expenses that cannot be separately determined are divided by the ratio of the current year’s foreign revenue to total revenue.

For depreciation too, direct determination from records or usage data is sought first. Where separate determination is not possible, common expense and cost items are apportioned by the revenue ratio; under the Communiqué’s special rule, the depreciation of jointly used installations, machinery and means of transport is apportioned by the number of days. Where it is unclear which category a particular asset falls into, obtaining a current administrative view provides risk management.

One warning: Communiqué section 10.5.3.4 keeps income outside the main field of activity, and extraordinary income, out of the deduction. Whether pre-collection exchange differences on operating receivables are within scope has to be confirmed separately against the current wording of the Communiqué and the concrete collection and valuation chain. The valuation of foreign currency held after collection, conversion differences into Turkish lira, term deposit differences, interest on cash management and gains on the sale of assets all fall outside the deduction computation.

The 3rd Chamber decision E.2023/10354 K.2025/3526 of 29/9/2025 concerns interest income on its facts; it does not directly establish the same result for exchange differences and gains on the sale of fixed assets.

In daily practice domestic and foreign SaaS revenue can be tracked in separate sub-accounts or cards. The Communiqué does not impose a particular form of account; it requires separate determination. Nor does the type of e-document by itself create an Art. 10/1-(ğ) right; it evidences that the invoice was issued in the name of the foreign customer.

The decision matrix: four scenarios

The decision rests on the four combinations of customer character and place of benefit. For an individual, non-residence in Turkey is required; for a company, the place of business, registered office and place of management must be abroad. The service, licence or mixed character of the SaaS supply is determined first.

The cleanest case is where both the customer condition and exclusive benefit abroad are met together: software services are supplied from Turkey to a foreign company whose place of business, registered office and place of management are abroad, and the benefit arises abroad. Where the customer meets the foreign test but the benefit slides into Turkey, the customer being abroad does not suffice on its own; nor should it be forgotten that 32/7 has to be examined independently.

A worked example: TRY 3 million of mixed SaaS revenue

Let us see it on a concrete set of accounts. The figures are a scenario — they change with your own cost structure.

Assumptions of the example. The supply is a software service; the service is supplied from Turkey; the foreign companies have their place of business, registered office and place of management abroad; the benefit of the service is enjoyed exclusively abroad; the invoices are issued to the foreign customer and the whole of the earnings is transferred to Turkey by the date on which the relevant corporate tax return is due. If one condition is missing, Art. 10/1-(ğ) is not computed.

X SaaS Inc. sells an accounting automation tool. Revenue recognised in the 2026 accounting period: TRY 1.8 million of foreign revenue (invoiced in USD to companies resident abroad, being the part of the recurring subscription income attributable to the period) plus TRY 1.2 million of Turkish customer revenue. Total revenue TRY 3 million. Direct expenses: foreign-specific TRY 300,000, Turkish-customer-specific TRY 200,000. Common expenses TRY 1.4 million. No non-operating income. Profit for the period TRY 1.1 million.

The split:

1. Foreign revenue / total revenue = 1,800,000 / 3,000,000 = 0.60.
2. Share of common expenses attributable to the foreign side = 1,400,000 × 0.60 = TRY 840,000.
3. Total foreign expenses = 300,000 + 840,000 = TRY 1,140,000.
4. Foreign earnings = 1,800,000 − 1,140,000 = TRY 660,000. 100% of these earnings is deductible.
5. Domestic revenue is TRY 1,200,000. Total domestic expenses = 200,000 + 560,000 = TRY 760,000. Domestic earnings are TRY 440,000; in the ordinary computation below the 25% rate applies as a rule, and the final tax is separately subject to the company-level Art. 32/C comparison.

Ordinary computation: base = 1,100,000 − 660,000 = TRY 440,000. Corporate tax = 440,000 × 25% = TRY 110,000.

The minimum corporate tax is computed in two steps. Base: assuming there are no non-deductible expenses and no items deductible under Art. 32/C/2, the floor base is TRY 1,100,000. Because Art. 10/1-(ğ) is not in the Art. 32/C/2 list it is not deducted from the base; the 10% minimum tax is TRY 110,000. Amount: under Art. 32/C/3, the tax not collected because of Art. 32/6-7-8 is credited, as is the tax not collected in the period under Art. 32/A through the use of the investment contribution amount in incentive certificates obtained before Art. 32/C entered into force. In the example the rate impact of 32/7 is zero, so the credit is zero too and the result is TRY 110,000.

Result: in this scenario the ordinary computation and the minimum tax coincide at TRY 110,000. The figures matching is not a rule of the computation but a product of this particular expense mix — with a different expense structure the two values diverge. Under Art. 32/C/(5) the article does not apply for three accounting periods to companies commencing activity for the first time; the example company is outside that temporary exception. The 100% deduction may reduce the ordinary base, but the minimum tax is computed separately.

The domestic earnings of TRY 440,000 are outside Art. 32/7. For the foreign TRY 660,000 the relationship is computed under CTC Art. 32/9 and Communiqué section 32.1.2.9.1; since the 100% deduction removes the earnings from the ordinary base, the actual effect of 32/7 is zero. The Izmir Tax Office ruling specific to healthcare services refuses 32/7 for the remaining 20% outside Art. 10/1-(ğ); for SaaS it is only an administrative risk signal.

The YMM certification threshold: Communiqué No. 49

Because the example company’s foreign earnings deduction of TRY 660,000 exceeds the TRY 560,000 threshold provided for a separate line of the return under ARTICLE 8(3)/(a) of Communiqué No. 49 (Official Gazette 30/12/2025-33123), a YMM certification report becomes compulsory on the April 2027 return for the 2026 accounting period. The Communiqué applies from 2025 and following accounting periods; the example in this article is built on the 2026 accounting period.

The other controls in ARTICLE 8(3) are independent. For 2026: (b) if the total of more than one exemption or deduction exceeds TRY 1,120,000; (c) if the “Other Deductions/Exemptions” lines, individually or in total, exceed TRY 1,120,000; (ç) if lines (a) and (c) together exceed TRY 1,120,000, all the relevant items fall into certification. (d) if the total tax reduction within Art. 32/6-7-8 exceeds TRY 220,000, all of it does; (e) the domestic and global minimum top-up corporate tax applications within CTC Art. 32/A and additional Articles 1 to 13 and provisional Article 17 are certified with no monetary limit at all.

If in the concrete case the SaaS supply is characterised as a software service within CTC Art. 10/1-(ğ), item 13 of ARTICLE 8(2) covers the certification obligation. In licence, mixed-supply and data-heavy models the scope must be confirmed separately.

ARTICLE 8(4) increases the thresholds by half the revaluation rate and disregards the part below TRY 10,000. Because the 2025 rate in Tax Procedure Code General Communiqué No. 585 is 25.49%, the 2026 increase is 12.745%: 500,000 × 1.12745 → TRY 560,000; 1,000,000 × 1.12745 → TRY 1,120,000; 200,000 × 1.12745 → TRY 220,000. The 2027 thresholds become final when the new rate is announced.

Under ARTICLE 9(2) the report is submitted electronically through the Digital Tax Office, either with the return or within two months following the end of the filing period. For the company in the example the report must be sent with the return at the end of April 2027 or, at the latest, by the end of June 2027.

If the report is not filed on time, an extension opens first under repeated Art. 227/3 of the Tax Procedure Code; if it is not submitted within the extension either, the right subject to certification cannot be used and the special irregularity provision applies (ARTICLE 13). In the event of a faulty certification the YMM is jointly and severally liable with the taxpayer, limited to the scope of the certification, for the tax lost, the penalties and the late-payment interest (ARTICLE 12/5).

The scope test in mixed use, and the limits of the case law

In a SaaS product with mixed access, the main difficulty for Art. 10/1-(ğ) is proving the “exclusive benefit abroad” condition on the concrete facts. That condition is assessed separately from the customer’s residence; the economic and functional place of use can be construed from the contract, the actual users, the usage records and the place where the output is used.

If a single, indivisible subscription is also used in Turkey, the exclusivity condition is impaired. Where an independent element used only abroad can be separated out, its earnings can be tested separately. A separate price, separate performance and technical or commercial severability support the case; an “add-on module” label does not suffice.

The location of the server proves neither that the service is supplied from Turkey nor that the benefit arises abroad. No verified special classification rule in force was found in the official sources examined on whether SaaS is, for Art. 10/1-(ğ) purposes, a service, a licence (the granting of use of an intangible right) or a mixed supply; terminology in the contract such as “licence”, “subscription” or “right of access” does not by itself determine the character. The character is determined case by case, as a service, a licence or a mixed supply, by examining the principal obligation in the contract and the actual performance. The decision is made on the concrete contract, the user profile, the usage records and the economic place of use of the service output.

In decision E.2023/10818 K.2025/3525 the 3rd Chamber of the Council of State made the failure to assess separately, in a game studio, the revenue components other than foreign sales a ground for reversal. The decision supports only the separate examination of revenue components; it does not approve the apportionment technique in Communiqué section 10.5.3.2, lays down no exclusivity principle for mixed use, and cannot be read as a general SaaS methodology.

Two tests must not be confused: splitting revenue, expenses and costs is a computation test; exclusive benefit abroad is a scope test. Doing the first correctly does not cure a deficiency in the second. If Art. 10/1-(ğ) is to be applied to a mixed product, the contract, invoices, usage logs, country breakdown and place of benefit must all be filed together.

Common mistakes and risks

Six mistakes that recur in the field:

• The invoice is issued to a domestic Turkish company. The second paragraph of sub-paragraph (ğ) is explicit: “the invoice or similar document must be issued in the name of the customer abroad.” Issuing a recharge invoice to the Turkish arm of a group company and producing the foreign invoice afterwards creates a risk of refusal of the deduction if it is inconsistent with the real recipient of the service and the nature of the transaction. That payment was made with a Turkish credit card does not by itself prove the transfer condition; full receipt into the Turkish taxpayer’s account is evidenced by bank or payment institution records. Nor does the card channel remove the scope obstacle where the user is resident in Turkey or the benefit arises in Turkey.

• The whole of the earnings is not transferred to Turkey by the date the corporate tax return is due. This condition, introduced by Law No. 7491, applies to periods after 1/1/2023. Example 2 in Communiqué section 10.5.2.6 is clear: “Where not all but part of the earnings in question is transferred to Turkey, the deduction cannot be used, including for the part transferred.” A partial transfer is a full refusal. Transferring in the next period does not save it either.

• The software is ordered from another studio. The Bursa Tax Office ruling 17192610-125[KV-22-957]-169873 of 12/7/2024 expresses the administrative view that, on facts where the software was made by another firm to order, “the condition that the service actually be supplied would be regarded as breached”. The view is confined to its own facts; there is no “subcontractor ban” in the wording of the statute and not every sub-contract is an automatic ground for refusal. Whether the taxpayer actually undertook the service, where technical responsibility lay, and whether the work was mere intermediation are assessed on the concrete facts; in models approaching a to-order arrangement this ruling is an administrative risk signal.

• Separate records are not kept. Failing to track separately the revenue, expenses and costs that can be directly associated weakens the proof. Common general expenses that cannot be separately determined are not prohibited, however; under Communiqué section 10.5.3.2 they are apportioned by the current-year revenue ratio. Opening separate cards in cloud accounting software, keeping bank movements traceable, and showing the mixed revenue item split in the monthly trial balance are practical grounds of defence.

• Consultancy, intermediation and assistance items are counted within Art. 10/1-(ğ). Section 10.5.2.2 of Corporate Tax General Communiqué No. 1 keeps independent assistance, consultancy and intermediation services outside the scope. Implementation, installation or integration fees, on the other hand, do not automatically fall outside merely because they are invoiced separately; whether they are an inseparable part of the software service or independent consultancy is determined by the contract, the job description, the technical deliverables and the invoicing structure.

• The YMM certification report is filed late. Where the deduction exceeds the main TRY 560,000 threshold and the report is not submitted in time, the extension window opens; if that too passes, the consequence is inability to use the right subject to certification. Signing with a YMM before the filing date, and not letting the report slip, is critical.

Gökay Gül’s note

Gökay Gül’s note. For mixed-customer SaaS, three files have to be kept together. The technical file: the subscription flow, customer residence, invoice addressee and country of use must be separated at product level, and the service/licence/mixed character of the SaaS supply must be readable from the contract. The legal file: if the same product is also used in Turkey, the documents defending exclusive benefit abroad have to be written; the Council of State decision supports examining the components separately but does not by itself grant a right to the deduction. The procedural file: if the TRY 560,000 threshold is exceeded for the 2026 accounting period, the YMM certification calendar has to open in January 2027 — and remember that the thresholds change in later years.

A warning I would add: R&D and design incentives and Art. 10/1-(ğ) are two different regimes. The R&D deduction under Law No. 5746 attaches only to R&D and design activity, while Art. 10/1-(ğ) attaches to software and data services supplied to individuals not resident in Turkey and to companies whose place of business, registered office and place of management are abroad. The Istanbul Tax Office ruling of 02/4/2024 shows that benefiting from Law No. 5746 and Art. 10/1-(ğ) together at the same address can be the subject of an application; that ruling addresses the relationship between Law No. 5746 and Art. 10/1-(ğ), not the technopark regime.

Action steps

1. Build the channel split into the product. Country selection by the user in the subscription flow, a customer-residence field in invoice automation, a separate account card in the accounting integration. Today.
2. Compute the revenue ratio every month. The answer to how common expenses will be apportioned emerges at the end of the accounting period, but monthly arithmetic gives early warning — if your foreign share falls, the deduction falls.
3. Where there is mixed access, settle the scope analysis in writing. Whether the SaaS supply is a service, a licence or a mixed supply; the evidence separating the place of benefit (contract, invoice addressee, user country breakdown, usage logs, the economic place of use of the output); and the narrow limits of the verified Council of State decision must all be filed. Do not put the split computation in place of proof of scope.
4. Choose your YMM in January and start the report in March. For the 2026 accounting period: engagement in January 2027, preliminary work in March 2027, the report with the April 2027 return or within 2 months following the end of the filing period (Communiqué ARTICLE 9/2). For the exact extension and sanction, the current official text of the Communiqué governs.
5. Prepare an earnings-split file. Determine every expense directly from technical records first. For common expenses and costs that cannot be separately determined apply the revenue ratio; for the depreciation of jointly used installations, machinery and means of transport apply the number of days — and keep the supporting basis.

Sources

• Corporate Tax Code No. 5520 — Art. 10/1-(ğ), 32/7, 32/9, 32/C. Consolidated text at mevzuat.gov.tr.
• Presidential Decision No. 11257. Official Gazette 30/4/2026, issue 33239.
• Corporate Tax General Communiqué No. 1 — sections 10.5.2 and 10.5.3 (wording as revised by Communiqué No. 23); 32.1.2.9.1 and 32.5.6 (sections added by Communiqué No. 23). Amendment: Official Gazette 28/9/2024-32676.
• General Communiqué No. 49 on the Law on Independent Accountancy, Certified Public Accountancy and Sworn-in Certified Public Accountancy. Official Gazette 30/12/2025-33123.
• Tax Procedure Code General Communiqué (Serial No: 585) — announcing the revaluation rate for 2025 as 25.49%. Official Gazette 27/11/2025.
• Revenue Administration — “Revaluation Rates” page (gib.gov.tr), the primary list of the rates announced by year.
• Revenue Administration ruling 84098128-125[32-2023/45]-429238 — Izmir Tax Office, 24/7/2024 (administrative view confined to its healthcare facts).
• Revenue Administration ruling 17192610-125[KV-22-957]-169873 — Bursa Tax Office, 12/7/2024.
• Council of State 3rd Chamber E.2023/10354 K.2025/3526, 29/9/2025.
• Council of State 3rd Chamber E.2023/10818 K.2025/3525, 29/9/2025.
• Council of State Plenary Session of Tax Chambers E.1998/32 K.1999/101, 12/2/1999 (the place-of-benefit doctrine).