Tax Audit in Türkiye: What Should a Business Do?

Start with scope and authority

Record the notice date, inspector, legal basis, periods, taxes and requested format. Identify who will coordinate the response and who may communicate externally. A single controlled channel reduces inconsistent explanations.

Protect and map the evidence

• Statutory books and electronic ledgers
• Tax returns and supporting calculations
• Invoices, e-documents and delivery evidence
• Contracts, bank records and payment files
• Payroll, inventory and fixed-asset records where relevant

Reconcile before responding

Build a bridge from the general ledger to each relevant return. Investigate timing, currency, cancellation, withholding and classification differences. For sampled transactions, prepare a short narrative showing commercial purpose, document flow, accounting and tax treatment.

Manage requests and meetings

Keep a request register with owner, deadline, response and evidence reference. Ask for clarification when the request is ambiguous. Meeting notes should distinguish facts supplied, questions left open and documents promised.

Close the process deliberately

Review findings against the records and applicable law, use available explanation or settlement procedures where appropriate, and document any process correction for future periods. A tax audit should also improve controls.

The first 48 hours after an audit notice

Record the service date and create a request matrix by period, tax, account and transaction. Assign one coordinator across management, accounting, the statutory accountant and, where necessary, Turkish tax counsel. An uncontrolled stream of different answers can create contradictions.

Preserve original records and work from read-only copies. For each sampled transaction, connect contract, order, delivery, invoice, bank and ledger evidence. Identify gaps openly, assess their legal effect and prepare one documented explanation rather than altering or recreating records.

Audit-file workflow

• Verify the authority, service date and response deadline.
• Translate the request into a document-and-owner matrix.
• Preserve source data and system logs.
• Build an evidence chain for every sample.
• Reconcile operational data to the ledger.
• Keep a signed record of every submission.

Actions that weaken the defence

The objective is not to overwhelm the inspector with files. It is to provide accurate, traceable and scope-relevant evidence on time.

• Sending the entire data room before understanding scope
• Changing source records or creating retrospective evidence
• Relying on invoices while ignoring delivery and payment proof
• Giving inconsistent oral explanations from different teams
• Missing deadlines or signing minutes without understanding them

The first 48 hours

• Verify authority, period, tax type and request scope
• Appoint one response owner
• Preserve source data and versions
• Create a request-response-deadline register
• Separate factual accounting work from legal argument
• Review any interview record before signature

Evidence discipline

Keep an exact copy of every file submitted. For generated reports record the source system, filters, date range and preparer. Do not mix unsupported estimates with ledger evidence; identify and explain reconciliation differences explicitly.