R&D and Technopark Incentives

The advantages available to a company doing R&D in Türkiye come from two separate pieces of legislation. One covers technology development zones, the other covers R&D and design centre status. They work on different logic, and what one provides the other does not always match.

The right choice depends on how the company is built: team size, which facility, how continuous the projects are, and whether R&D sits alongside production or apart from it.

Two routes

Technology development zone (technopark)

Based on operating inside a zone established under Law 4691. The company runs a unit in the zone carrying out R&D, software or design activity. Income from that activity is exempt from income and corporate tax until 31 December 2028. Until the same date, salaries of R&D, design and support personnel carry the income tax withholding incentive, a stamp duty exemption, and half of the employer's share of social security premiums met from the budget. Certain categories of software produced in the zone also carry a VAT exemption.

Its advantage is speed. Once the zone accepts you and the unit opens, the regime starts. Its constraint is that the activity has to be carried out in the zone, which is not always practical for an R&D team working alongside a production line.

R&D and design centre

Under Law 5746, a unit established in the company's own facility that meets defined conditions. An R&D centre needs at least 15 full time equivalent R&D personnel, or 30 in certain activity classes; a design centre needs 10. Separate physical space, a defined project portfolio, R&D management capacity and a reporting routine are also required.

The main advantages: the full amount of R&D and design expenditure deducted from the tax base, the income tax withholding incentive, half of the employer's social security premium share met from the budget, stamp duty and customs duty exemptions, and a VAT exemption on new machinery and equipment used exclusively in the centre. The law applies until 31 December 2028.

Its advantage is that R&D can sit in the same place as production. Its constraint is a heavier application and maintenance burden, with regular reporting and inspection after the status is granted.

Comparison

This table is a starting point. The real comparison runs on the company's personnel structure and project portfolio, and some companies use both.

What we do

Eligibility and choice. We review your team, projects and facility and establish which route fits. If you sit close to a headcount threshold, we calculate what it would take to clear it.

Technopark application. Zone selection, application file, project definitions and setting up the unit.

R&D centre application. Organisation chart, personnel structure, project portfolio, physical space plan and the application file, followed through the evaluation.

Operating discipline. Once the status is granted, setting up project tracking, timesheet records, expenditure separation and the reporting routine. Without that discipline, inspections create problems.

R&D grants. Applications to TÜBİTAK and KOSGEB R&D programmes, with cost lines separated where a grant runs alongside the status.

Common mistakes

Writing projects after the fact. Project definition, start date and expected output should be recorded at the outset. Retrospective definitions look weak under inspection.

Not keeping timesheets. The record of time personnel spend on R&D is the basis of the exemptions.

Not separating expenditure. R&D spending has to be traceable separately in the accounts.

Losing sight of the headcount threshold. Dropping below it puts the status at risk, and because the figure is a three month average, personnel movements need tracking.

Ignoring the cap on payroll incentives. The withholding incentive and stamp duty exemption apply only up to forty times the gross minimum wage. For highly paid staff, that cap decides what the incentive is worth.

Skipping the venture capital fund obligation. Companies whose exempt income exceeds a defined threshold must channel part of it into venture capital funds or into entrepreneurs in an incubation centre. Failing to do so costs part of the exemption.

Confusing status with grants. The status is a tax advantage; a grant is project based cash support. They are separate processes.

Sources and currency

This page follows Law 4691 on Technology Development Zones, Law 5746 on Supporting Research, Development and Design Activities, and their implementing regulations. The forty times minimum wage cap on payroll incentives was introduced by Law 7555. Last reviewed 23 September 2026.

Getting started

The first meeting covers your R&D team, the projects under way and how your facility is organised. We then send a written note on which route fits, which thresholds you already meet and what is missing. The assessment is free.