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CAPITAL MARKETS LAW
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must place the committed amount into the bank account of the venture
company in cash. In addition, the industry sectors which can benefit from
state support are set forth in AICR Annex 4. State support shall apply only
to the sectors determined under Annex 4 of the Regulation. Furthermore,
the Regulation indicates that investments may be made only in joint
stock companies and the qualities that these companies must possess are
specified in the Regulation.
The Regulation determines the minimum and maximum investment
amounts in order to benefit from the tax-allowance. Accordingly, the value
of the acquired company shares cannot be less than TRL 20.000 and more
than TRL 1.000.000 per annum. These values are determined as fixed
values and the non-specification of a rate of increase may be deemed as a
weakness in the AICR. Moreover, angel investors may benefit from state
support for up to twenty joint stock companies during a five year period
of license validity.
Further to the provisions stated above, AICR contains an essential
provision which holds that foreign nationals may be angel investors along
with Turkish citizens.
Angel investors fulfilling the stipulated conditions will benefit from
the tax-allowance ratios as stated in the Regulation. However, the tax-
allowance amount has an upper limit of TRL 1.000.000 under the AICR.
Licensing and Application
AICR requires the pursuance of certain steps in order to benefit from
the tax-allowance.
Pursuant to the Regulation, real persons must obtain a license for
tax support. The license application is made to the Undersecretariat of
Treasury through accredited angel networks and different documents
are requested from the high-income earning and experienced investors
pursuant to Article 7 of the Regulation. According to the Regulation, the
license is valid for five years and licenses may be extended for a period of
five years. If any situation stipulated under Article 11 of the Regulation
materializes, the license will be canceled.
In addition to the above requirements, AICR stipulates in Article
21 separately that an application by the angel investors accompanied by