Türkiye vs Belgium for a software or game company
Belgium matches Türkiye's 25% headline rate and goes further than most of Europe on research: an 85% deduction on innovation income brings the effective rate on that income to 3.75%, and up to 80% of the payroll withholding on research staff is waived. Taking profit out is where it gets expensive, at 30% on dividends against Türkiye's 15%, with living costs about 70% higher.
The short verdict
01Where each one wins, 5 measures to 2
Where Türkiye wins
- Dividends at 15%, half of Belgium's 30%.
- Advertising, hosting and platform fees, reimbursed at 50% to 70% where Belgium pays nothing.
- A cost base roughly 70% below Belgium's on the Numbeo index.
- Income from customers abroad, untaxed under the export regime.
Where Belgium wins
- An 85% deduction on innovation income, taking the effective rate on it to 3.75%.
- Up to 80% of payroll withholding waived on qualifying research staff, which cuts what a developer costs rather than what profit costs.
- A research tax credit that is refundable, so a company with no taxable profit still gets paid.
- Local purchasing power 63% above Türkiye's.
02How do Türkiye and Belgium compare, line by line?
Of 9 measures, Türkiye takes 5 and Belgium takes 2, with 2 level. Every figure links to its source and carries the date we last checked it.
Public money
| Measure | Türkiye | Belgium |
|---|---|---|
| Cash back on ads, hosting and platform fees | better for the company50% of what you spend, rising to 70% when the customers you are targeting are in one of the twenty countries on Türkiye's target listsource | Nothing comparablesource |
| Support for development costs | Yes, through two separate programmes: TÜBİTAK, which funds defined research projects, and teknopark status, which removes corporate tax on software developed inside a technology parkBoth are applied for separately from the export refund, and a company can hold them at the same time.source | better for the companyAn 85% deduction on innovation income, an effective 3.75%, plus up to 80% of payroll withholding waived on research staffsource |
What it costs to live there
| Measure | Türkiye | Belgium |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of living index | better for the company40.2Numbeo index, mid-2026.source | 68.3, 70% higher than Türkiyesource |
| Rent index | better for the company12.3source | 22.0, 79% higher than Türkiyesource |
| Local purchasing power index | 71.8Salaries buy less locally, which is the other side of a low cost base.source | better for staff117.1, 63% higher than Türkiyesource |
Tax
| Measure | Türkiye | Belgium |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax on ordinary profit | 25%source | 25%source |
| Tax on income from software sold abroad | better for the company0% under the IT export regimeApplies to income earned from customers outside Türkiye.source | Taxed the same as any other profitsource |
| VAT or equivalent, standard rate | 20%Exported services are outside the scope, so this matters less to an exporter than the headline suggests.source | 21%source |
| Withholding tax on dividends to a foreign parent | better for the company15%A double tax treaty can reduce it.source | 30%source |
03What is it like to run a company in Belgium?
Brussels is an hour behind Istanbul and about three and a half by plane. Belgian support is built around formal research programmes and registered intellectual property, so it rewards a company that documents its development work carefully. The payroll waiver is the piece that reaches an ordinary engineering team without a patent portfolio behind it.
04What does the Turkish programme pay back, and what are the limits?
| What you spend it on | Programme item | Paid back | Annual cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ads and player acquisition | Digital product promotion: ads & marketing (up to 10 products/yr) | 50% to 70% | 50 000 000 ₺ ≈ $1,043,841 |
| App store and platform commissions | App store & platform commissions (up to 10 products/yr) | 50% | 20 000 000 ₺ ≈ $417,537 |
| Hosting and servers | Hosting costs | 50% | 5 000 000 ₺ ≈ $104,384 |
What Türkiye would pay back on your spending
Türkiye runs a government programme that refunds part of what a software company or game studio spends on reaching customers abroad. It covers advertising, app store and platform commissions, and hosting. The refund is paid in cash against invoices the company has already settled, so it does not depend on the company making a profit. The standard rate is 50%, and it rises to 70% when the customers being targeted are in one of the twenty countries on the Turkish Ministry of Trade's target list.
Put your own yearly figures in below. The rates and the annual caps come from the same file as our full calculator, and the total updates as you type.
05Questions we get asked
How does an effective rate of 3.75% work?
The innovation income deduction removes 85% of qualifying income from the base, so what remains is taxed at the 25% headline rate. Twenty-five percent of the remaining fifteen comes to 3.75%, and it applies only to income the authorities accept as innovation income.
What is the payroll withholding waiver worth?
Up to 80% of the wage withholding on staff doing qualifying research stays with the company instead of going to the state. It arrives every payroll run, which makes it the most predictable of the Belgian incentives.
Why is the dividend rate so high?
Thirty percent is Belgium's domestic rate on distributions, and it is the highest in this comparison. Treaty relief and the EU parent-subsidiary rules cut it in specific cases, and Türkiye's 15% needs no such arrangement to start with.
Where this comparison comes from
CyberScope Solutions is an Istanbul consultancy that manages Türkiye's IT export incentive claims for software companies and game studios. We build these comparisons because clients ask for them before deciding, and we keep the rows where the other country wins because a comparison nobody believes is worth nothing.
- Every figure is sourced. Each number links to the page it came from and carries the date we last checked it.
- These pages get rebuilt, not left. Rates and caps come from the same file as our calculator, so when one changes the page changes with it.
- You find out early if it is not for you. The first call is thirty minutes and we will say plainly if your spend pattern does not suit the programme.
Turn that number into money
Send us the rough shape of your spend. You get back what it is worth, what setting it up involves, and how fast the first claim can go in. Companies already operating here treat this as routine, and the six month window means the clock is running on invoices you have already paid.
- A reply from a person within one working day
- No mailing list, no drip sequence
- Thirty minutes, and you keep the numbers either way
Got it.
We will read it properly and reply within a working day. If you would rather get it over with now, pick a time that suits you.
Book a 30 minute call06Where these numbers come from
- https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/turkey/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income checked 2026-08-21
- https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/quick-charts/corporate-income-tax-cit-rates checked 2026-08-21
- https://cyberscope.solutions/blog/zero-percent-tax-on-it-exports/ checked 2026-08-21
- https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/quick-charts/value-added-tax-vat-rates checked 2026-08-21
- https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/turkey/corporate/withholding-taxes checked 2026-08-21
- https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/quick-charts/withholding-tax-wht-rates checked 2026-08-21
- https://cyberscope.solutions/guides/ checked 2026-08-21
- https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/belgium/corporate/tax-credits-and-incentives checked 2026-08-21
- https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp checked 2026-08-21