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Company Registration ın Turkey

Company Registration in Turkey for Foreigners

Turkish company formation lawyer for limited and joint-stock incorporation filed while you stay where you are.

Company registration in Turkey has a fixed order. Founders who take these out of order lose weeks and pay twice. We run the sequence for you, from abroad.

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Turkish company formation lawyer preparing trade registry documents for Company Registration in Turkey
Antalya Bar Association, registration no. 9892
Verifiable on the Bar's own register.
Filed without you flying to Turkey
A power of attorney is enough. We sign the articles of association at the trade registry directorate in your place.
One file, lodged once
Activity code, capital structure and registered address are checked against each other before lodgement, so the directorate does not send the file back.
02

Can a Foreigner Register a Company in Turkey?

Quick answer

A foreigner can own 100% of a Turkish company. The usual vehicle is a limited şirket, the Turkish limited liability company, under Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, with 50,000 TL minimum capital, registered at the trade registry directorate in roughly one working week once documents are ready. Cost follows capital and translation volume.

On This Page
04 Is This You? → 05 What Turkish Law Actually Requires → 06 How the Registration Runs, Step by Step → 07 What Company Registration in Turkey Costs → 08 What These Cases Looked Like → 09 Company Formation Guides → 10 Frequently Asked Questions →
04

Is This You?

Where Foreign Founders Get Stuck

Almost no single step in registering a Turkish company is difficult on its own. The difficulty is that four institutions each hold one piece of it: the tax office, the notary, MERSIS (the Ministry of Trade's central registry system) and the trade registry directorate. Each waits for another to finish first, and none tells you which one. Most foreign founders reach a lawyer after something has already gone wrong: a company’s articles of association that do not cover what the business actually sells, a registered address the tax inspector could not find, or articles of association copied from a template that hand one director powers the shareholders never agreed to.

What a company formation lawyer does that an agency cannot:

  • Writes the articles, not just the form. The articles of association decide who may bind the company, how profit is distributed and what happens when one shareholder wants out. A template answers none of that.
  • Can still act for you when it goes wrong. Under Attorneyship Law No. 1136, only an advocate registered with a bar association may represent you before a Turkish court or enforcement office if a tax assessment or shareholder dispute follows.
  • Completes a share purchase so it holds. A transfer of shares in a limited şirket needs a written contract, notarised signatures, a shareholders' resolution and an entry in the share ledger under Article 595. Anything less leaves the buyer with no registered title.

Situations We Hear Every Week

  • "I have signed a distribution agreement in Antalya and my buyer needs a Turkish invoice next month."
  • "I run an online store from Berlin and I need a Turkish entity to use local payment providers."
  • "I am buying 40% of a Turkish company and I do not understand what I am signing."
  • "I cannot travel until spring, but the company has to exist now."
  • "My accountant registered the company, and now the tax office has fined me for something nobody mentioned."
05

What Turkish Law Actually Requires

Four statutes govern almost everything on this page. Each is published in full on mevzuat.gov.tr, the state's official legislation portal.
The founding statute

Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102

Article 573 defines the limited şirket: one to fifty shareholders, liability limited to the capital each has subscribed. Article 335 does the same for the anonim şirket, the joint-stock company. Article 585 is the one that matters on the day the company exists in law the moment the articles of association are signed and registered, not when the bank account opens.
Read the Turkish Commercial Code on mevzuat.gov.tr
Foreign ownership

Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875

Article 3 places foreign investors on the same footing as Turkish ones: full foreign ownership, no obligatory local partner, no minimum investment, and the right to transfer profits and sale proceeds abroad.
Read the Foreign Direct Investment Law on mevzuat.gov.tr
Minimum capital

The 2024 Capital Thresholds

Since 1 January 2024 the floor has been 50,000 TL for a limited şirket and 250,000 TL for an anonim şirket, rising to 500,000 TL under the registered capital system. A limited şirket pays nothing in before registration, Article 585 allows 24 months. A joint-stock company must pay 25% up front under Article 344.
See Articles 344 and 580 on capital
06

How the Registration Runs, Step by Step

This is the order we work in when setting up a business in Turkey for a client abroad, and what we need from you at each stage.
Weeks one and two

From Instruction to Trade Registry Entry

1
Structure and Activity Code
We settle limited şirket against anonim şirket, fix the NACE activity code to what you will actually sell, and reserve the trade name. From you: a plain description of what the business does.
2
Power of Attorney
Issued at the Turkish consulate nearest you, or before a local notary with an apostille and sworn Turkish translation. This single document removes the need to travel. Our guide sets out how to issue a power of attorney abroad for use in Turkey, step by step.
3
Tax Numbers for Every Foreign Party
Each foreign shareholder and director needs a Turkish tax number before MERSIS will accept the file. We obtain them against notarised passport translations. To see the process first, read how to apply for a Turkish tax number.
4
Documents, Translation and Notary Certification
We tell you exactly which documents your file needs, then have each one rendered into Turkish by a sworn translator and certified at a notary. Documents issued abroad also carry an apostille from the country that issued them. Nothing goes near the registry until this stage is closed.
5
Articles of Association
We draft the articles of association in Turkish and enter them in MERSIS: the share capital, how it is divided between shareholders, who is appointed director, and the powers that director holds to bind the company.
6
Lodging the File
The completed file goes to the trade registry directorate at the chamber of commerce for the province where the company will have its registered address, together with the signed articles and the certified supporting documents.
7
Registration and Gazette Announcement
Registration creates the legal person from that moment the company can hold assets and sign contracts in its own name. The announcement then appears in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette , and the directorate certifies the company's opening statutory books under Article 64.
07

What Company Registration in Turkey Costs

Two different things get called "the cost": money the state and the notary take, and the legal service fee. They behave differently, so we separate them.
Trade registry fees, 2026 rates
Articles of association approval and statutory book certification
3,650 TL in total
Trade Registry Gazette announcement
2.48 TL per word
Competition Authority share
0.04% of company capital
Chamber of commerce registration
4,875 TL
Registry charge calculated on capital
0.1% of capital, minimum 6,000 TL, capped at 16,515 TL
Notary and translation
Notary certification
Per page, per document
Sworn translation
Per page, per document
How our fee is structured
Company registration
Fixed fee, agreed before work starts
Ongoing corporate advice
Hourly
Absolute floor
The Turkish Bar Association's minimum attorney fee tariff
What moves the total, in order of impact
1 · Company type
A joint-stock company costs more at every counter
2 · Registered capital
Competition Authority and chamber fees scale with it
3 · Number of foreign shareholders
Each adds a tax number, apostille and translation
4 · Whether you attend
Signing in person removes the consulate and notary chain
5 · Sector licensing and the rest
Tourism, food, construction and e-commerce add permits; other regulated sectors add their own
The figures above are the 2026 official rates. They are set by third parties such as the trade registry and the national notary tariff and are revised each January. We pass them on at the rate in force on the day your file is lodged, with no margin added.

A Fixed Figure Before the First Document

We look at your shareholders, your sector and the capital you intend to declare, then give you one number for the registration and tell you which official costs sit on top of it. If the scope changes, you hear about it before the work is done.
Get a Fee Estimate
08

What These Cases Looked Like

Three anonymised files: what the client arrived with, what we changed in the structure, and what the company could do afterwards.

One Company, Three Sectors

A German investor planned to enter the Turkish market in stages: a beauty salon first, then tourism, then restaurants. A separate company for each would have meant three registrations, three sets of official costs and three sets of books. We drafted the articles of association so that one company's stated purpose and activity codes covered all three sectors from the day it was registered, then stayed on after incorporation to obtain each operating licence as the business moved into it. Every line now trades through that single entity.

A Health Tourism Company Rebuilt

A British client came to us already incorporated and already advised wrongly about what health tourism requires. The company had been set up in a form that did not suit the activity, and the permits it had been told to chase were not the ones the Ministry of Health actually issues. We rebuilt the structure first: entity type, stated purpose and activity codes corrected at the trade registry, then the health tourism authorisation applied for on a file that finally matched the business. In practice the company was founded a second time, properly.

Out of a Bad Partnership, Into a Clean Structure

A German client had bought into an existing Turkish company and found the management and ownership terms worked against them at every turn: no hold over the company's signature authority, no realistic way to influence decisions, and a profit arrangement they had not understood when they signed. They wanted to keep trading in Turkey, not to leave it. We separated them from that shareholding first, then incorporated a new company whose articles of association put decision-making, signature authority and profit distribution where they should have been from the start.
10

Frequently Asked Questions

The questions foreign founders actually put to us in the first call about registering a company in Turkey.
How do I register a company in Turkey as a foreigner?
You reserve a trade name and draft the articles of association in MERSIS, obtain Turkish tax numbers for every foreign shareholder and director, sign the articles before the trade registry director and lodge the file with the trade registry directorate. The company exists in law from registration.
Can I register a company in Turkey without travelling there?
Yes. You issue a power of attorney at the Turkish consulate nearest you, or before a local notary with an apostille and a sworn Turkish translation, authorising your lawyer to sign the articles of association and lodge the file. The one step that may still need you in person is the bank account, because each bank sets its own rules for non-resident directors.
How long does company registration in Turkey take?
Once the notarised documents and tax numbers are in hand, the trade registry directorate normally registers the company within a working week, and the Gazette announcement follows. Two to four weeks from first instruction is realistic.
What documents do I need to register an LLC in Turkey?
The documents required generally include a notarised, apostilled passport copy with a sworn Turkish translation for each shareholder and director, Turkish tax numbers for the same people, a power of attorney if you are not signing in person, the articles of association generated in MERSIS. Depending on the circumstances additional documents may also be required.
Can I do company registration in Turkey online?
Partly. The trade name, shareholder details and articles of association are prepared online in MERSIS, and the tax file opens automatically from the registry record. The signing of the articles and the notary steps are not online. No route completes a Turkish company registration entirely through a website.
Do I need a Turkish partner to open a company in Turkey?
No. Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875 puts foreign investors on the same footing as Turkish ones, so one foreign shareholder may hold 100% of a limited şirket or Anonim Şirket and act as its sole director. A small number of regulated sectors carry their own ownership limits, which we check before the file is lodged.
Does owning a Turkish company give me a residence permit?
Not by itself. Company ownership is not a ground for residence. What the company can do is sponsor a work permit for you as its director, granted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security against capital and employment conditions, and that work permit then functions as your residence permit. Companies founded purely to obtain residence usually fail those conditions.
What is the difference between a limited şirket and an anonim şirket?
A limited şirket needs 50,000 TL of capital, allows up to fifty shareholders, and makes shareholders personally answerable for the company's unpaid tax and social security debt in proportion to their holdings. An anonim şirket needs 250,000 TL, does not carry that shareholder liability for public debt, and is the required form for several licensed activities.
legal documents and registration materials for Company Registration in Turkey

Speak to a Turkish Company Formation Lawyer

Whether you are starting a company in Turkey for the first time, moving an existing operation across, or buying into one that already trades, the first conversation is about structure not the paperwork.
Talk to a Company Formation Lawyer: +90 530 936 94 64 Book a Legal Consultation
Kaymaz Law Firm – Antalya law firm providing legal services in corporate, immigration, and criminal law.

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