How to Calculate Severance Pay in Türkiye

Formula

gross severance pay = min(gross wage + benefits; ceiling) × (years + months/12 + days/365)

net severance pay = gross severance pay − gross severance pay × 7.59 per mille

• gross wage: the last monthly gross wage
• benefits: the monthly total of regular payments such as meals, transport and a twelfth of the yearly bonus
• ceiling: the severance pay ceiling in force on the end date
• years, months, days: the full years from the start day to the last working day, both days counted, the full months after them and the days after those
• 7.59 per mille: the stamp duty rate on wage payments (Law 488, table 1, IV-1-b)

Each full year earns 30 days of wage, which is one month of wage (Law 1475 art. 14). A year counts as 365 days.

Step-by-step example

Start date 16 March 2020, last working day 1 September 2026; last gross wage 45,000 TRY, regular benefits 3,000 TRY a month:

1. Service: 6 years 5 months 17 days, that is 6 + 5/12 + 17/365 ≈ 6.4632 years.
2. Wage used: the wage and benefits come to 48,000 TRY. The ceiling on the end date is 73,729.87 TRY, so min(48,000; 73,729.87) = 48,000 TRY.
3. Gross severance pay: 48,000 × (6 + 5/12 + 17/365) = 310,235.62 TRY.
4. Stamp duty: 310,235.62 × 7.59 per mille = 2,354.69 TRY.
5. Net severance pay: 310,235.62 − 2,354.69 = 307,880.93 TRY.

When the ceiling applies

The ceiling is the most that can be paid for one year of service. It changes in January and July, and the end date decides which one applies; the chart below shows the ceiling in force and every period since 2005.

Take a job from 1 March 2018 to a last working day of 1 June 2026, with a gross wage of 60,000 TRY and benefits of 5,000 TRY a month. The total of 65,000 TRY is above that day’s ceiling of 64,948.77 TRY. Service is 8 years 3 months 1 day. The gross severance pay is 64,948.77 × (8 + 3/12 + 1/365) = 536,005.29 TRY, the stamp duty 4,068.28 TRY and the net 531,937.01 TRY. Had the job ended on 1 July 2026, the 65,000 TRY would have stayed below the 73,729.87 TRY ceiling.

Ceiling (per year of service)

73,729.87 TRY

See the full series →

Severance pay and notice pay together

When the employer ends the job without the notice period, notice pay is due next to severance pay. Each is calculated on its own and the two are added. Notice pay has no ceiling; it is 2 to 8 weeks of wage, and its income tax sits on top of the year’s cumulative tax base.

In the example above, 1 March 2018 to 1 June 2026, the notice period is 8 weeks: 65,000 / 30 × 56 = 121,333.33 TRY gross. The wages of January to May and one day of June give a base of 256,700 TRY; the whole pay falls in the 20% bracket, 24,266.67 TRY tax before the exemption. The 3,871.33 TRY of June’s minimum wage exemption that the one-day wage did not use comes off: income tax 20,395.34 TRY. The 235.52 TRY stamp exemption left brings the stamp duty from 920.92 to 685.40 TRY. Net notice pay is 100,252.59 TRY, and the total net with severance pay is 632,189.60 TRY. Without notice pay, the stamp exemption left comes off the severance pay’s stamp duty (Revenue Administration ruling of 13 December 2023). The severance and notice pay calculator gives both payments and the total.

Common mistakes

• Leaving out the last day. The start day and the end day both count; the end date is the last working day, the exit date reported to SGK. The Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) counts 20.06.2012–19.06.2013 as one year, and 11.09.2020–09.09.2021 as 364 days, which is not a full year.
• Leaving out benefits. Regular meals, transport and bonus payments are part of the wage used.
• Deducting income tax or social security. Only stamp duty is taken from severance pay, less the exit month’s minimum wage stamp exemption that the wage and the notice pay did not use.
• Not checking entitlement. The amount is due only in the cases the law lists; a separate guide covers who is entitled.