• Income Tax Exempted Food Allowance

Meal allowance tax exemption amount that is applied as of 1st January 2016 was announced in 290 serial numbered Income Tax General Communique on 25.12.2015 with Official Gazette. According to this announcement, meal allowance, which is provided by the employer outside of the workplace and workplace outbuildings as defined in the Income Tax Law's 23rd Articles, exemption amount is defined as 13,70 TL for 2016.

The Minimum Subsistence Allowance (MSA) is a tax benefit for all employees. The amount of allowance varies on the employee's marital and family status, including dependent children. Employees can benefit from the MSA by filling out a declaration form and indicate information relating to their marital status, spouse's employment status and dependent children, if any.

The employees are responsible for providing truthful information and must inform their employer of any changes in their family status within 1 month, at the latest. While the responsibility of providing up-to-date MSA information rests with the employee, employers are recommended to periodically remind their employees to update their MSA information on their file to avoid potential tax fines.

The Decision regarding the raising of the Rate to be used for purposes set out Subclause 7 of the Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447 Incomes of Unemployment Insurance Fund

With subclause 7, clause 48 and Law No.4447 It has been stated that the Council of Ministers has the jurisdiction to have this rate raised to 50%, whereas the purpose of use has been determined for the 30% of the premium revenues accumulated in the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

Being unable to procure qualified laborforce is one of the most common situations in our country. The same matter also applies to newly graduated college students, who are considered in the qualified workforce but inexperienced in business life. Employers are of course looking for experienced personnel, however newly graduated and highly qualified workforce can only gain job experience during work.

The government provides new incentives to cope with this matter, to achieve countrywide effectiveness and most importantly to lower the cost of labor by publishing this issue in the official gazette numbered 29335 and dated 23rd April 2015. One of the most important incentives that all employers can benefit is On the Job Training Programme.