The “Labor Courts Code no 7036” which introduces a mandatory mediation mechanism, and which governs the establishment, jurisdiction, tasks and trial procedures of the labor courts, has been published in the Official Gazette dated 25.10.2017. Article 3 which governs the condition to apply to the mediator under the Code, and Articles 11 and 12 which contain the “abolished provisions”, will enter into force as of 1 January 2018.

Pursuant to the said Code, applying to a mediator at the first stage, shall be sought for as a cause of action in lawsuits to be instituted with a claim for employee/ employer receivables/compensation or re-employment claim, based on personal or collective labor contracts. Matters in dispute for which one must apply to mediation, including any claim for receivables or compensation, should arise from the employment relation. In this kind of cases, in case one directly initiates a lawsuit, the relevant court shall duly dismiss the case due to lack of cause of action.

With the General Communique (serial number 4) on Prevention of Double Taxation Agreements (PDT Agreements) announced on September 26, 2017 the taxation context for the Self-Employed is elaborated. The Communique provides context on the Double Taxation Agreements which are signed by Türkiye and the taxes that arise from the incomes of the other signatory parties whom are either a corporate or a real person, from the services provided in Türkiye by self-employment activities or similar.

Regarding to the statement in General Communique on Value Added Tax (VAT) with the serial number 117, which reads “The buyers shall apply VAT Withholding in the ratio of (2/10) for the construction works and the engineering-architecture and survey-project services conducted within the scope of these works, conducted against those listed in Article (3.1.2/b) of the Communique.”, the ratio of (2/10) has been amended to become (3/10).

The following decision has been announced on the official gazette dated August 2, 2017.

• Within the enforcement of the Agreement, all tax and tax audit related matters and information requested from the Turkish officers can and will be requested and obtained from the authorities of Guernsey. Mutual requests related to Türkiye will also be met by the Turkish authorized officers.
• The agreed consensus aims to lead a transparent information exchange between the two countries on the criminal and legal tax matters. This new regulation has been an important step taken in order to prevent future tax losses and fugitives.