Withholding tax

Fund withholding tax (stopaj) is income tax deducted at source on the gain when investment fund units are sold; it is not deducted from the principal. For units acquired on or after 9 July 2025 the rate is 17.5% for most funds, and 0% for equity-intensive funds (hisse senedi yoğun fon, HSYF). The bank or broker performs the deduction; the amount reaches the account net. No annual tax return is filed for these gains.

How withholding is calculated

The tax base is the difference between the purchase price and the sale price. Only the gain is taxed; the principal invested is not subject to withholding.

Commissions paid on purchase and sale, together with the banking and insurance transactions tax (BSMV), are deducted from the base. No expense other than these may be deducted.

A hypothetical example: units bought for 10,000 TL are sold for 12,000 TL. The base is 2,000 TL. At 17.5%, 350 TL is withheld and 11,650 TL reaches the account. The 10,000 TL principal has nothing to do with the tax.

Where units of the same fund were bought on different dates, which units left on a sale is determined by the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method.

The rate depends on the purchase date

The withholding rate is set by the date the units were acquired, not the date they are sold. The rate has changed repeatedly over the years through Presidential decrees, and each decree applies only to units acquired after its own effective date.

For units bought today the table is simple:

Fund	Rate
Equity-intensive fund (HSYF)	0%
Other investment funds	17.5%
REIF / VCIF — held more than 2 years	0%
REIF / VCIF — held less than 2 years	17.5%

The 17.5% rate was set by Presidential Decree No. 10041 of 8 July 2025 and applies to units acquired on or after 9 July 2025. For units bought earlier, older rates such as 15%, 10%, 7.5% or 0% may still apply depending on the purchase date. Which rate applies to a given holding can be confirmed with the bank or broker.

The tiered rate in BES and OKS

BES and OKS sit outside this regime. The deduction there rests on Article 94, sub-paragraph 16 of the Income Tax Law, and the rate varies with how long the person stayed in the system and how they left. Again the deduction applies only to the gain; the principal of the contributions paid is not subject to withholding.

Manner of exit	Rate
Leaving before 10 years	15%
Paid contributions for 10 years, leaving without earning retirement entitlement	10%
Leaving with retirement entitlement; death, disability or liquidation	5%

Retirement entitlement requires staying in the system at least 10 years and reaching age 56. This tiered structure has been in force since 29 August 2012. Pension funds are listed at /fonlar/bes-fonlari.

Which funds are withholding-free

There are three groups whose gains carry no withholding, or a 0% rate.

Equity-intensive funds (HSYF). Under the Capital Markets Board's Communiqué III-52.1, funds where at least 80% of the fund's portfolio value continuously consists of issuer shares traded on Borsa İstanbul — excluding shares of securities investment trusts — are treated as HSYF. Under provisional Article 67 these funds are subject to the taxation rules that apply to shares, so the rate is 0%. Whether a fund is an HSYF is usually visible from the phrase "Hisse Senedi Yoğun Fon" in its title; the binding information is in the fund's prospectus and its KAP page. Funds in the equity category are listed at /fonlar/hisse-senedi-fonlari — but the category and the HSYF designation are not always the same thing.

Funds with at least 51% of the portfolio in BIST shares, held more than 1 year. These gains fall outside the scope of withholding. The one-year period is counted from the acquisition date of the units. Free funds (serbest fon) not traded on TEFAS are excluded from this exemption.

REIFs and VCIFs held more than 2 years. For real estate and venture capital investment funds, a holding exceeding two years carries a 0% rate.

One detail: Presidential Decree No. 11107 of 27 March 2026 made the gains of free funds that qualify as HSYF but are not traded on TEFAS subject to 17.5% withholding, for units acquired on or after that date. For HSYFs traded on TEFAS, 0% continues.

When it is deducted, and by whom

The deduction is made by the bank or broker intermediating the transaction, not by the fund itself. Withholding is computed on the gain at the moment the units are disposed of, and the amount reaches the account net. No withholding is taken while a fund is merely held and rising in value; the event that triggers the tax is the sale.

This deduction is final: no separate annual income tax return is filed for investment fund gains. Withholding also does not depend on whether the recipient is a taxpayer; gains of persons exempt from tax are equally subject to it.

What happens in a loss

No withholding is taken on a loss. The base is the gain; where there is no gain there is no tax.

Beyond that, within instruments of the same type, losses inside a three-month period are offset against profits, and the withholding base is found on the netted amount. The legislation counts investment fund units and investment trust shares as "the same type". If a three-month period closes at a loss, the loss carries to the following three-month period, provided the calendar year is not exceeded. A loss in the final three-month period of the calendar year cannot be carried into the next year. Where withholding has been over-deducted, offset and refund are possible; that process runs through the bank or broker.

Legal basis and permanence

This entire regime rests on provisional Article 67 of the Income Tax Law. The article is, as its name says, "provisional", and its term has been extended repeatedly: Presidential Decree No. 10680 of 11 December 2025 extended the application to 31 December 2030.

The rates can likewise change by Presidential decree; for investment funds they have historically been 0%, 7.5%, 10%, 15% and 17.5%. For that reason it is sensible to confirm the current rate with a bank, a broker or a tax adviser before a transaction. The information here is general information, not tax advice.