Decision 10962 vs 5447: what changed for IT companies in 2026

For nearly four years the Turkish IT sector lived under Presidential Decision No. 5447, the "Internationalisation of Turkish IT Sectors and E-Turquality (Stars of IT) Programme". On 27 February 2026 it was replaced, together with the parallel decrees for other service sectors, by a single framework: Decision No. 10962 on the Definition, Classification and Support of Service Exports, backed by one implementing circular for all service sectors.

If you were already claiming under 5447, or you evaluated the programme back then and decided to wait, this is what actually changed.

One framework instead of five

Before it, separate decrees covered IT (5447), other services (5448), overseas logistics networks (5449), branding (2564) and technical consultancy (2014/10). Decision 10962 folds them into three programmes:

• Service Sectors Breakthrough Programme (Hizmet Sektörleri Atılım Programı), which is what we call the Standard Programme. Open to any eligible IT company with no revenue threshold.
• Branding Programme (Markalaşma Programı) with Marka, TURQUALITY® and E-TURQUALITY® tracks. E-TURQUALITY® is reserved for the IT and digital intermediation sectors.
• Sustainability Programme, a new, separate five-year project support that stacks on top of either of the above.

For an IT company this means one rulebook, one set of application documents (annex EK-4) and one examining body, the Services Exporters' Association (HİB).

Higher caps, revalued every year

The headline change is money. Annual caps in the Standard Programme for the items studios use most now stand at:

Two structural points matter more than the individual figures. First, Article 43 says every cap is revalued at the start of each calendar year by Türkiye's statutory revaluation rate, so the programme keeps pace with inflation instead of eroding. Second, caps are tracked per calendar year and unused first-year amounts can be carried into the closing year of an item.

The 70% target-country rate is now explicit

Under Article 44, the support rate on offices, brand advertising, digital product promotion, overseas events, delegations and (in Branding) value-added IT projects can be raised by up to 20 points when the activity targets a country on the Ministry's Target Countries List. The circular's Article 102 applies the full 20 points, taking those items to 70%. For the IT sector the list (annex EK-53) includes the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Singapore, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and ten others. We keep a guide for each target country.

Branding tracks lose most per-item caps

In the old E-Turquality programme, most items still carried their own caps. Under 10962 the Branding Programme works differently: for office rent and fit-out, brand advertising, trademark filing, event participation and product testing there is no fixed per-item cap; they simply count toward the programme ceiling, which is 250 million TL per year for Marka and 500 million TL for TURQUALITY® and E-TURQUALITY® (Article 33). Digital product promotion and platform commissions keep per-product caps but the number of products doubles to 20 per year.

Entry criteria are stated in the circular (Article 51): average annual service exports plus foreign-sourced revenue of at least 1.5 million USD over the last three years, or a fast track for companies with 10 million USD over the last two years.

What carries over from 5447

The transition articles are generous:

• Applications filed, pre-approvals granted, payments made or activities started before 27 February 2026 are handled under whichever rules are more favourable (Provisional Article 1).
• Support years already used under 5447 are deducted from the new five-year windows, but your start dates are preserved (Provisional Article 2).
• E-Turquality companies move straight into the E-TURQUALITY® track with the brand they registered, and companies in their first five-year period get the new target-market and corporate-infrastructure supports with time already used deducted (Provisional Article 3).
• Staff whose salaries were supported under the old decree continue under the old rules for six months, then switch to the new ones.

The practical upshot

For a studio that never joined under 5447, the new programme is easier to enter (no separate enrolment step for IT), pays more, and rewards exactly the markets most studios already target. For companies already in, nothing is lost and the ceilings went up. Either way, the six-month filing window on each payment means the sooner claims start, the more of this year's spend gets captured.

If you want the numbers for your own budget, the calculator is kept in sync with the caps above and applies the 70% rate with one click.