Inheritance and Transfer Tax Law No. 7338 (Veraset ve İntikal Vergisi Kanunu)
The Inheritance and Transfer Tax Law No. 7338 taxes the gratuitous transfer of assets — chiefly inheritance on death and lifetime gifts — where the deceased or donor is Turkish, or where the transferred assets are located in Turkey. For foreign heirs of Turkish real estate, bank accounts or company shares, it is the tax statute that governs what they owe and when.
What It Governs
The Inheritance and Transfer Tax Law No. 7338 taxes the gratuitous transfer of assets — chiefly inheritance on death and lifetime gifts — where the deceased or donor is Turkish, or where the transferred assets are located in Turkey. For a foreign heir, the second limb is the one that matters: Turkish real estate, Turkish bank accounts and shares in Turkish companies fall within the Turkish tax net regardless of the nationality or residence of the heir.
Key Provisions for Foreign Nationals
The tax is progressive by value bracket, running from one percent on the lowest bracket to ten percent on the largest estates for inheritance transfers, with higher rates applying to lifetime gifts; the brackets and the personal exemption amounts are re-set annually. In practice the taxable base for Turkish real estate is generally driven by the property's official tax value rather than its market price, which frequently produces a smaller bill than foreign heirs expect. The declaration is the heirs' own responsibility — a point foreign heirs routinely miss — and the filing deadlines vary with where the death occurred and where the heir resides, with penalties attaching to late declarations. The law permits payment in instalments over three years. The tax file is also linked in practice to the land registry: the transfer of inherited Turkish property into the heirs' names is not completed until tax clearance is documented, which makes the tax step a gating item in every cross-border estate rather than an afterthought.
Official source: the official text of Law No. 7338 on mevzuat.gov.tr.
This is a concise summary for general information only and is not an official translation. For the binding legal text, consult the official source above. This page is not legal advice.