Tourism share reductions: which winter, thermal and rural facilities pay less

Türkiye's tourism share (turizm payı) is 0.5% of net sales and rental income for accommodation facilities. Article 6 of Law No. 7183 halves that rate for facilities in tourism types the Ministry of Culture and Tourism chooses to encourage, naming winter, thermal, health, rural and qualified sports tourism as examples. No published list of encouraged types was found; confirm before using the lower rate.

An owner reads that thermal tourism is an encouraged type, halves the rate in the return, and has nothing in the file that shows the facility sits in a type the Ministry has chosen. The saving is small; the exposure is not. After reading this article you will know what the law and the Communiqué actually say, where any Ministry list would live, how a property with several facilities should compute the reduction, and what to keep on file before the lower rate goes into a return. For the wider picture of what lodging businesses pay and report under the tourism share, see our companion explainer on what lodging businesses pay and report under the tourism share.

What is the tourism share rate in Türkiye, and what does the reduction change?#

The tourism share is 0.5% (binde 5) of net sales and rental income for accommodation facilities, and the reduction halves that rate for facilities in encouraged tourism types. The share is levied under Article 6 of Law No. 7183 (opens in a new tab), the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency Law, to fund the Agency. It is paid by the natural or legal persons who invest in or operate the listed businesses, on the total net sales and rental income they earn from those activities, not on profit.

Article 6 sets the other lines too: 0.5% for Ministry-certified food, drink and entertainment facilities, 0.5% for marine tourism facilities, 0.05% for travel agencies excluding individual plane ticket sales, 0.05% for airlines' commercial passenger transport, and 0.2% for airport and terminal operators other than those run by the State Airports Authority (DHMİ).

The third column is arithmetic only. It says nothing about eligibility, which depends on the Ministry's encouraged types.

The reduction acts on the rate, not on the base. Half of 0.5% is 0.25% (binde 2,5), and net sales and rental income stay exactly as they were. What the reduction does not change: the filing calendar, the deductibility of the share, or the definition of the base. Whether a period with no sales still brings a filing duty is a question for your accountant.

Read the current text, not old commentary. The Communiqué's 2019 worked example uses 7.5 per thousand for accommodation, while Article 6 as now in force sets 5 per thousand. The reduction's wording is written for facilities in encouraged tourism types; whether it can reach the travel agency or airline lines is a question for your accountant, not something these texts settle.

Who decides which tourism types are encouraged?#

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism decides; the law and the Communiqué name examples and leave the choice to the Ministry. Article 6 says the rates are cut by 50% for facilities in tourism types the Ministry chooses to encourage, such as winter, thermal, health, rural and qualified sports tourism.

The words "such as" matter. The five named types are examples, not a closed list, so the Ministry can encourage a type the law never names. Article 4(3) of the Tourism Share Return General Communiqué (Serial No. 1) (opens in a new tab) repeats the same sentence and adds nothing: no list, no criteria, no procedure.

Neither text says how the Ministry decides, how long a decision stands, whether it is published, or whether a facility can ask for a ruling on its own case. The practical consequence is that the lower rate is not something a hotel establishes by describing itself. Somebody has to be able to point to the encouragement, and that somebody is the Ministry.

There are two places to ask, in this order: your accountant, who follows the filing practice, and the provincial directorate of culture and tourism, in writing, so the answer can go in the file.

Is there a published list of encouraged tourism types or facilities?#

No. Searches of the consolidated Article 6 text, the Communiqué, ktb.gov.tr and the Resmî Gazete found no Ministry or Presidential list of encouraged tourism types or facilities. Both texts give only the five examples and hand the choice to the Ministry; neither contains an annex, a schedule or a register of qualifying facilities.

A certificate that reads "termal" or "kayak" proves the facility's certified type. It does not prove the type is one the Ministry has chosen to encourage, and the two questions are separate. Location is not a criterion in the texts either: being in a ski resort or a thermal basin says nothing on its own.

If your adviser holds a list, a circular or a letter you have not seen, get a copy and keep it with the return. A practice followed by other hotels is not a basis for a lower rate. If nothing can be produced, the safe course is to declare at the full rate and take the question to the provincial directorate and your accountant before the next period. Confirm your own case, and the current position, with your accountant or legal adviser: dates, penalties and eligibility can change, and this article describes the texts, not your file.

How does a property with several facilities, or a seasonal one, apply the reduction?#

Compute the share separately for each facility, apply the reduction only where it is established, and add the results in one return. The Communiqué's Example 1 runs a five-star hotel in Antalya and a thermal hotel in Afyonkarahisar through one return: the share is computed separately for each facility, the reduction is applied to the thermal hotel only, and the totals are declared and paid together. Note that the example assumes the thermal hotel was already determined to be in an encouraged type. Your facility must independently establish that its type is currently encouraged by the Ministry or by Presidential determination.

In that example the thermal hotel's base of 600,000 is multiplied by 7.5 per thousand to give 4,500, then halved to 2,250. The 7.5 per thousand is the 2019 rate; at today's 5 per thousand the same base gives 3,000, halved to 1,500. The method is the same, the number is not.

Halving the result and halving the rate produce the same figure. The Communiqué uses the first, so use the first and show it in your worksheet.

A hotel with a thermal wing and an ordinary wing raises a question the texts do not answer: whether that is one facility or two. The certificate defines the facility, so start there and take the answer to your accountant. Seasonal operation is also unaddressed. A ski hotel with no sales in July has no base for July; whether a nil return is still due, and whether the reduced rate carries across the whole year or only across the months the facility operates, is not stated in either text, so ask your accountant. Groups filing one return for several facilities need one worksheet per facility, because the reduction attaches to a facility and its type, not to the company.

How is the reduced rate shown in the tourism share return?#

There is no separate box or rate field: the return carries the resulting figure, and the working that produced it stays in your file. The Communiqué does not describe a separate box or rate field on the form for the reduction, so the form will not show an inspector why a figure is low.

The mechanism is the one in Example 1: apply the full rate to that facility's net sales and rental income, halve the result, and enter the halved figure. Filing periods: under the Communiqué, corporate taxpayers file monthly and other taxpayers quarterly, and the return is filed and the share paid by 23:59 on the last day of the month after the period.

Under the current Communiqué, the return is due by the last day of the month following the tax period. This differs from the law's own default, declaring by the end of the 24th and paying by the evening of the 26th, because Article 6 lets the Treasury and Finance Ministry, after consulting the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, reset the periods and move the deadlines later, and the Ministry has used that power. Always check the current Communiqué for the exact date.

The share paid is deductible when computing income or corporate tax, so the reduced figure also changes the deduction, and both numbers should agree in your records. Because the form does not explain itself, the per-facility worksheet is the only place the reasoning exists. Treat it as part of the return. For the wider map of levies, see the glossary of hotel taxes and levies in Türkiye, and for a disciplined month-end process, our month-end checklist for the accommodation tax return.

What should you keep on file before using the lower rate?#

Keep the document that fixes the facility's type, the written basis for the encouragement, and the per-facility calculation, signed off by your accountant. A tourism share reduction in Türkiye is a legal position, not a bookkeeping entry, and the file should be able to explain itself without you in the room.

The memo matters because the person reviewing the file later will see the same facts you saw and should reach the same conclusion. The sign-off matters because the reduction should be taken by someone who carries the responsibility for it.

What to do next#

Before the next return, write down your facility's certified type and ask the provincial directorate and your accountant, in writing, whether that type is one the Ministry encourages. If the answer cannot be documented, declare at the full 0.5% and keep the question open with your adviser. The reduction is worth having, but only on a file that explains itself. The rate, the base, the calendar and the deduction are four separate facts, and only the one you can prove is the one you should use.