Setting up in a Turkish teknopark: project acceptance, incentives, obligations and foreign staff
A teknopark or teknokent is a technology development zone set up under Law No. 4691. A company that moves its software, design or R&D work into a zone can use tax incentives, but only for approved projects and only while it meets the reporting and personnel rules. This guide explains, for foreign founders and tech companies, how acceptance works, what the incentives cover and what changes when you hire foreign developers. Status checked on 12 November 2026.
What a teknopark is and what a zone company means
Law No. 4691 creates technology development zones (TGB) next to universities and research centres. Each zone is run by a management company (yönetici şirket), which Article 3 defines as a joint-stock company set up under the Law and responsible for managing and operating the zone. The businesses inside are entrepreneurs (girişimci): natural or legal persons who use, or want to use, its services and facilities.
Being a zone company is not a separate legal form, and foreign ownership is no obstacle. The incentives attach to approved activities inside the zone, not to the company as a whole, and the rules of the zone where you rent space apply on top of the Law. You first register an ordinary Turkish company, usually a limited or joint-stock company, and then:
- apply to a zone with an R&D, software or design project;
- sign a lease with the management company for space in the zone;
- run the approved project there with registered personnel.
How the management company accepts a project
Acceptance is decided by the zone, not by a ministry office. Under the Implementing Regulation, as amended in February 2022, the management company sets up a Project Evaluation Commission of at least three members: two university academics and one sector expert or licensed angel investor. A project it approves receives a project acceptance document (proje kabul belgesi).
- Prepare a project file: goal, technical content, work plan, team and budget.
- Show what is new: software, design or R&D, not routine trading or services.
- Expect questions from the commission and possible changes to scope.
- After approval, sign the lease and register the address with the tax office.
The lease must be in Turkish lira and may not exceed any rent ceiling the General Directorate has set. If no new R&D or design project starts within three months, the regulation treats the lease as terminated, so plan the next project before the current one ends.
Tax incentives: what the current law grants until 2028
Temporary Article 2 of Law No. 4691, in the consolidated text amended by Law No. 7555 of July 2025, exempts from income and corporate tax until 31 December 2028 the earnings that zone companies derive exclusively from software, design and R&D activities in the zone. Income from other activities, or from work done elsewhere, stays taxable in the usual way.
| Incentive | What the text says |
|---|---|
| Corporate tax | Exemption for zone software, design and R&D earnings until 31/12/2028 |
| Wage tax | Incentive for R&D, design and support staff until 31/12/2028, on wages up to 40 times the gross minimum wage |
| Stamp duty | Exemption for wage documents within the same limit |
| SGK | Employer-share incentive referred to; size not stated here |
The end date has already been moved once, from 2023 to 2028, by Law No. 7263 in 2021, and only a new law can move it again. Plan on the date in force today, keep zone and non-zone income in separate records and ask your accountant about the VAT treatment of software.
Obligations: personnel, reporting and outside-zone work
The incentives depend on discipline in personnel records. Support staff who benefit may not exceed ten percent of the R&D and design staff, or twenty percent in firms with up to fifteen employees in total. The management company approves the monthly list of R&D, design and support personnel, so every hire and exit must be reported on time.
- Monthly: personnel list and project data through the zone system.
- Yearly: information certified by a sworn financial adviser (YMM) by the end of May.
- Continuously: activity records in the electronic form the Ministry sets.
If the annual information is missing, the regulation stops approval of the quarterly exemption documents from June. Work outside the zone counts only within the limits of Temporary Article 2 and with the management company’s approval and notice to the Ministry. Unlawful activity in the zone leads to a warning and up to three months to correct it before removal.
Foreign developers and the company bank account
Article 7 of Law No. 4691 lets zone companies employ foreign managers and qualified R&D or design staff. The work permit itself follows the general route of International Workforce Law No. 6735: the employer applies online to the Ministry of Labour, and the developer cannot start before the permit is issued.
The Ministry’s evaluation criteria (section B.5.2) give zone companies a real advantage. For foreign R&D and design staff, a favourable opinion of the Ministry of Industry and Technology is required, and the rule of five Turkish employees per foreigner and the paid-in capital test do not apply. The wage criterion is not listed as waived.
The company bank account works as for any Turkish company: open it in the company’s name and keep incentive-related payroll and rent in it. Banks may ask for the lease or acceptance document; we can coordinate that process with you.
Sources
- lexpera.com.tr — consolidated text of Law No. 4691 on Technology Development Zones, Articles 3 and 7 and Temporary Article 2, as amended by Law No. 7555 of 20 July 2025 (mevzuat.gov.tr blocks automated access, so a consolidated copy was used)
- turmob.org.tr — copy of Resmî Gazete No. 31746 of 10 February 2022: amendments to the Technology Development Zones Implementing Regulation (project evaluation, lease, reporting, removal)
- csgb.gov.tr — Ministry of Labour and Social Security: Work Permit Evaluation Criteria, section B.5.2 on R&D and design staff of zone companies
- yatirimadestek.gov.tr — Ministry of Industry and Technology: information form on incentives for companies in technology development zones (overview, updated January 2021)
Questions
Can a foreign-owned company operate in a Turkish teknopark?
Yes. Law No. 4691 defines entrepreneurs as natural or legal persons using the zone, with no nationality condition. The company is registered in Türkiye and then applies to a zone with a project.
Who decides whether a project is accepted?
The zone’s management company, through a Project Evaluation Commission of at least three members. An approved project receives a project acceptance document, followed by a lease for space.
Until when do the teknopark tax exemptions apply?
Under Temporary Article 2 of Law No. 4691 as currently in force, the income and corporate tax exemption and the wage incentive run until 31 December 2028.
Is all company income exempt?
No. Only earnings derived exclusively from software, design and R&D activities in the zone are exempt. Other income is taxed normally, so records must separate the two.
Is it easier to get a work permit for a foreign developer?
Under section B.5.2 of the work permit criteria, for R&D and design staff of a zone company the five-Turkish-employee rule and the capital test do not apply, but a favourable opinion of the Ministry of Industry and Technology is required.