Short answer: an event or organisation contract that states a price is subject to Turkish stamp duty at 9.48 per thousand, which is 0.948 percent. The base excludes VAT, so a launch contract priced at TRY 1,000,000 plus VAT carries TRY 9,480 of duty. The number of signed copies no longer matters, because Law No. 6728 changed that rule in 2016 and proportional duty is now charged on a single copy. The taxpayers are the people who sign, and signatories are jointly and severally liable for the whole amount, which means a clause saying the other side pays does not protect you against the tax office. For 2026 the duty on any single document is capped at TRY 29,115,961.10, a ceiling set by General Communiqué No. 71 on the Stamp Duty Law (Official Gazette, 31 December 2025, No. 33124, 5th repeating issue) after applying the 18.95 percent revaluation rate; the same communiqué left the proportional rates untouched. What follows is the arithmetic, why public sector work triggers three separate layers of duty, the filing deadlines, what happens when the fee goes up, and why leaving the price out of the contract rarely works.
How much duty does the contract carry?
Table (1) attached to Stamp Duty Law No. 488 sets the rate for agreements, undertakings and assignments that contain a stated amount at 9.48 per thousand, under line I/A-1. Event production sits on that line: dealer meetings, product launches, gala dinners, opening ceremonies, exhibition stand builds, sound and lighting packages. The maths is one multiplication. Take the contract value excluding VAT and multiply by 0.00948. A TRY 250,000 sound and lighting job carries TRY 2,370. A TRY 1,500,000 dealer meeting carries TRY 14,220. A TRY 8,000,000 launch carries TRY 75,840. There is a ceiling, though it sits far away in practice: since the 2026 cap is TRY 29,115,961.10 per document, a contract would have to exceed roughly TRY 3 billion before the cap binds. A pure lease sits on a different line. Line I/A-2 taxes lease agreements at 1.89 per thousand, calculated on the rent payable over the contract term. Technical production supplied as a package with rigging, operators and transport is treated as a service contract in practice, so if your paperwork sits on the boundary, settle the nature of the document with your accountant before signature.
Does VAT go into the base?
It does not. General Communiqué No. 30 on the Stamp Duty Law (Official Gazette, 29 January 1997, No. 22892) states that stamp duty is calculated on the price of the work excluding VAT, and that where a document is drawn up with VAT included, the VAT is stripped out before the duty is computed. The difference shows up in how you write the price. A contract reading "TRY 1,000,000 + VAT" has a base of TRY 1,000,000 and duty of TRY 9,480. A contract reading "TRY 1,200,000 (VAT included)" needs the 20 percent VAT separated first, which brings the base back to TRY 1,000,000 and leaves the duty unchanged. Neither wording is wrong. Quoting net of VAT simply removes one step and one argument.
Four signed copies, four times the duty?
No. Law No. 6728, published in the Official Gazette on 9 August 2016, rewrote Article 5 of the Stamp Duty Law. The rule in force now reads: where a document is issued in more than one copy, each copy of a document subject to fixed duty is taxed separately at the same amount, while a document subject to proportional duty is taxed on one copy only. Your priced contract is subject to proportional duty, so printing three wet-ink originals for the agency, the client and the venue file costs nothing extra in tax. The change applies to documents issued after 9 August 2016, so if you are arguing about an addendum to a very old framework agreement, check the date of the parent document. General Communiqué No. 60 also clarified when separately signed texts count as copies: when each can be produced independently to prove the same matter.
Who pays, and is a contract clause enough?
Article 3 makes the signatories the taxpayers. Article 24 provides that signatories are jointly and severally liable for the entire duty and penalty on a document signed by more than one person, so the tax office can collect the whole amount from one side. For companies registered as continuous stamp duty taxpayers the law goes further: those within the scope of Article 22(a) are responsible for declaring and paying the duty on documents relating to transactions they are party to, with a right of recourse against the other parties for the tax. Splitting the duty fifty-fifty in the contract is common in this industry and it works between the parties. It changes nothing in the eyes of the tax office. Agree in writing at proposal stage which budget line carries the duty, because an unnamed line tends to surface in the closing invoice.
Why does public sector work trigger three layers?
On the public side there is no single document. There are three, and each is taxed. Line II/2 of Table (1) taxes every kind of tender award decision issued by public offices and bodies with public legal personality, whether or not they are subject to procurement legislation, at 5.69 per thousand. The contract itself carries 9.48 per thousand. Line IV/1-a then taxes the receipts and release documents containing a stated amount that suppliers submit to public offices for payments under goods and services procurement, advance payments included, at another 9.48 per thousand. Added together the load reaches 24.65 per thousand, roughly 2.5 percent of the contract value. Who absorbs it? Article 3 is explicit: for transactions between public offices and private parties, the private party pays the stamp duty. Watch the definition, though. Article 8 lists public offices as general and special budget administrations, provincial special administrations, municipalities and villages, and it excludes economic enterprises attached to those bodies that have separate legal personality. Sign with a municipal company and the ordinary joint liability rule applies instead. When you price public work, keep stamp duty as its own cost line so that 2.5 percent does not come out of margin.
When is it filed, and what does late cost?
The liability arises the moment the document is issued; the calendar depends on your registration. According to the Turkish Revenue Administration's table of filing and payment deadlines, taxpayers registered for continuous stamp duty liability file the return for documents payable against receipt by 23:59 on the 26th of the following month and pay within the same period. For anyone without continuous liability the window is much tighter: filing and payment within 15 days of the date the document was issued. In an event calendar that distinction bites. Sign on the 28th of the month without continuous liability and your filing deadline can expire before load-in even starts. Where duty goes unpaid or underpaid, Article 344 of the Tax Procedure Law brings a tax loss penalty equal to one times the duty evaded, plus late payment interest. The duty looks small. The penalty and interest are what make it expensive.
Does a fee increase or an extension trigger new duty?
Article 14 handles three situations separately. Where an agreement containing a stated amount is amended, the increase is taxed at the same rate. So an addendum raising the fee from TRY 1,000,000 to TRY 1,300,000 is taxed only on the additional TRY 300,000, which is TRY 2,844, not on the new total. Extending the term attracts duty at the same amount or rate. On assignment, a quarter of the duty charged on the original is due. Where duty was already charged at the statutory ceiling and nothing changes except an increase in the fee, no further duty is collected on that increase. Law No. 6728 added one more piece of relief that matters here: deposits, break fees, wage retentions and penalty clauses agreed as sanctions within a contract are not taxed separately unless they are set out in a separate document. Keeping the deposit and the penalty clause inside the main contract is cheaper than moving them into their own protocol.
Can you avoid duty by leaving the price out?
Weaker idea than it looks. Article 10 defines a stated amount as the money contained in the document or produced by the figures written in it, so if the attached unit price list and quantities let anyone compute the fee, a base exists. Article 1 defines a document to include records created as electronic data using an electronic signature, which puts e-signed contracts squarely in scope. Article 2 extends the law to letters and annotations that take the place of taxable documents, so a countersigned proposal or purchase order can trigger duty exactly as a contract would. The real exemption sits elsewhere. Additional Article 2 of Law No. 488 exempts documents relating to foreign currency earning activities, but the exemption is not automatic: it rests on a Tax, Duty and Fee Exemption Certificate obtained from the Ministry of Trade, and if the activity does not materialise the uncollected duty is reclaimed with penalty and late interest. The practical checklist is short. Quote net of VAT, show stamp duty as its own line in the cost sheet, name the paying party in the contract, compute addendum duty on the increase only, and ask about the exemption certificate before signature on any work with a cross-border leg.
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