Social Security Institution has published a General Letter regarding the premium deadline extension due to COVID-19.

The below statements have been included on the General Letter as a summary;

On the General Letter numbered 5157380 and dated 02.04.2020, the below decisions were made as below:

The social security premiums accrued during the force major period can be paid within 15 days as of the end date of force major status for the below individuals/institutions:

a) From the date 22.03.2020 until the end of force major date, the individuals who have completed 65 can benefit without an application.

b) The rest of the individuals who can prove their chronic disease/illnesses via a health report can benefit with an application.

Social Security Institution has published a General Letter to explain the details regarding the termination codes, which causes a refund of the additional employment incentives (with No. 7256) to the Social Security Institution from the employers with interest.

Per that General Letter, the incentive amounts with regards to Law No. 7256 would need to be refunded back to the Social Security Institution along with interest if the termination takes place with the below termination codes:

Social Security Institution has published a General Letter on 05.07.2021 to explain the details regarding the declaration of remote workdays.

The rules below are stated in the General Letter:

• A written agreement or contract would need to be done for the remote works. The remote work period and the working time would need to be included in this written contract.
• The working schedule can be either fully remote work or partially remote & partially in the workplace. The contracts can be hybrid.
• If an employee works fully remotely, the holidays, weekends, national holidays, annual leaves would need to be included on the remote workday declaration. If the employee works partially remotely and partially in the workplace under a hybrid contract, only actively remote workdays would need to be declared (except holidays).
• There is no difference in the Labor Law rights perspective between the employees work remotely and in the workplace.

The statutory deductions applicable in a standard Turkish payroll are social security premium, income tax, and stamp tax. Also, the salaries generated from liaison offices in Türkiye are exempt from income tax per the article 34/14 of Income Tax Law and these are only subject to social security.

Social Security Premium

Social Security Premium are calculated over wages monthly and are paid jointly by the employee and the employer. The contribution rates are as follows: