Regarding the force majeure situation announced by Tax Procedural Law General Communiqué No. 518; Internal Circular of Implementation No. 2020/3 has been published in regard to procedures and principles to determine whether the applications are within the scope of force majeure and to form commissions.

• Taxpayers who have income tax liability of commercial, agricultural and professional perspective,
• Taxpayers who are directly affected by Corona virus outbreak and operating within the sectors of; retail including malls, health services, furniture production, iron, steel and metal industry, mining and quarrying, building construction services, industrial kitchen production, automotive production and trade, part and accessory production for automotive industry, vehicle rental, logistics and transport including storage activities, artistic services such as cinemas and theatres, printing services including books, newspapers, magazines and similar printed products’ publishing activities, tour operators and travel agencies including accommodation activities, food and beverage services including restaurants and cafes, textile and garment production and organization services including public relations;
• Taxpayers whose activities have been temporarily suspended as per the precautions taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, due to their main field of activities;

The "Pandemic Isolation Tracking Project", which aims to observe the movements of quarantined people and regions, has been announced by the Presidency Of The Republic Of Türkiye; in the announcement, it is stated that the aim of the project is to make analysis to prevent further spread of the epidemic.

In the project, which will be carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Information Technologies and Communications Authority and all GSM operators, it has been realized that the location information of the individuals will be monitored by GSM operators, which may violate personal data security and privacy.

By publishing an announcement regarding the subject on 09.04.2020, the Personal Data Protection Authority has declared that the processing of the location data by the authorized institutions and organizations in order to prevent further spread of the pandemic will be considered under the exception of the Article 28 of KVKK, as the epidemic disease threatens public safety and public order; in other words, that the Law shall not be applied for this activity.

As you know, the Government has started to implement many measures due to the coronavirus epidemic.

In this context, according to the General Communiqué of the Tax Procedure Law published in the repeated Official Gazette numbered 31078 and dated 24/03/2020, the SSI premiums have been postponed for the below workplaces which are deemed to be a force majeure between 01/04/2020 and 30/06/2020 (including these dates):

Taxpayers with income tax liability in terms of commercial, agricultural and professional earnings.

Directly affected by the corona virus outbreak, and by its core business;

• Retail, including shopping malls,
• Health Service,
• Furniture manufacturing,
• Iron, steel and metal industry,
• Mining and quarrying,
• Building construction services,
• Industrial kitchen manufacture,
• Manufacturing of parts and accessories for automotive manufacturing and trade and automotive industry,
• Rent a car,
• Logistics and transportation, including storage activities,
• Artistic services such as cinema and theater,
• Publishing activities of books, newspapers, magazines and similar printed products, including printing,
• Accommodation activities including tour operators and travel agencies,
• Food and beverage services including restaurant, café,
• Textile and apparel manufacturing and trading,
• Taxpayers operating in the event and organization services sectors, including public relations,
• Belonging to the taxpayers operating in the sectors where the workplaces are decided to be temporarily suspended within the scope of the measures taken by the Ministry of Interior in terms of their main field of activity,

With the Communiqué published in the 31089 numbered Official Gazette on 04/04/2020; the application of Withholding and Premium Service Declaration in the entire Türkiye has been postponed to 01.07.2020.

In addition, new pilot cities have been added and the application dates have been determined as below:

1. For the tax residents in Kırşehir, the application was started to be executed on 01/06/2017
2. For the tax residents in Amasya, Bartın and Çankırı; the application was started to be executed on 01/01/2018
3. For the tax residents in Bursa, Eskişehir and Konya; the application was started to be executed on 01/01/2020 (Except the banks within the scope of Income Tax communique with No: 281)
4. The application for entire Türkiye will be effective as of 01/07/2020 with the declaration period of July / 2020.

Please also find below the important points to consider: