The Incentive Certificate is a document that contains the characteristic values of the investment and provides the possibility of benefiting from the registered support elements if the investment is realized in accordance with these values and the determined conditions.

The incentive system started to be implemented with the Decree No 3305 on State Subsidies for Investments which entered into force on June 15, 2012, and the Communiqué No. 2012/1 on the principles and procedures regarding the implementation of the Decree on State Subsidies for Investments. 

The incentive system has been created by developing and revising the old incentive system in order to ensure that the country achieves the targets of 2023 (one of the 10 largest economies in the world, $ 500 billion export, $ 25,000 per capita income), reduce import dependency on manufacturing and meet the changes demanded by private sector organizations and investors. In addition, a new 6-level regional map based on the Socio-Economic Development Ranking Study of Provinces (2011) was prepared, abandoning the 4-level regional map used in 2009. Samsun is located in the 3rd region of this map where the provinces located in the 6th region enjoys the most advantageous support elements.

In addition, it was ensured that investments to be made in some districts benefit more from incentives by making a classification at the district level.

Incentive System consists of 3 different applications. Domestic and foreign investors can equally benefit from the following incentives:

• General Investment Incentive Scheme
• Regional Investment Incentive Scheme
• Strategic Investment Incentive Scheme

In Samsun, investments with a fixed amount of at least 500.000 TL (excluding investment subjects incentivized by the regional, large scale or strategic investment incentive schemes and investment subjects not supported or does not meet specific criteria set for the incentive) benefit from the following support elements.

• VAT Exemption
• Customs Duty Exemption
• Social Security Premium Employer Support (For only shipbuilding investments of shipyards)

*FOR INVESTMENT SUBJECTS NOT SUPPORTED OR SUBJECT TO SPECIFIC CONDITIONS see “Decree No 2012/3305 on State Subsidies for Investments, Annex 4"

The provinces in Turkey were grouped according to the results of the Socio-Economic Development Index (SEGE) study made in 2011 and divided into 6 regions in terms of incentives. The sectors to be supported were determined by taking into account the potentials and economic scale sizes of the provinces. Support rates have been differentiated according to the development levels of the regions.

The investments to be made in the provinces are benefited from various support elements provided that the conditions for the region, where the province is located, are met. The support elements for the investments that meet the zone conditions in Samsun, which is located in the 3rd zone in the new incentive system,  are as follows;

• VAT Exemption
• Customs Duty Exemption
• Social Security Premium Employer Support 
• Tax Deduction
• Land Allocation
• Interest Support

Samsun is in the 3rd zone in terms of regional incentives in the incentive system. With the change made in August 2020, the incentive system was implemented on a district basis. Accordingly, the districts in Samsun that remained below the development level of the province and were included in a subgroup were Kavak, Havza, Alaçam, Yakakent, Vezirköprü, Salıpazarı, Asarcık and Ayvacık. Investments to be made in other districts of Samsun will continue to benefit from 3rd Region supports, while investments to be made in these districts will benefit from 4th Region supports.

District-based application will enter into force as of 01.01.2021.

One of the most important changes in the incentive system was related to investments to be made in Organized Industrial Zones. In the Incentive System, in order to support the investments to be made in OIZs, more incentives are applied to the investments to be made in OIZs. Before the change, the investments to be made in the OIZs benefited from the incentive rates and periods applied in a sub-region of the province where they are located in terms of tax deduction and insurance employer's share support. In the new application, if the investments are realized in the OIZs located in the districts in a sub-group, the support elements of the two sub-regions of the province will be used. Accordingly, while the investments to be made in Kavak and Havza OIZs will benefit from the 5th Region supports, the investments in other OIZs in the province will continue to benefit from the rates and durations offered to the 4th Region in terms of “tax reduction and insurance premium employer's share support”. With this change, Kavak and Havza OIZs were separated from other OIZs in the province and took a step forward in terms of incentives.

The regional incentive rates and periods to be applied in Samsun are given in the table below:

* For investments to be made until the end of 2022, 15 points will be added to the investment contribution rate.

** 100% discount rate is applied for investments to be made until the end of 2022.

In order to benefit from the regional support in the province of Samsun, the sector to be invested should be among the sectors supported in Samsun. The minimum amounts and capacities of investment determined for Samsun in order to benefit from regional supports are shown in the table below.

In the Incentive System, regardless of which region the investment subjects stated below are made, they can benefit from the regional incentives applied in the 5th region. Accordingly, the investments in these areas to be made in Samsun, although it is the 3rd region, will be evaluated among the priority sectors and will benefit from the regional incentives applied in the 5th region.

• Investments in freight and / or passenger transport by rail, sea and airway
• Test center investments
• Tourism accommodation investments that can benefit from regional supports in Culture and Tourism Protection and Development Regions or thermal tourism.
• Investments in the field of defense
• Mineral extraction investments and mineral processing investments
• Education investments
• Investments for the production of products developed as a result of R&D projects
• Certain automotive and engine investments
• Electricity generation investments where mines are used as inputs
• Investments in energy efficiency
• Investments in electricity generation by recovery from waste heat
• Liquefied natural gas (LNG) investments and underground natural gas storage investments
• Investments in carbon fiber or integrated composite material production
• Investments in the manufacture of chemical and herbal products used in pharmacy and medicine
• Investments in office, accounting and data processing machinery manufacturing
• Investments in the production of radio, television, communication equipment and devices
• Medical instruments; precision and optical instrument manufacturing investments
• Air and spacecraft manufacturing investments
• Mineral exploration investments
• Investments in the manufacturing of turbines and generators for renewable energy production and the manufacturing of blades used in wind energy production
• Integrated investments for aluminum flat product production
• Licensed warehousing investments
• Nuclear power plant investments
• Laboratory complex investments
• Automation-based greenhouse investments
• Investments referring to environmental license
• Elderly, disabled care centers and wellness investments
• Software and information products investments to be made in specialized free zones
• Investments in industrial facilities, including the production of electric or hydrogen-powered transportation vehicles
• R&D and environmental investments
• Data center investments.

Following investments will benefit from more beneficial sub-regional rates and terms for "Tax Deduction and support to employer’s share of social security premium" in any region:

1. Realization of the investment in the organized industrial zone (OIZ) or in the industrial zone (investments for the manufacturing industry).
2. Joint Investments by multiple (at least 5) companies operating in the same sector which establish integration to their activities.

In addition;

According to the OECD technology intensity definition, investments for the production of the products listed in the table below from the medium-high technology industry class are implemented in the 4th, 5th and 6th regions, if they are realized in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd regions except for Istanbul. If they are realized in the region, they benefit from the supports applied in the region. The minimum fixed investment amount for the incentive certificates issued in this context is 1 Million TL in the 1st and 2nd regions, and 500 thousand TL in the other regions.

As of January 1, 2021, as a result of the classification table made according to the development level of the provinces and districts, more support has been provided compared to the provinces of 263 districts that are relatively less developed than the developed level of the province in which they are located. Within the scope of regional incentive applications, the investments to be made in the districts of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Region provinces included in ANNEX-7 are from the regional supports provided to a sub-region of the province where the district is located; Investments to be made in the organized industrial zones or industrial zones of the mentioned districts, on the other hand, benefit from the regional supports provided to the two sub-regions of the province where they are located. According to this, the districts in Samsun that remained below the development level of the province and were included in a subgroup were Kavak, Havza, Alaçam, Yakakent, Vezirköprü, Salıpazarı, Asarcık and Ayvacık. Investments to be made in Kavak and Havza OIZs will benefit from the 5th Region supports, while investments in other OIZs in the province will continue to benefit from the rates and durations offered to the 4th Region in terms of "tax reduction and insurance premium employer's share support".

Investment areas, which are specified in Annex 3 of the "Decree on State Aids in Investments" number 2012/3305 and which meet the minimum fixed investment amount requirement, are classified as large-scale investments, and benefit from the following, regardless of the region they are in:

• VAT Exemption
• Customs Duty Exemption
• Tax Deduction
• Social Security Premium Employer Support
• Land Allocation

Investments for the production of items with high import dependency, which together provide all of the criteria listed below, are considered strategic investments.

• Investments with minimum fixed investment amount over 50 Million TL.
• Investments for products of which total imports are more than the total domestic production.
• Investments to provide a minimum of 40% added value.
• Investments for products of which total imports over the last 1 year exceed US $ 50 Million.

Strategic investments benefit from the following support elements:

• VAT Exemption
• Customs Duty Exemption
• Tax Deduction
• Social Security Premium Employer Support
• Interest Support
• Land Allocation
• VAT return

Real persons, ordinary partnerships, capital companies, cooperatives, unions, joint ventures, public institutions and organizations (general and special budget institutions and organizations, special provincial administrations, municipalities and state-owned enterprises and their over %50 shared institutions) and professional organizations that are public institutions, associations and foundations, branches in Turkey of foreign companies abroad can apply for incentive certificate "by the Ministry web page through electronic media".

Since July 2nd 2018, all incentive certificate applications are implemented via E-TUYS (web-based application) managed by General Directorate of Incentive Implementation and Foreign Capital.

Only persons with qualified electronic certificates and whose authorization request application has been appoved by the Ministry can access the system to carry out the investment incentive transactions through E-TUYS. For the authorization process, the following documents have to sent to the registered e-mail of the Ministry of Industry and Technology General Directorate of Incentive Implementation and Foreign Capital "sanayiiveteknolojibakanligi.tesvikuygulama@hs01.kep.tr".
It must be sent through the registered e-mail of the company.

The documents required for application are as follows:

• Application petition,
• Authorization form
• Undertaking (notarized).

Following the conclusion of the authorization request by the General Directorate, persons who are authorized to perform transactions via the E-TUYS can enter the system and start the transactions.

For more information in Turkish, please click here.

Please click here to access the incentive calculation tool (in Turkish).