There are 4 types of special investment zones in Turkey:

1. TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT ZONES - TECHNOPARKS

• Technology Development Zones are areas designed to support R&D activities and attract investments in high technology fields.
• There are 14 operational TDZ’s and 8 new TDZ’s which have been approved for construction.




ADVANTAGES OF TDZ’s

• Offices ready to rent and infrastructure facilities provided.
• Profits derived from software and R&D activities are exempt from income and corporate taxes until December 31, 2013.
• Deliveries of application software produced exclusively in TDZ’s are exempt from VAT until December 31, 2013. Examples include software for systems management, data management, business applications, different business sectors, Internet, mobile phones and military command control.
• Wages of researchers, software and R&D personnel employed in the zone are exempt from all taxes until December 31, 2013.
• A VAT exemption during the exemption period of income and corporate taxes is provided for IT specific sectors.
• Exemption from customs and duties as well as fund levies.
• Academic staff is encouraged to establish companies, participate in a recognized company or join its executive boards as well as conduct research in the zones.


2. ORGANIZED INDUSTRIAL ZONES

Organized Industrial Zones are designed in a way that allow companies which provide goods and services to operate within approved boundaries with the necessary infrastructure, techno parks and social facilities.
• The infrastructure provided in the zones includes roads, water, natural gas, electricity, communications, waste treatment and other services.
• There are 93 OIZ’s in 81 provinces with a completed infrastructure. Another 151 OIZ’s are currently under construction throughout Turkey.


Number of Organized Industrial Zones in Turkey:

    Marmara Region (57)
    Aegean Region (44)
    Mediterranean Region (17)
    Central Anatolia Region (42)
    Black Sea Region (33)
    Eastern Anatolia Region (20)
    South Eastern Anatolia Region (13)


ADVANTAGES OF OIZ’s have in 54 PRIORITIZED PROVINCES

Investors operating in the zones located in 54 selected provinces benefit from the following advantages:
• 100% exemption from income tax for employed workers.
• 100% exemption from the employer’s share of social security costs.
• Free land allocation.
• Up to 50% support for electricity costs.
• Exemption from real estate tax, waste water charges, building construction duties and the use-of-building.


3. INDUSTRIAL ZONES

• Industrial Zones are designed to provide sites suitable for large scale and technology intensive investments.  
• The Council of Ministers approves the Industrial Zones after the evaluation of the investment sites by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
• The investments carried out in an Industrial Zone should be in a high technology sector and have an investment site of a minimum of 1,500 m2.
• Industrial Zones benefit from all of the same advantages provided to OIZ’s.


4. FREE ZONES

• Free Zones are special sites considered outside the customs area although they are within the political borders of the country. These zones are designed to increase the number of export-focused investments.
• Legal and administrative regulations on commercial, financial and economic fields which are applicable within the customs area are either not implemented or partially implemented in the Free Zones.
• There are 20 Free Zones in Turkey which operate close to EU and Middle East markets; are adjacent to major Turkish ports on the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas; and which have easy access to international trade routes.




ADVANTAGES OF FREE ZONES

• %100 exemption from custom duties and other assorted duties
• %100 exemption from corporate income tax for production companies
• %100 exemption from the value added tax (VAT) and special consumption taxes
• Goods can remain in Free Zones for an unlimited period; earnings and revenues generates in Free Zones can be freely transferred to any country, including Turkey, without any prior permission.
• Goods in free circulation can be sent to Turkey or to EU countries from the Free Zones without any customs duty. Moreover, no customs duty is applied to goods of a third country origin at the entrance to the Free Zones or exit to third countries.
• Companies are free to transfer profits from Free Zones abroad as well as to Turkey without restrictions.