The Turkish Technology Ecosystem: Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance publishes new regulations for online advertisements

A new Tax Procedural Law General Communique (Item No: 538) (“Communique”) was published in the official gazette on May 31, 2022 by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance (“Ministry”). Ministry has emphasized the importance of increasing the level of tax compliance and effectiveness in the fight against the informal economy and introduced new rules for procedures and principles regarding the collection of certain information concerning the advertisements published on the internet.

According to the Communique, intermediary service providers, social network providers and hosting providers that provide electronic environment for the advertisements/announcements which are placed for the purchase/sale or leasing of the movable/immovable properties and goods/services, are required to provide certain information to the Turkish Revenue Administration (“Administration”) through the system named “BTRANS” (Turkish Revenue Administration Information Transfer System) on a monthly basis such as ID/address details of those real or legal persons that are being served, the amounts that have been collected for the sale/leasing of the movable/immovable properties and goods/services, sales amounts of these, transaction dates, bank information as well as any other information that will be determined by the Administration.

Those legal/real persons placing ads online (“Advertiser”) are required to provide all the information that the intermediary service providers, social network providers and hosting providers are required to submit to the Administration, to the intermediary service providers, social network providers and hosting providers. Advertisers are liable for the accuracy of the information that they provide. Additionally, if the Advertiser is not the owner of the movable/immovable property and the goods/services, then the Advertiser is also required to provide information on the owner, to the intermediary service providers, social network providers and hosting providers.

According to the Communique, intermediary service providers, social network providers and hosting providers are liable for the accuracy of the information that they provide through the BTRANS as well as submission of the information in accordance with the formats and standards determined by the Administration.

The Communique states that this notification requirement will become effective as of August 1, 2022 for the data pertaining to June 2022.