Opening a Liaison Office in Türkiye: Licence, Activity Limits and Annual Compliance

What a liaison office is—and is not

A foreign company may use a licensed liaison office for non-revenue activities such as market research, promotion, supplier quality control, technical coordination or regional management within the approved scope. It is not a low-cost trading company and is not a separate legal person.

If the Turkish operation will contract with customers, invoice, collect revenue, sell stock or provide paid services, a branch or subsidiary is generally the appropriate structure. The actual conduct, not the label on the door, determines the risk.

Application file and licence term

The official investment guide states that complete applications are generally decided within 15 working days. Additional information, sector consultation or defective legalization can extend the process. The initial licence is granted for up to three years within the declared activity.

• The Ministry application form and a detailed activity statement
• An undertaking not to conduct commercial activity
• A legalized certificate of activity for the foreign parent
• The parent's annual report or balance sheet and income statement
• Authority for the person who will run the office
• Power of attorney where another representative files
• A credible operating plan, budget and staffing forecast

Use the current form and evidence the parent's history

Use the Ministry's current application form and non-trading undertaking rather than copying an old free-form template. The authority, activity description and financial information must agree with the parent's legalized records.

Where it considers this necessary, the Ministry may assess evidence that the foreign parent has operated abroad for at least one year. A newly formed parent with no demonstrable activity should not assume automatic acceptance; explain its operating history, funding and specific Türkiye plan in the initial file.

Extension is evidence-based

Before expiry, the Ministry assesses prior activity, the future plan, spending and employment. Offices licensed for market research or promotion of the foreign company's products or services are not generally extended under the published framework.

An extension file therefore needs more than a continuing lease: it should show the work actually performed, how it benefited the parent and why the future non-commercial presence remains necessary.

Accounting, payroll and annual reporting

No commercial revenue does not mean no records. Rent withholding, payroll, stamp tax and social-security obligations may still arise. The income-tax exemption sometimes associated with liaison-office salaries is conditional; foreign funding and all statutory requirements must be tested employee by employee.

• Register for the tax and withholding obligations relevant to the office.
• Register the workplace and employees for social security where applicable.
• Keep bank and expense records proving that costs were funded from abroad.
• Notify address, representative and parent-company changes within the applicable one-month period.
• Submit the annual EK-4 activity form and expense evidence by the end of May.

Warning signs of prohibited trading

• The office negotiates and accepts orders with binding effect.
• A Turkish customer pays money to the office.
• The office issues an invoice or revenue-like document.
• Local inventory is bought and resold by the office.
• Technical support becomes a paid local service.
• Contracts nominally signed abroad are in substance concluded by the Turkish office.

Moving from a liaison office to a trading structure

A liaison office does not convert into a limited company through a single amendment. A new subsidiary or branch is established, while the office follows a separate closure and Ministry-notification process. The transition plan should allocate contracts, lease, equipment, employees, bank balances and data to the correct structure and date.

Do not begin invoicing through the liaison office while waiting for the trading entity to become operational. Once the new structure has tax, banking, licences and work authorizations, move activity on a documented cutover date and complete the office's final tax, social-security, expenditure and Ministry records.

Liaison office, branch or subsidiary?