Türkiye's investment incentive certificate, and when it is worth having
The investment incentive certificate is Türkiye's general regime for capital investment, covering customs duty and VAT exemptions, corporate tax reductions and interest support. It is built for companies buying machinery and building facilities, which is why most software companies find the export incentive and teknopark status more relevant.
Türkiye refunds half of what a software company or game studio spends on advertising, app store commissions and hosting when it sells to customers abroad, and up to 70% when those customers are in one of twenty target markets. It is paid in cash, against invoices you have already settled. Try it with your own numbers.
01What does The investment incentive certificate pay?
| Structure | The Century of Türkiye Development Initiative, with technology, local development and strategic sub-programmes, alongside the Sectoral Incentive System covering priority and target investmentssource |
|---|---|
| Core benefits | Customs duty exemption, VAT exemption, tax reduction, and interest or dividend supportsource |
| Large projects | Projects qualifying under these systems may receive cash grants for skilled personnel, energy subsidies and equipment supportsource |
02Who qualifies for The investment incentive certificate?
- Companies making a capital investment, typically in machinery, equipment or facilities.
- Projects that fit one of the sub-programmes or the sectoral categories.
- Larger projects, which unlock the additional grant and subsidy elements.
- Any sector, since the regime is general rather than technology-specific.
03What catches people out with The investment incentive certificate?
- It is built around capital expenditure. A software company whose main costs are people and media buying gets little from it.
- Benefits are tied to the certificate's terms, so changing the investment plan means changing the certificate.
- The application is a project approval rather than a filing, with the timeline that implies.
- It does not touch marketing, hosting or platform fees, which are the largest lines for most studios.
04How does The investment incentive certificate fit with the export incentive?
For a software or game company this is usually the least relevant of Türkiye's programmes, and it is here for completeness. If your costs are people and media rather than machines, the export incentive and teknopark status will be worth more with less work.
| 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 |
Rates and caps here come from the same file as our calculator, so the two can never disagree. The caps are revalued upward every calendar year.
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
Would a game studio ever use one?
Rarely. It becomes relevant if the company is building something physical, such as a large studio facility or a motion capture stage, rather than buying laptops.
Can it be combined with the export incentive?
They apply to different costs, so there is no conflict, but very few software companies find both worth pursuing.
What about the energy and personnel grants?
Those attach to large qualifying projects under the systems above, which in practice means industrial-scale investment rather than an office fit-out.
Who is telling you this
CyberScope Solutions is an Istanbul consultancy that manages Türkiye's IT export incentive claims for software companies and game studios. We set up the entity, file the claims in the ministry's system and deal with the reviewer when the questions come back. These programmes are what we work in every week.
- We do the filing. Claims run through DYS, the ministry's own system, and we handle the evidence pack, the deadlines and the follow-up questions.
- 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.
- 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.
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/tax-credits-and-incentives checked 2026-08-20