The Law Proposal on Amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Law and Certain Laws, which includes regulations on the restructuring of tax and SSI premium debts and employment incentives, was adopted in the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
The Law Proposal on Amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Law and Certain Laws, which includes regulations on the restructuring of tax and SSI premium debts and employment incentives, was adopted in the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. According to the law, tax debts can be restructured and paid in 18 installments. Tax debts including Income Tax, Corporate Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), Motor Vehicles Tax (MTV), Special Consumption Tax (SCT), all administrative fines, KYK debts, Treasury receivables can be structured. Discounts will be provided for those who want to pay their debts in advance.
All administrative fines such as tax fines, delay interest and delay increases, traffic, election, population fines, fines imposed according to the Road Transport Law, fines imposed due to irregular crossings on highways will be within the scope of the restructuring.
Debts for tuition contribution loans and student loans, ecrimisils, unfair support payments, resource utilization support fund, contribution share for the protection of immovable cultural assets can also be restructured.
Treasury receivables within the scope of the Law on the Regulation of Public Finance and Debt Management, state rights from mines, and other receivables pursued in accordance with the Law on the Procedure for Collection of Public Receivables will also be eligible for restructuring.
Those who want to benefit from the restructuring will have to apply until the end of the year from the date of the law and these debts can be paid in a maximum of 18 installments. Installments will be paid every two months. In case of advance payment until the first installment date, the interest accrued will be deleted. The first installment payment will be made in January 2021.
Social security premium administrative penalties, late payment penalties and interest increases can also be restructured.
In addition, debts to special provincial administrations, real estate tax, environmental cleaning tax, advertisement and advertising tax, other taxes and fees, water, wastewater, solid waste fees, road participation fees, institutional receivables arising from various fees and their increases and interests can also be structured.
Dues payments of TOBB, TESK, Turkish Bar Association, TÜRMOB, exporters’ associations will also be included in the restructuring.
Receivables arising from the supports provided by KOSGEB and dues receivables, receivables arising from easement rights and leasing transactions on the immovables of special provincial administrations, municipalities and their affiliated organizations and companies more than 50 percent of their capital belonging to them, rent receivables of the General Directorate of Foundations and excused foundations, receivables of development agencies from special provincial administrations, municipalities and chambers of industry, service fee receivables of the Turkish Standards Institute will also be included in the scope of the restructuring.
Those that were determined by the Social Security Institution before August 31 and finalized until the deadline for application will also be able to benefit from the restructuring.
Farmers and forest villagers can also benefit from the restructuring
Receivables arising from the leasing of immovable properties left at the disposal of municipalities and the establishment of easement rights are also included in the scope of the restructuring.
The debts of metropolitan municipalities and their affiliated organizations to the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works can also be restructured.
Farmers who owe debts to Agricultural Credit Cooperatives and forest villagers who use loans will also benefit from the regulation.
In the event that those who benefit from unemployment allowance are employed within 90 days of leaving their jobs and work subject to an uninterrupted service contract for 12 months, the long-term insurance premiums to be calculated for the period they benefit from unemployment allowance will be covered from the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
The President of the Republic will be authorized to extend the duration of the premium incentive provided to the employer for 12 months for the persons employed in addition to the previous year’s average of the premium support provided to the employer in case of employing women, young people and holders of vocational qualification certificates, and for 18 months in case this person is a woman, young person or disabled person, and the Income Tax withholding incentive and Stamp Tax support for the employer who provides additional employment until December 31, 2023.
The effective date of the Tradesmen Ahilik Fund will be postponed from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023 due to the negative effects of the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. The President will have the authority to extend the duration of the short-time working allowance until June 30, 2021.
Premium support paid to employers may be extended until June 30, 2021
The President of the Republic will be able to extend the period of premium support paid to the employer and covered by the Unemployment Insurance Fund until June 30, 2021 in case the insured benefiting from the short-time working allowance return to their normal working hours.
The law adds a temporary article to the Unemployment Insurance Law.
For the re-employment of the unemployed and the employment of those who work without being reported to the SSI, if those whose employment or service contracts expired between January 1, 2019 and April 17, 2020 and those who work without being reported to the SSI apply to their last workplaces and are actually employed by their employers, employers will be given a daily support of 44.15 liras to be deducted from all premiums to be paid to the institution every month.
Among those who apply, 39.24 liras per day will be provided for those who are hired by the employer and leave on unpaid leave, and 34.34 liras per day per household will be provided for those who are in this scope and report that their application has not been accepted.
Those who are accepted by the employer to be employed without notifying their services to the SSI will be deemed to have waived their other rights, except for their wages and wage-related rights for the period they were employed in this way, and the social benefits and other rights they previously benefited from in accordance with the relevant legislation during the period they were employed in this way will not be debited.
Employers who accept that they employ those who apply pursuant to this article without reporting their services to the SSI will not be imposed administrative fines in accordance with the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law for the periods when the relevant persons were employed by the employer without reporting their services, insurance premiums, including unemployment insurance premiums, will not be accrued, and will not be taken into account in the calculation of the average and total number of insured in the relevant legislation.
According to another provisional article added to the Unemployment Insurance Law, the employer will be provided with cash wage support to be deducted from all premiums to be paid to the SSI every month for each insured person to be employed in addition to the number of insured persons in the month or period in which at least the minimum number of insured persons is reported between January 2019 and April 2020.
In this context, it is envisaged that the support amount to be covered from the Unemployment Insurance Fund will be 44.15 liras per day for the insured who will actually be employed from the date of recruitment, and 39.24 liras per day for those who will be on unpaid leave by the employer among those who will be recruited additionally.
The President will be authorized to increase the aforementioned support and cash support amounts at the rate of increase in the minimum wage to be determined after the effective date of the articles.
Exemption for those who sell their home products online
With the amendment made to the Income Tax Law, these activities of those who sell the goods they manufacture in their homes over the internet and similar electronic media without opening a separate workplace and without using industrial type or mass production machines and tools will be included in the scope of exemption. In order to benefit from this exemption, it will be necessary to obtain a tax-exempt tradesman certificate, open a commercial account in banks established in Turkey, collect all revenue exclusively through this account and the revenue amount should not exceed the specified amount.
Banks will withhold 4 percent (2 percent in cases where 1 or more employees are employed) Income Tax on the amounts transferred to the opened commercial accounts as of the date of transfer, and will be obliged to declare and pay them within the framework of the law.
Those who are subject to Income Tax in real procedure due to their commercial, agricultural or professional earnings and those who perform the activities listed in the article in a way that is dependent on income and corporate taxpayers will not be able to benefit from this exemption.
The regulation, which authorizes the President to reduce the rates and amounts specified in the article by up to half and increase them by up to 2 times, will enter into force as of January 1, 2021.
Real and legal persons who report their money, gold, foreign currency, securities and other capital market instruments abroad to a bank or intermediary institution in Turkey by June 30, 2021 will be able to freely dispose of these assets.
According to the Law on Amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Law and Certain Laws adopted in the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, 50 percent of the earnings obtained by full taxpayer real persons within the scope of the export of goods realized by the Postal Administration, which is authorized as an indirect representative within the scope of the Customs Law, or by the electronic trade customs declaration issued by companies engaged in fast cargo transportation, will be deducted from the income reported in the declaration.
In order to benefit from this discount, those who are considered within this scope, whose total revenues arising from exports are up to 400 thousand liras per year, must be insured themselves in the relevant year, those up to 800 thousand liras per year must be insured themselves in the relevant year and employ at least one full-time or equivalent part-time worker, Those whose total annual revenues from exports are up to 1 million 600 thousand liras must be insured themselves and employ at least two full-time or equivalent part-time workers in the relevant year, and those whose total annual revenues from exports are up to 2 million 400 thousand liras must be insured themselves and employ at least three full-time or equivalent part-time workers in the relevant year.
The President of the Republic may reduce the rates, amounts and numbers in this article by up to half and increase them by up to two times.
The President of the Republic will be authorized to reduce this ratio to zero or increase it by up to one times, separately or together, according to whether the shares of the full-fledged taxpayer capital company are traded in Borsa Istanbul, the ratio of the traded shares in the total shares, whether the repurchased shares are from the shares traded in Borsa Istanbul, whether they are repurchased from full-fledged taxpayer institutions, the total amount of the annual sales revenue and other revenues of the full-fledged taxpayer capital company.
The law aims to tax the income from leveraged trading (forex) transactions conducted through banks and intermediary institutions through deductions at source. The implementation period of the article is extended until December 31, 2025 and the President is authorized to extend this period for up to 5 years.
The provision regulating the deduction of 20 percent income tax on payments made as wages to jockeys, jockey sidekicks and trainers of horses participating in competitions organized by the license holder or the person authorized by the license holder is extended until 31 December 2025.
Notification of money, gold and foreign currency held abroad to banks in Turkey
Real and legal persons who report their money, gold, foreign currency, securities and other capital market instruments abroad to the bank or intermediary institution in Turkey until June 30, 2021 in accordance with the provisions of this article will be able to freely dispose of these assets.
The said assets can be used to close the loans used from banks or financial institutions abroad and registered in the legal books as of the effective date of the article until June 30, 2021 at the latest. In this case, the provisions of this article will be utilized for the assets used in the payment of the debt, provided that they are deducted from the book records, without the condition of being brought to Turkey.
Taxpayers who keep books in accordance with the Tax Procedure Law may include the assets brought to Turkey within the scope of this article in their businesses without taking them into account in the determination of the period earnings, and may withdraw the same assets from their businesses without taking them into account in the determination of taxable earnings and distributable earnings for corporations.
Money, gold, foreign currency, securities and other capital market instruments and immovables owned by income or corporate taxpayers and located in Turkey but not included in the legal book records will be reported to tax offices until June 30, 2021. The reported assets can be recorded in the legal books without being taken into account in the determination of the income for the period. In this case, such assets may be withdrawn from the business without being taken into account in the determination of taxable income and distributable income for corporations. In the event that the immovables notified within the scope of this paragraph are included in the business records by placing them as capital in kind, the provisions of this article can be benefited from, provided that the capital increase decision has been taken as of the notification date and the said decision is registered in the trade registry until the end of the tenth month following the notification date.
Losses arising from the disposal of assets brought to Turkey or recorded in the legal books will not be accepted as expenses or discounts in terms of income or corporate tax practice.
No tax inspection and tax assessment will be made due to the aforementioned assets. In order to benefit from this provision, the reported assets must be brought to Turkey within 3 months from the date of notification or transferred to an account to be opened in banks or intermediary institutions in Turkey.
The President of the Republic will be authorized to extend these periods up to one year from their expiry dates, each time for periods not exceeding 6 months.
The Board of Trustees of Istanbul Health Sciences University will consist of the rector, the Deputy Minister of Health assigned for education and research, a member selected by the Minister of Health, two members with the title of professor selected by the Council of Higher Education, and two members from outside the Health Sciences University determined by the Board of Directors of the Presidency of Health Institutes of Turkey.
It will also be possible to employ local academics in the universities of the country in which they are located in the foreign units of the university, and to prefer the economical one from the methods of salaried work and employment for tuition fees.
VAT exemption
By amending the Value Added Tax Law, the delivery period of the materials to be used in the production of goods to be exported within the scope of inward processing and temporary acceptance regime will be extended until December 31, 2025.
The period of VAT exemption applied to the free delivery of computers and hardware to the Ministry of National Education, software deliveries and services related to them will be extended until December 31, 2023.
2021 UEFA Champions League Final competitions to be played in Turkey due to UEFA, participating football clubs and legal entities in charge of the organization to those whose place of business, legal and business headquarters are not located in Turkey, the delivery of goods and services to be made due to these competitions and their goods deliveries and services will be exempt from VAT.
Regulations are being made regarding obtaining building permits for electronic communication infrastructures.
In order to develop broadband internet infrastructure throughout the country; towers and poles higher than 15 meters for the installation of electronic communication stations to be built in public service areas, places such as roads, parking lots, pedestrian zones and public and private lands and lands (excluding structures and buildings) and their compulsory infrastructure elements will be required to be processed and licensed in 1/1000 scale application zoning plans.
License applications will not require any project or document other than a sketch including horizontal and vertical views and static and electrical projects. The license application will be accompanied by a document regarding the lease or use made between the owner or disposer and the operator.
The concept of a permit instead of a license will be introduced for towers and masts not higher than 15 meters on public and privately owned lands and lands, and for towers and masts in buildings and structures.
When granting permission for towers and masts to be installed in buildings, the condition of not being higher than 10 meters will be sought.
License and occupancy permit applications will be subject to license fees and occupancy permit fees. In the permit applications, a permit fee equal to the total amount of the license fee and occupancy permit fee will be charged.
In the event that public institutions or organizations use space for electronic communication stations; the annual space usage fee to be collected in accordance with the contract will not exceed 5 times the fee determined by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure for the site selection certificate in metropolitan municipalities and 3 times in other places. Contracts made in violation of this provision will be deemed invalid.
For towers and masts built between July 2, 2004 and October 1, 2009, it is also envisaged to protect the vested rights without any payment. Towers and masts built outside this date range will have to fulfill the required conditions.
The January 1, 2021 effective date of the accommodation tax is postponed to January 1, 2022.
At the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Law Proposal Amending the Unemployment Insurance Law and Some Laws was adopted.
According to the law, the chief physician will be able to take action regarding acts against discipline committed in hospitals and facilities used by the Public Hospitals Institution of Turkey together with universities.
Investors and operators certified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism who have been allocated public land by the relevant ministries to build tourism facilities in order to reduce the negative effects of the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak on the tourism sector; Between April 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020, the payment periods of rents, final permits, final allocations, easement rights, usage permits, utilization, additional utilization fees and revenue shares to be collected in the period between April 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020, and the payment periods of the ecrimisils to be collected in the same period from the investors and operators of tourism facilities certified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism are postponed by 6 months.
In addition, the payment periods of rents, final permits, final allocations, easement rights, usage permits, utilization, additional utilization fees and revenue shares and ecrimisils to be collected between July 1 and December 31, 2020 will be postponed for one year without the requirement of application. These receivables will be collected without any increase or interest until the end of the postponed period. The amounts collected for this period will not be refunded.
The chairman and members of the board of directors of the Turkish Employment Agency and the staff of the institution will be subject to the Law on the Prosecution of Civil Servants and Other Public Officials, which regulates the procedures and principles regarding their not being subject to direct criminal investigation and prosecution for crimes committed while performing public duties and services.
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the period for the convicts who are in open penal execution institutions due to the Covid-19 outbreak, convicts who are in closed penal execution institutions and who are entitled to be allocated to open penal execution institutions, convicts whose sentences are decided to be executed by applying supervised release measures and convicts who benefit from supervised release measures are extended to January 31, 2021.
If the pandemic continues, this period can be extended 7 times by the Ministry of Justice upon the proposal of the Ministry of Health, each time for a period not exceeding 2 months. Thus, if the pandemic continues, the Covid-19 leave period can be extended until July 31, 2021 at most.
A regulation is being made in order to eliminate the legal gap arising from the Constitutional Court’s decision regarding the benefit of the actual service time increase for those working in the press and journalism professions.
With the article added to the Social Security and General Health Insurance Law, in the event that the total total accrual amount for the treatment services provided to the SSI by university service providers with whom a lump sum service procurement contract has been signed until December 31, 2020 is lower than the lump sum contract amount, the difference will be canceled. The canceled amount will be collected from the Treasury.
If those who are self-employed on their own behalf and account and those who are self-employed on their own behalf and account in agriculture, who have premium debts as of August 31, 2020, although they have been registered and registered with the SSI, do not pay their premium debts for the periods before this date until the end of the second month following the effective date of this article, the insurance of the insured with premium payments will be suspended as of the end of the month in which the premiums they have paid are fully covered by the premiums they have paid before, and the insurance of the insured without premium payments as of the registration date. Suspended periods will not be considered as insurance period.
In order to encourage public float, dematerialization and institutionalization, except for banks, financial leasing companies, factoring companies, financing companies, payment and electronic money institutions, authorized foreign exchange institutions, asset management companies, capital market institutions, insurance and reinsurance companies and pension companies, the corporate tax rate will be reduced by 2 points for the earnings of the shares of the institutions whose shares are offered to the public for the first time at a rate of at least 20 percent to be traded on the Borsa Istanbul Equity Market, for five accounting periods starting from the accounting period in which they were offered to the public for the first time.
Regarding the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final to be played in Turkey, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the participating football clubs and the legal entities involved in the organization will be exempt from income and corporate tax for their earnings and revenues generated in Turkey.
Those who successfully complete the programs determined by the ministry, except for the professions operating within the scope of the Private Education Institutions Law and for which the Vocational Qualifications Authority has issued a Vocational Qualification Certificate, will be able to work and open workplaces in the workplaces related to the programs they have completed with their course completion certificates. No other professional certificate will be required for people in this situation.
The VAT exemption provided for the deliveries and services to be made to the Istanbul Project Coordination Unit operating under the Governorship of Istanbul within the scope of the Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project (ISMEP), provided that the financing is provided by foreign states, international institutions and organizations, will continue until the end of 2025.
Appeal against an additional measure
The person, legal representative or heirs of the person against whom the measure is applied against the additional measures included in the laws adopted within the scope of the state of emergency will apply to the public institutions and organizations implementing the measure or related to it within 3 months from the date of entry into force of this article. Public institutions and organizations will decide on the rejection of the application or the lifting of the measure within 6 months at the latest according to the result of the examination to be made upon the application. Commissions may be established within public institutions and organizations for the examination and finalization of applications. Public institutions and organizations may request all kinds of information and documents from those concerned for the finalization of the applications to be made under this article.
Without prejudice to the provisions of the relevant legislation regarding the confidentiality of the investigation and state secrets, institutions and organizations and judicial authorities will be obliged to send all kinds of information and documents needed within the scope of the application to the public institutions and organizations to which the application is made without delay or to enable on-site examination. Those who are assigned by public institutions and organizations in the works within the scope of this article will not be able to disclose confidential information, personal data, trade secrets and documents belonging to the public, relevant persons and third parties, which they have acquired during the performance of their duties, to anyone other than the authorities authorized by law in this regard, and will not be able to use them for the benefit of themselves or third parties. This obligation will continue after they leave office. An annulment lawsuit can be filed against the decisions of public institutions and organizations before the Ankara administrative courts to be determined by the Council of Judges and Prosecutors. Applications made to public institutions and organizations that are not authorized pursuant to this article will be sent to the public institution and organization deemed to be authorized and the situation will be notified to the applicant. The Presidency will be authorized to resolve disputes that may arise regarding the implementation of this article.
January 1, 2021, the effective date of the accommodation tax is postponed to January 1, 2022.
The effective dates of the regulations regarding “the leasing of immovables belonging to the General Directorate of Foundations and excused foundations in return for repair or construction, the six-month rent of the first year of the operating period to be taken as collateral on the starting date of the contract; in the leasing of immovables belonging to the General Directorate of Foundations and excused foundations, the evacuation of the relevant immovable by the local authority in case of non-payment of three months of rent within the contract period; the application of the new provisions to existing leases” are postponed from January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021.
Within the scope of the article on the postponement of the general assemblies required to be held by associations, the authority granted to the Minister of Interior is extended three times for three months each, taking into account the risk situation posed by the fight against the pandemic and the holding of events that require people to come together.
General assembly meetings under the Law on Cooperatives; the Law on Veterinary Services, Plant Health, Food and Feed; the Law on Agricultural Producer Associations; and the Law on Seed Production can also be postponed.
On the other hand, the article authorizing the President of the Republic to reduce the corporate tax rate of 20 percent by up to five percentage points and bring it back to its legal level, as well as two articles related to the “part-time work” regulation, which was removed from the text during yesterday’s negotiations, were also removed from the proposal.
During the discussions of the proposal, during the breaks in the work, the General Assembly was disinfected by asking MPs to leave the room.
With the decision of the Advisory Board, the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey will not convene today.
In line with the decision taken, Haydar Akar, Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, closed the session to convene on Tuesday, November 17 at 15:00.
Source: https://www.dunya.com/ekonomi/borc-yapilandirmasi-mecliste-kabul-edildi-haberi-488589
