The Revenue Administration has issued a ruling (February 25, 2025 dated ve 15584 numbered) on the treatment of tax deductions when employers are notified of private health insurance payments after the specified time frame.

The following points are summarised in this matter:

• A private health insurance policy is in effect from October 14, 2023 to October 14, 2024.
• Policy premiums are paid on time in instalments.
• Payment documents/receipts were not submitted to the employer in the months of payment but were instead provided later, in July 2024.
• The issue in question is whether the private health insurance premiums paid for the previous period can be deducted from income tax as of July 2024.

As published in the Official Gazette dated 07 August 2025 and numbered 32979, the Regulation Amending the Regulation on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises ("Regulation") has been enacted pursuant to Presidential Decision No. 10182.

With the enactment of this Regulation, the monetary threshold regarding the annual net sales revenue or financial balance sheet total of small and medium-sized enterprise ("SME") has been increased, thereby modifying the definition of SME. In particular according to Regulation:

An amendment has been made to the Regulation on Lines of Business, which governs the scope of work falling under various sectors, an essential element in union organization within the framework of collective labor relations.

The list of lines of business is included in Annex-1 of the Regulation; the jobs covered under each line of business are determined in accordance with international norms and standards concerning the classification of economic activities.

A divergence emerged among the decisions of the regional courts of appeal concerning whether the period an employee spent on unpaid leave during the COVID-19 pandemic should be included in the calculation of the service period that forms the basis for annual paid leave and severance pay. As a result of this disagreement, the matter was brought before the High Court (Supreme Court of Appeals).

In its ruling dated 29.05.2025, numbered 2025/3201 E. and 2024/1108 K., the 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court held that, in determining the periods that serve as the basis for annual paid leave and severance pay, the time an employee spent on unpaid leave during the pandemic under the scope of provisional Article 10/2 added to Law No. 4857 should be taken into account, provided that it does not exceed the duration formed by adding six weeks to the statutory notice period. Any period exceeding this limit shall not be included in the calculation of the service period.