Regulation on Minimum Wage Support for 2026

With the addition of Provisional Article 112 to Law No. 5510 on Social Insurances and General Health Insurance through the Official Gazette dated January 29, 2026 and numbered 33152, a regulation has been introduced regarding the minimum wage support to be provided to employers in 2026.

Under the regulation, for the period January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2026, the minimum wage support per insured employee has been determined as TRY 42.33 per day, corresponding to TRY 1,270.00 per month.

General information regarding the procedures and principles of the regulation is listed below:

1. Private sector workplace employers employing insured employees who are subject to long-term insurance branches pursuant to subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 4 of Law No. 5510 are within the scope of the support.

By employers employing insured employees who are subject to the provisions of long-term insurance branches under the Law;

1. For workplaces registered prior to 2026, provided that it does not exceed the total number of contribution days of insured employees whose daily earnings subject to social security contributions, as reported in the monthly contribution and service declarations or withholding tax and social security contribution declarations submitted to the Institution for the same month of 2025, are TRY 1,300 or below,
• TRY 2,600 or below for workplaces of private sector employers applying collective bargaining agreements,
• TRY 3,467 or below for workplaces engaged in lignite and hard coal mining,

the total number of contribution days of insured employees reported in the monthly contribution and service declarations or withholding tax and social security contribution declarations submitted for the current month in 2026,

2. The amount calculated as a result of multiplying the above-mentioned contribution days by TRY 42.33 per day for the months/period from January to December 2026 shall be deducted from the social security contributions payable by employers to the Institution, and this amount shall be financed by the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
2. Employers shall benefit from the minimum wage support without being subject to any application requirement.
3. In order to benefit from the minimum wage support, the monthly contribution and service declarations or withholding tax and social security contribution declarations for the January–December 2026 period must be submitted to the Institution within the statutory deadlines.

Furthermore, in order to benefit from the said support for the January–December 2026 period, in addition to submitting the monthly contribution and service declarations or withholding tax and social security contribution declarations within the statutory deadlines, it is also mandatory that the accrued social security contributions be paid within the statutory deadlines.

4. In cases where, as a result of investigations and inspections conducted by inspection and control officers, court decisions, or written notifications received from public institutions and organizations, it is determined for the January–December 2026 period that, for the relevant month, the earnings subject to contribution have been reported incompletely or not reported at all, provided that the total amount of the incomplete reporting does not exceed one-tenth of the monthly gross minimum wage applicable for the January–December 2026 period (TRY 3,303.00), the Institution shall issue a warning to the employer. If the employer remedies the said deficiency within fifteen days from the date of notification of the warning, the relevant workplaces shall be entitled to benefit from the minimum wage support for the January–December 2026 period.
5. The workplace must have no overdue debts in respect of social security contributions, unemployment insurance contributions, administrative fines, and the related late payment penalties and default interest, or such debts must have been restructured under various laws or deferred and paid in installments pursuant to Article 48 of Law No. 6183 on the Procedure for the Collection of Public Receivables.
6. There must be no determination that the employer failed to notify the persons employed during the January–December 2026 period as insured employees, or that the insured employees so notified were not actually employed.
7. The number of insured employees reported for the January–December 2026 period must not be lower than the number of insured employees reported in the month/period with the lowest notification during the January–December 2025 period.
8. In cases where insured employment is covered by incentives under which both the employer’s and the employee’s shares of social security contributions are fully borne by the State, and where the amount of social security contributions payable by employers for insured employees within this scope is lower than the amount to be covered by the Unemployment Insurance Fund, employers shall be entitled to benefit from the minimum wage support only up to the amount payable by the employer.

The minimum wage support is a mechanism implemented in order to alleviate the financial burden on employers, encourage registered employment, and ensure the sustainability of employment by reducing labor costs, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises, and it is granted to employers who meet the conditions detailed above.

In this context, it is of great importance for employers to comply with the prescribed conditions to benefit from the support and to submit their Social Security Institution (SGK) notifications in a timely and complete manner. It should be borne in mind that even if non-compliance is identified in 2026 or in subsequent years, the support received may be reclaimed together with late payment penalties and default interest. Furthermore, employers taking these regulations into account when determining their future employment policies will both contribute to achieving the objectives of the support and provide advantages to the employers themselves.

You can reach the relevant Official Gazette here. (In Turkish)