A company inside a Turkish free zone — with its operating licence, premises and bank account
A free zone is chosen for a reason: production for export, trade through a customs-free area or services sold abroad. You receive a Turkish company whose operating licence under Free Zones Law No. 3218 matches that activity, a lease inside the zone, a corporate account and staff set-up. One manager on our side, weekly status, reply within one business hour.
Exact fee is fixed in the contract after a short clarification of the task.
Who this is for
Manufacturer producing for export
Inputs arrive from abroad and finished goods leave for foreign markets. The zone keeps them outside the customs territory until they move, and the licence must say production.
Trading house routing goods through Türkiye
You buy, store and re-sell without clearing goods into Türkiye. Trade licence, warehouse lease and bank account must be aligned before the first shipment arrives.
Service or software exporter
Your clients are abroad and you want contracts, invoices and payroll in a regime built for export. The zone’s rules for services and foreign-currency contracts shape the set-up.
What you have at the end
At the end you hold a Ltd. Şti. or A.Ş. registered in the Trade Registry, an operating licence (faaliyet ruhsatı) issued for your activity in the chosen zone, a signed lease for premises or a warehouse inside the zone, the zone operator’s user records, tax registration, a retained SMMM who knows free-zone bookkeeping, e-signature and KEP address, a corporate bank account, and a staff plan for Turkish and foreign employees. Every document sits in one indexed folder.
What is included
- Zone selection by activity: production, trade or services, matched to your supply chain
- Company formation in the legal form the zone and the licence require
- Operating licence file (faaliyet ruhsatı) prepared and filed via the zone operator
- Lease of premises or warehouse inside the zone, aligned with the licence wording
- Customs regime briefing: goods outside the customs territory until they move
- Bookkeeping set-up with your SMMM, including the foreign-currency option where the law allows
- Tax registration, e-signature, KEP address and zone user records
- Bank pack for two to three banks that work with free-zone companies
- Staff set-up: SGK, first contracts, work-permit route for foreign employees
How the work runs
Phase 1 · Activity and zone
We map your flows of goods, services and money, then shortlist zones whose profile, premises and operator fit. The activity wording is fixed now, because the licence will repeat it.
Phase 2 · Company
Founder documents, MERSİS filing, company agreement and Trade Registry entry with your SMMM. The registered purpose matches the activity planned for the zone.
Phase 3 · Operating licence
Application form, business plan, company documents and lease intention go to the zone operator and on to the Ministry of Trade. We answer every request for information in writing and track the decision.
Phase 4 · Premises, customs, bookkeeping
Lease signed inside the zone, zone user records opened, customs procedures agreed with your customs broker, bookkeeping route and currency option fixed with the SMMM.
Phase 5 · Bank and staff
Registry documents, licence and lease go to two or three banks. SGK, first employment contracts and the work-permit route for foreign staff are set up with the employer’s e-signature and KEP.
How it is structured
| Decides activity, zone and tax position | You, with your lawyer or SMMM when advice is needed |
| Issues the operating licence | Ministry of Trade through the zone operator — on its own criteria and timetable |
| Registers the company | Trade Registry of the zone’s province |
| Keeps the books and files returns | Licensed SMMM retained for you |
| Opens the account | The bank — we prepare, present and accompany |
| Runs the whole chain, owns deadlines and communication | ROSTU |
What stays outside the package
- Legal and tax advice on the free-zone regime — your lawyer or SMMM provides it
- The licence decision — the Ministry and the zone operator decide; we prepare and follow up
- Share capital, licence and zone fees, rent, notary and translator tariffs — paid by you directly
- Customs declarations — filed by your licensed customs broker
Questions
What does the operating licence do?
Under Free Zones Law No. 3218 a company works inside a zone only with an operating licence (faaliyet ruhsatı) issued for a stated activity: production, trade or services. The licence, the lease and the company’s registered purpose must say the same thing. We prepare the file; the Ministry of Trade decides on its own criteria and timetable.
What changes for customs?
Goods inside a free zone are treated as outside the Turkish customs territory until they move. Under VAT Law No. 3065 Art. 12 a delivery to a customer in a free zone counts as an export once the goods leave the customs territory. Your customs broker files the declarations; we align licence, lease and documents around them.
Can the company keep contracts in foreign currency?
Decree No. 32 restricts foreign-currency contracts between Turkish residents, but the exceptions include work and service contracts of free-zone companies. The exceptions are narrow and paragraph-specific, so each contract type is checked with your SMMM or lawyer before signing. The bookkeeping currency is agreed with the SMMM.
Are tax exemptions automatic?
No. The regime attaches to a valid licence and to the licensed activity carried out inside the zone; what is exempt and under which conditions follows from the law and the current implementing rules. We describe the mechanism and route the question to your SMMM, who confirms the position for your activity before the first invoice.
Tell us about the business you want inside a free zone
Describe the goods or services, the markets and the founders. A manager replies within one business hour with a plan and the next step.
Read before you start
Related packages
Company Launch
A working Turkish company with a bank account — one package, one manager
Open the package →Ltd. Şti.
A Turkish Ltd. Şti. that invoices, pays and hires — with a bank account and a clean first quarter
Open the package →A.Ş. (Joint-Stock)
A Turkish A.Ş. built for shareholders — board, share ledger, bank account and investor-ready articles
Open the package →Branch of a foreign company
Your company trading in Türkiye under its own name — a registered branch with a representative and a bank account
Open the package →Liaison office
Your company present in Türkiye without trading — a permitted liaison office with staff and an expense account
Open the package →Teknopark / R&D company
A Turkish R&D company admitted to a teknopark — with its project file, office, bank account and team
Open the package →Express launch
A Turkish Ltd. Şti. launched on a compressed, day-by-day calendar — one manager, no idle days between steps
Open the package →Ready company transfer
An existing Turkish Ltd. Şti. transferred to you — checked, re-registered and with its bank signatory changed
Open the package →