How Tax Brackets Work in Türkiye

Formula

Tax = Σ (amount in the bracket × rate of the bracket)

Amount in the bracket = min(taxable income; end of the bracket) − start of the bracket

• Taxable income: the annual taxable income (matrah)
• Start and end of the bracket: the lower and upper limit of the bracket in the tariff; the last bracket has no upper limit
• min: the smaller of the two values; when the income ends inside a bracket, the amount in that bracket ends there too
• Σ: the sum over every bracket the taxable income reaches

The effective rate is tax / taxable income × 100. The marginal rate is the rate of the last bracket the taxable income reaches.

Step-by-step example

Income year 2026, taxable income of 500,000 TRY other than wages:

1. First bracket (0–190,000 TRY): 190,000 TRY falls in it, and the tax is 190,000 × 15% = 28,500 TRY.
2. Second bracket (190,000–400,000 TRY): 210,000 TRY falls in it, and the tax is 210,000 × 20% = 42,000 TRY.
3. Third bracket (400,000–1,000,000 TRY): the income ends at 500,000 TRY, so 100,000 TRY falls in it, and the tax is 100,000 × 27% = 27,000 TRY.
4. Add the tax of the brackets: 28,500 + 42,000 + 27,000 = 97,500 TRY.
5. Find the effective rate: 97,500 / 500,000 × 100 = 19.5%.

The marginal rate is 27% and the effective rate 19.5%. The income does not reach the fourth and fifth brackets, so there is no tax in them.

Does a higher bracket lower your income?

No. The higher rate applies only to the part that falls in the new bracket; the tax on the lower brackets does not change. In 2026, for income other than wages:

When the taxable income rises from 400,000 TRY to 410,000 TRY, only the 10,000 TRY in the third bracket is taxed at 27%: 2,700 TRY. The income after tax goes up from 329,500 TRY to 336,800 TRY.

Bracket limits change with the year and the type of income

The limits are published every year in a new Income Tax General Communiqué. The rates were the same in 2025 and 2026; the limits were not:

The same 500,000 TRY of non-wage taxable income pays 104,000 TRY with the 2025 tariff (effective rate 20.8%) and 97,500 TRY with the 2026 tariff (19.5%). The type of income matters too: in 2026, 1,200,000 TRY of taxable income pays 302,500 TRY as income other than wages and 286,500 TRY as wages.

On a salary, the brackets apply to the cumulative tax base, the taxable pay added up since January. In the month the cumulative base crosses a bracket limit, the tax withheld goes up and the net salary goes down.