Every Turkish incentive a foreign software company can use

People arrive at Türkiye having heard about one programme, usually the export incentive, and assume that is the whole offer. It is the largest piece for most software companies, and it is one of five.

They stack, because they support different halves of a business. Here is what each one pays and who it suits.

The export incentive: cash on what you spend selling

Decision No. 10962 reimburses 50% of what a company spends reaching customers abroad, rising to 70% when the activity targets a country on the Ministry's list. Advertising, app store commissions, hosting, trade fairs, certification, market research, and salary support for new sales and marketing hires.

It is paid in cash against invoices already settled, so it works whether or not there is taxable profit. There is no revenue threshold, no company age requirement and no competitive round. If the spend qualifies and the paperwork holds, the money comes.

For most software and game companies this is the biggest number on the page, because it reaches the largest line in the accounts. Full detail is in the complete guide.

Teknopark: no corporate tax on software developed in the zone

Teknopark status applies to companies operating inside a technology development zone. Profits from software developed there are exempt from corporate tax, personnel salaries are exempt from income tax until the end of 2028 subject to a cap tied to the minimum wage, and the state covers half the employer social security contribution for R&D staff.

It suits a company with development staff physically working in the zone. There is no headcount threshold, which is why most small and mid-sized studios take this route rather than the next one.

R&D centre status: a double deduction, if you have the team

R&D centre status under Law 5746 lets a company deduct qualifying research spend a second time, with tiered income tax exemptions on the salaries of the people doing it and half the employer premium covered.

The catch is scale: a minimum of fifteen full-time R&D personnel, and thirty in certain manufacturing sectors. That threshold is what separates it from teknopark status in practice, and it is why a twelve-person studio does not need to read the rest of the rules.

A deduction also only converts to cash if there is taxable profit to shelter, which is a real difference from the export incentive.

TÜBİTAK: 75% of a defined research project

TÜBİTAK 1501 funds industrial R&D projects at 75% for a company's first five supported projects, with a grant ceiling of 20 million lira per project and a maximum duration of 36 months. From the sixth project the rate falls to 60%.

TÜBİTAK 1507 is the starter programme, at 75% on a project budget of up to 3 million lira over a maximum of 18 months, with the requirement that at least two of a company's five supported projects are joint applications.

Both are competitive and both fund projects with a defined beginning and end, which fits product development and fits continuous live operations badly. Support arrives against milestones, so the company spends first.

KOSGEB and the investment incentive certificate

KOSGEB runs support packages aimed at small and medium enterprises, useful for specific costs rather than as a strategy.

The investment incentive certificate is Türkiye's general capital investment regime: customs and VAT exemptions, tax reductions and interest support. It is built around companies buying machinery and building facilities, so a software company whose costs are people and media buying gets very little from it. It is on this list for completeness rather than because we expect you to use it.

How they fit together

The useful way to think about it is which half of the business each one touches.

The export incentive works on money going out to find customers. Teknopark and R&D centre status work on tax charged on development profit and payroll. TÜBİTAK works on defined research projects.

Because they touch different costs, a company can run several at once. A studio developing in a teknopark, running a TÜBİTAK-funded technical project, and claiming its user acquisition under the export incentive is a normal arrangement rather than an aggressive one.

The catch nobody mentions until it applies

Teknopark and R&D centre benefits come with a string. Once a company's R&D deductions or corporate tax exemptions exceed 2 million lira in a year, it must invest 3% of that amount into venture capital funds or entrepreneurs, capped at 100 million lira.

It applies automatically, with no application and no opt-out, and it arrives in the year a company becomes successful enough to trigger it. The money leaves the business rather than returning to it.

The export incentive does not carry this obligation, because a cash reimbursement is neither a deduction nor an exemption. That difference matters when comparing programmes at scale, and it is set out in full on the obligation's own page.

Where to start

If you are choosing one, choose the export incentive. It has no threshold, no application round and no headcount requirement, and it reaches spending you are already doing.

Teknopark status is the natural second step once there are developers on the ground. R&D centre status becomes relevant somewhere past fifteen research staff. TÜBİTAK is worth the effort when there is a genuine technical project to fund rather than as a general subsidy.