Setting Up a Company in Türkiye: A 2026 Guide for UAE and GCC Investors

By Şahin Tuhan, TÜRMOB-licensed Certified Public Accountant (SMMM), Istanbul

Since the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the UAE and Türkiye entered into force on 1 September 2023, the economic corridor between Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Istanbul has widened faster than almost any other bilateral relationship either country maintains. Non-oil trade between the two countries reached USD 45.2 billion in 2025, an increase of 15.5 percent on the previous year, and Emirati companies have invested close to USD 8 billion in Türkiye [1][2]. Behind those headline figures sits a quieter trend I see in my own practice: individual Gulf-based entrepreneurs and family businesses setting up Turkish operating companies, not as holding vehicles, but as genuine trading, manufacturing and service entities.

I have spent 23 years on the advisory side of this process as a licensed Turkish accountant and tax advisor in Istanbul. What follows is the sequence I walk through with foreign founders, adapted specifically for investors coming from the UAE and the wider GCC, with the legal references and the pitfalls that cost people weeks flagged in advance.

Why Gulf Investors Set Up in Türkiye

For Gulf investors, the decision to establish a Turkish company is rarely driven by tax. It is driven by access: to customers, to skilled people, to operating capacity and to European markets.

Türkiye’s headline corporate tax rate is higher than the UAE’s, but the headline rate is not the whole picture. Qualifying export income and manufacturing income each carry rate reductions, and technology-focused businesses operating in technoparks or claiming the service-export deduction may reduce their effective burden considerably further [11]. For a company planning genuine commercial operations, tax is one element of a broader equation rather than the deciding one.

For many UAE businesses, Türkiye has become a regional operating hub connecting Europe, the Gulf and Central Asia. Once a business intends to sell into the Turkish market, provide services locally, employ staff or use Türkiye as an operational base, a Turkish taxable presence is both a legal requirement and a commercial necessity. The question is no longer whether to establish that presence, but how to structure it correctly from the outset.

Structured correctly, that presence offers four advantages.

• A market of 85 million on its own terms. Türkiye is not primarily an export platform for most of the Gulf investors I work with. It is a consumer market they want to sell into directly: retail, food and beverage, healthcare services, education, logistics, e-commerce. A local entity is what makes that possible, because selling into Türkiye at scale without one quickly runs into customs, VAT and payment-collection problems.
• Two trade corridors from one base. Under the UAE–Türkiye CEPA, more than 90 percent of goods traded between the two countries now benefit from tariff elimination or reduction [4]. Westward, Türkiye’s customs union with the EU has meant duty-free access for industrial goods since 1996 [3]. A Turkish company can therefore trade toward the Gulf and toward Europe from a single base. This is relevant to distributors and traders as much as to producers.
• A young, well-trained talent pool. Türkiye has one of the youngest populations in the wider European region and a university system that produces large annual cohorts of engineers, technicians and multilingual commercial staff. That combination matters: depth at the entry level, availability of specialised skills, and a workforce accustomed to serving European clients to European standards. It is why Gulf groups increasingly place real functions in Istanbul rather than representative offices: software and product teams, design and creative studios, finance and shared-service operations, regional customer support. The constraint is competition for the best people, not their availability.
• A genuinely bankable second jurisdiction. A Turkish company can hold lira and foreign-currency accounts, use its banks’ correspondent networks, and trade across Europe, the CIS, MENA and Central Asia under Türkiye’s trade agreements and more than 85 double taxation treaties [5]. For a UAE group, this adds an operating jurisdiction alongside the Emirates rather than replacing it.

The trend shows in the numbers: 86,926 companies with international capital were registered in Türkiye as of mid-2025, against roughly 5,600 in 2002 [6].

Three Misconceptions to Clear Up First

“I need a Turkish partner.” You do not. Under the Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875, foreign investors receive national treatment: a UAE national or a UAE-registered company can own 100 percent of a Turkish company, and the director can also be a foreign national. There is no local-partner or local-sponsor requirement in standard commercial sectors [7]. This is a structural difference from the mainland sponsorship models Gulf investors may remember from older regional regimes.

“I must travel to Türkiye to incorporate.” For the incorporation itself, no. Registration can be completed remotely through a power of attorney, properly legalised in the UAE. The bank account is the exception: Turkish banks require the authorised signatory to appear in person for account opening and identity verification under anti-money-laundering (MASAK) rules. Plan for at least one trip by the person who will operate the account.

“Owning a Turkish company gives me residency.” It does not. Shareholding and the right to live and work in Türkiye are separate. A shareholder who wants to run the business on the ground needs a work permit, and the financial thresholds for that changed materially in late 2024. I cover them below, because they should influence how much capital you register on day one.

Choosing the Entity: Limited Company or Joint Stock Company

Roughly nine out of ten foreign founders I work with choose the limited liability company (Limited Şirket, Ltd. Şti.), broadly equivalent to an LLC. The joint stock company (Anonim Şirket, A.Ş.) suits ventures planning institutional investment or an eventual listing. The key parameters under the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 as of 2026 [8]:

	Ltd. Şti. (LLC)	A.Ş. (JSC)
Minimum capital (2026)	TRY 50,000	TRY 250,000
Capital before registration	None; payable within 24 months	25% deposited before filing
Minimum shareholders	1 (individual or company)	1 (individual or company)
Share transfers	Notarised deed + registry entry	Board resolution; simpler
Typical fit	SMEs, trading, services, subsidiaries	VC-backed or institutional structures

One caveat specific to relocating shareholders: the TRY 50,000 legal minimum is far below the paid-in capital the Ministry of Labour expects for a shareholder work permit. If relocation is part of the plan, register the company with at least TRY 500,000 of capital from the start rather than amending it later.

The Document File: Where the UAE Path Differs

In my practice, the document file, not the tax office and not the registry, is where almost every delay originates. For UAE investors there is a specific trap: most English-language guides tell you to apostille your documents. The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille is not the applicable route for UAE-issued documents [9]. Instead, documents issued in the UAE follow the consular legalisation chain:

• Notarisation or issuance of the document in the UAE (for corporate shareholders: certificate of incorporation or good standing, board resolution approving the Turkish investment, and corporate constitutional documents).
• Attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFAIC).
• Legalisation by the Turkish Embassy in Abu Dhabi or the Turkish Consulate General in Dubai.
• Sworn translation into Turkish in Türkiye by a court-registered translator, followed by Turkish notarisation.

Investors from other GCC states should verify their own country’s status, as it varies within the Gulf: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman have acceded to the Apostille Convention, while the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar have not, so the legalisation route differs by country of issuance.

The single most important document is the power of attorney authorising your Turkish representative. It must expressly include obtaining a tax number, signing the articles of association, depositing capital and registering with the tax office and social security institution. A generic PoA will be rejected at the notary or the bank, and with the UAE legalisation chain a replacement costs two to three weeks, not two to three days.

The Registration Sequence

Step 1. Tax numbers. Every foreign shareholder and director needs a Turkish potential tax number, obtainable remotely by your representative under the PoA, or online through the Interactive Tax Office portal. One to two business days, no government fee.

Step 2. MERSIS filing and articles of association. Company formation runs through MERSIS, the Ministry of Trade’s central electronic registry. The trade name is checked and reserved, and the articles of association are drafted in Turkish. The most consequential choice at this stage is the NACE activity code: it determines your VAT profile, eligibility for incentives such as the 100 percent corporate tax deduction on qualifying service exports (Corporate Tax Law, Art. 10/1-ğ), technopark eligibility and licensing triggers. A software or design business coded as generic consulting can lose access to the service-export deduction on its foreign-currency revenue.

Step 3. Signatures. Founders sign in person before the Trade Registry or a Turkish notary, or the PoA holder signs on their behalf. Alternatively, a shareholder can sign before a Turkish consulate in the UAE, though this adds time.

Step 4. Capital. For an LLC, no deposit is required before registration; the capital is payable within 24 months. For a JSC, 25 percent of the minimum capital must be blocked in a formation account before filing. A Competition Authority contribution of 0.04 percent of declared capital applies in both cases.

Step 5. Trade Registry filing. The complete file goes to the Trade Registry Directorate, which in Istanbul means the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce. With a clean file, registration and publication in the Trade Registry Gazette take one to three business days. At that point the company legally exists.

After Registration: What Turns a Registered Company Into an Operating One

A registered company is not yet an operating company. Between Gazette publication and the first invoice, the following must happen: activation of the corporate tax file, usually including a physical address verification visit by the tax office; opening of the social security (SGK) employer file within the statutory window even before hiring; an electronic signature (e-imza) for the director, which for a foreign national involves identity verification and typically five to seven days; and enrolment in Türkiye’s mandatory e-invoicing system. Note also that companies established on or after 1 January 2026 must keep their statutory books digitally; trade registries no longer certify physical books for new companies [10].

Then the bank account. Regardless of the bank, the authorised signatory must attend the branch in person to sign account-opening documents and complete identity verification under MASAK anti-money-laundering rules; a power of attorney does not substitute for physical presence at this step. Where banks differ is in how smoothly they process foreign-owned files once the signatory is present. UAE-resident shareholders should bring the legalised corporate chain described above plus personal identity documents, and expect enhanced due-diligence questions about the source of capital. This is standard practice for all foreign-owned files, and faster to clear when the paperwork is anticipated.

Tax Treatment for UAE-Resident Shareholders

The Turkish corporate income tax rate is 25 percent for 2026 (30 percent for financial institutions), with reductions of one point for qualifying manufacturing income and five points for qualifying export income [11]. VAT returns are filed monthly and corporate tax annually, with quarterly advance payments. Monthly bookkeeping through a licensed Turkish CPA (SMMM) under a formal engagement contract is a statutory requirement under Law No. 3568, not an optional service.

Two incentives matter most to the kinds of business Gulf investors typically establish. Companies operating inside a technology development zone, known locally as a technopark, are exempt from corporate income tax on software, design and R&D income generated within the zone, and the regime also carries payroll withholding relief for qualifying technical staff [15]. Separately, 100 percent of profit from services provided to clients with no presence in Türkiye and used exclusively abroad may be deducted under Article 10/1-ğ of the Corporate Tax Law [16]. The scope is broad, covering software, architecture, engineering, design, data processing and analysis, medical reporting, call-centre services, education and health. The domestic minimum corporate tax, however, limits how far this deduction can reduce the tax actually paid, so the headline 100 percent does not always mean a zero liability. Both incentives depend on choices made at formation rather than at year end, which is why the activity code and structure should be planned with a licensed accountant from the outset.

On profit repatriation: dividends paid by a Turkish company to non-resident shareholders are subject to withholding tax at the domestic rate of 15 percent, following the increase from 10 percent published in the Official Gazette of 22 December 2024 [12]. Türkiye and the UAE have had a double taxation agreement in force since 1 January 1995 (signed 29 January 1993, published in Official Gazette No. 22154 of 27 December 1994), which allocates taxing rights on dividends, interest, royalties and business profits and can reduce Turkish withholding below the domestic rate depending on the shareholding structure [13]. Two practical warnings. First, treaty relief is not automatic: the UAE shareholder must provide a tax residency certificate from the UAE authorities, translated and notarised, before the reduced rate is applied at source. Second, since the OECD Multilateral Instrument entered into effect, Turkish tax authorities scrutinise substance; a UAE holding entity with no genuine management, staff or premises should not assume treaty benefits will survive a principal-purpose-test challenge. Structure the shareholding correctly before incorporation, not after the first dividend.

Work Permits: The Threshold That Surprises Investors

If a shareholder intends to live in Türkiye and manage the company, the work permit criteria under the International Labour Force Law No. 6735 and its implementing regulation apply. Following the amendments effective from October 2024, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security requires, for a shareholder work permit: paid-in company capital of at least TRY 500,000; a shareholding of at least 20 percent; and employment of at least five Turkish citizens per foreign worker, assessed from the seventh month of the initial permit onwards [14]. A significant exception applies where the foreign shareholder’s personal capital contribution reaches USD 100,000 or more, in which case the standard financial and employment criteria may be waived under the high-value investor assessment [14].

The practical consequence: the gap between the TRY 50,000 formation minimum and the TRY 500,000 work-permit threshold is the single most common cause of rejected shareholder permit applications. Decide on the relocation question before you fix the capital in the articles of association.

Realistic Timeline and Cost in 2026

Anyone quoting “three days” is describing only the Trade Registry step. End to end, a well-prepared UAE founder should expect the following:

Phase	Realistic timeline
Document legalisation chain in the UAE (MOFAIC + consulate) and sworn translation	7–15 business days
Potential tax numbers	1–2 business days
MERSIS, articles of association, name reservation	2–4 business days
Trade Registry filing to Gazette publication	1–3 business days
Post-incorporation setup (tax office, SGK, e-signature, e-invoicing)	5–10 business days
Bank account opened and operational	3–15 business days

In total, two to four weeks for a clean file; six weeks or more if the legalisation chain arrives wrong. Setup costs for a standard single-shareholder LLC registered in Istanbul in 2026, covering notary fees, Trade Registry and Competition Authority charges, Gazette publication, sworn translations, professional formation fees and the electronic signature, typically total approximately TRY 163,000 to 200,000, roughly USD 3,500 to 4,300 or AED 13,000 to 16,000 at current rates, excluding the share capital itself, which remains the company’s own working capital.

The Bottom Line for Gulf Investors

Türkiye is not a plug-and-play jurisdiction, and it is not a tax play. It is an operating jurisdiction: a customs-union bridge into Europe, a CEPA corridor back to the Gulf, and a deep labour market in between. The investors who do well here treat the setup phase with the same discipline they would apply to a UAE mainland licence: correct legalisation chain, correct activity codes, capital sized for the work-permit question, and the shareholding structured for treaty relief before the first dirham of profit moves. Get those four decisions right at the start and the Turkish system is considerably more predictable than its reputation suggests.

Sources

[1] UAE Ministry of State for Foreign Trade figures reported at the UAE–Türkiye Business Forum, Istanbul, May 2026 (non-oil trade of USD 45.2 billion in 2025, +15.5% year on year).

[2] Foreign Economic Relations Board of Türkiye (DEİK), Türkiye–UAE Business Forum statements, May 2026 (UAE investment in Türkiye of approximately USD 8 billion).

[3] EU–Türkiye Customs Union, Decision No. 1/95 of the EC–Türkiye Association Council, in effect since 1996; Republic of Türkiye Directorate for EU Affairs (ab.gov.tr).

[4] UAE–Türkiye Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, signed 3 March 2023, in force 1 September 2023; UAE Federal Decree No. 91 of 2023; coverage figures per UAE Ministry of Economy CEPA documentation.

[5] Republic of Türkiye Revenue Administration (GİB), list of double taxation treaties in force (85+ jurisdictions).

[6] Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Industry and Technology, companies with international capital, mid-2025 (86,926), via Invest in Türkiye (invest.gov.tr).

[7] Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875, Official Gazette No. 25141 of 17 June 2003, Art. 3 (national treatment).

[8] Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102; minimum capital amounts as increased by Presidential Decree No. 7887, effective 1 January 2024.

[9] Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), status table of the 1961 Apostille Convention; the UAE is not a contracting party. Legalisation procedure per UAE MOFAIC attestation requirements.

[10] Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Trade, regulation on electronic keeping of statutory commercial books, applicable to companies established on or after 1 January 2026.

[11] Corporate Tax Law No. 5520; 2026 rates and manufacturing/export rate reductions.

[12] Presidential Decree published in Official Gazette of 22 December 2024, increasing dividend withholding tax for distributions to non-residents from 10% to 15%.

[13] Agreement between the Republic of Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates for the Avoidance of Double Taxation, signed 29 January 1993, Official Gazette No. 22154 of 27 December 1994, effective 1 January 1995.

[14] International Labour Force Law No. 6735 and Implementing Regulation, as amended October 2024; Ministry of Labour and Social Security work permit evaluation criteria for foreign shareholders.

[15] Technology Development Zones Law No. 4691, Provisional Article 2; corporate income tax exemption for software, design and R&D income in technology development zones, in effect until 31 December 2028.

[16] Presidential Decree No. 11257, Official Gazette No. 33239 of 30 April 2026, raising the service export deduction rate under Corporate Tax Law Art. 10/1-ğ and Income Tax Law Art. 89/13 from 80% to 100%, applicable to tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Regulations and thresholds cited are current as of July 2026 and are revised periodically; readers should confirm the figures applicable to their own structure with a licensed professional.

About the author: Şahin Tuhan is a TÜRMOB-licensed Certified Public Accountant (SMMM) and tax advisor based in Istanbul with 23 years of experience advising foreign founders and SMEs on Turkish company formation, tax and compliance.
Website: sahintuhan.co