Comparison9 measuresChecked 2026-08-20Türkiye incentive programme

Türkiye vs Italy for a software or game company

Italy sits close to Türkiye on almost every measure: 24% corporate tax against 25%, 22% VAT against 20%, and a cost of living index of 61.3 against 40.2. Its dividend treatment is the unusual part, at either nothing or 26% depending on who receives it.

The short verdict

By Tom HuseynzadeCo-founder, CyberScope Solutions

TürkiyeItaly

Cash back on growth spend50% to 70%None

Tax on software sold abroad0%Taxed

Cost of living40.261.3

Dividends to a foreign parent15%0% or 26%

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01Where each one wins, 4 measures to 2

Where Türkiye wins

Marketing and platform spend, which no Italian scheme reimburses.
The cost base, about 52% below Italy's.
Rent, where Italy's index is more than half again higher.
Income from customers abroad, untaxed under the export regime.

Where Italy wins

A slightly lower corporate rate, 24% against 25%.
Dividends can leave at 0% depending on the recipient, where Türkiye withholds 15%.
European Union membership and market access.
Local purchasing power 19% above Türkiye's.

02How do Türkiye and Italy compare, line by line?

Of 9 measures, Türkiye takes 4 and Italy takes 2, with 3 level. Every figure links to its source and carries the date we last checked it.

Tax

Measure	Türkiye	Italy
Corporate tax on ordinary profit	25%source checked 2026-08-20	better for the company24%source checked 2026-08-20
Tax on income from software sold abroad	better for the company0% under the IT export regimeApplies to income earned from customers outside Türkiye.source checked 2026-08-20	Taxed the same as any other profitsource checked 2026-08-20
VAT or equivalent, standard rate	20%Exported services are outside the scope, so this matters less to an exporter than the headline suggests.source checked 2026-08-20	22%source checked 2026-08-20
Withholding tax on dividends to a foreign parent	15%A double tax treaty can reduce it.source checked 2026-08-20	0% or 26%, depending on the recipientsource checked 2026-08-20

Public money

Measure	Türkiye	Italy
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 checked 2026-08-20	Nothing comparablesource checked 2026-08-20
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 checked 2026-08-20	An R&D tax credit and regional programmes, with no games-specific national scheme of scalesource checked 2026-08-20

What it costs to live there

Measure	Türkiye	Italy
Cost of living index	better for the company40.2Numbeo index, mid-2026.source checked 2026-08-20	61.3, 52% higher than Türkiyesource checked 2026-08-20
Rent index	better for the company12.3source checked 2026-08-20	18.9, 54% higher than Türkiyesource checked 2026-08-20
Local purchasing power index	71.8Salaries buy less locally, which is the other side of a low cost base.source checked 2026-08-20	better for staff85.5, 19% higher than Türkiyesource checked 2026-08-20

03What is it like to run a company in Italy?

Rome and Milan are an hour behind Istanbul and about two and a half hours by plane. Italy's games industry is small relative to the size of the country, concentrated in Milan and Rome, and much of the technical talent works for companies headquartered elsewhere.

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.

Ads and player acquisition $ App store and platform commissions $ Hosting and servers $ Most of my customers are in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan or another of the twenty target-list countries, so the rate is 70% instead of 50%.

Back in cash, every year $0

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05Questions we get asked

Why does Italy show two dividend rates?

The domestic treatment depends on who receives the dividend, so the answer is either nothing or 26%. It is worth confirming which applies before assuming the better one.

Is Italy a serious games location?

It has a real but small industry relative to the country's size, with clusters in Milan and Rome and a lot of talent working for foreign employers.

Is the tax difference decisive?

Not on its own. A point of corporate tax is small next to half of a marketing budget, which is the row that moves real money in this comparison.

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

06Where these numbers come from

https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/turkey/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income checked 2026-08-20
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/quick-charts/corporate-income-tax-cit-rates checked 2026-08-20
https://cyberscope.solutions/blog/zero-percent-tax-on-it-exports/ checked 2026-08-20
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/quick-charts/value-added-tax-vat-rates checked 2026-08-20
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/turkey/corporate/withholding-taxes checked 2026-08-20
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/quick-charts/withholding-tax-wht-rates checked 2026-08-20
https://cyberscope.solutions/guides/ checked 2026-08-20
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp checked 2026-08-20

About this page

This is general information about public funding and tax rules. It is not tax, legal or financial advice, and nothing here is an offer or a guarantee of any outcome. The figures come from the sources listed above and were correct on the dates shown beside them.

Rules change often and every company's position is different, so take advice from a qualified professional in the relevant country before acting on anything here. Support under any programme depends on eligibility and on approval by the authority that runs it. CyberScope Solutions accepts no liability for decisions taken on the basis of this page. The named author writes for the company in a professional capacity and carries no personal liability for its contents.

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