Recent Amendments to the Regulation on Duty Free Shops
The Regulation on the Amendment to the Regulation (Regulation) on Duty-Free Sales Stores (Amending Regulation) has entered into force through publication in the Official Gazette dated 20.04.2023 and numbered 32169. The key amendments introduced under the Amending Regulation are summarized as follows:
- The conditions for applying for permission to open stores and warehouses for limited and joint stock companies have been amended. Accordingly;
- (i) The minimum required period of operation was reduced to 2 years, (ii) The minimum capital requirement was increased to TRY 5.000.000 for the sum of paid-in capital and reserves, and (iii) the minimum simple average of the corporate tax accrued in the last five years was increased to TRY 300,000. For companies with a total paid-in capital and reserves of 50.000.000 TL, 2 years of operation and corporate tax requirements are not required. The capital requirement is required for applications to be made as of the effective date of the Amending Regulation (20.04.2023).
- The term finalized in the conditions of not having finalized tax and penalty debts in accordance with customs legislation and not having finalized tax debts in accordance with tax legislation has been replaced with the term overdue.
- The documents required for the preliminary authorization application and the process regarding the evaluation of the application have been detailed and certain amendments have been made. Detailed provisions have been introduced regarding the report on the preliminary permit application, which is required to be issued by customs offices.
- Requests for change of type from store to warehouse or from warehouse to store shall be considered as a request to open a new store or warehouse.
- The key amendments regarding the goods which can be sold in stores are as follows;
- The distinction between goods of Turkish and foreign origin has been abolished. Accordingly, any goods not in free circulation may be sold in stores. In order to sell goods in free circulation, a permission is required.
- The requirement for goods to be purchased from the stores to be purchased after passport procedures are completed and before undergoing customs inspection upon entry has been abolished for land customs gates where the “One Stop” application is in operation.
- The key amendments regarding the sale of goods are as follows;
- For credit card payments in the sale of goods to passengers, the requirement that the credit card must belong to the passenger or another accompanying passenger has been abolished.
- For the sale of goods to ships, it must be approved by the customs administration that the Turkish flagged ships transiting through the Turkish Straits are on a voyage abroad or are considered to be on a voyage abroad.
- A condition has been introduced for companies to obtain electronic approval from the customs office for the exit of goods from one store to another store or warehouse under the supervision of the same customs office for the shipment of goods from one store to another store or warehouse.
- The requirement to submit approved plans or sketches and store photographs as documents in the requests for transfer of duty-free stores and warehouses has been abolished. If the transferee company is a newly established company and at least one of its founding partners has been in operation for at least 2 years, the duration of operation and corporate tax requirements are not required.
- The lump sum security amounts per store and warehouse have been increased. Security amounts must be completed within 90 days as of 20.04.2023.
- Pursuant to the Amending Regulation, the determination that the duty-free store or warehouse is used outside its field of activity has been added to the cases where temporary suspension of activity sanctions may be imposed.
- In conclusion, an additional paragraph introduced to the Regulation regulates the principles regarding the requests for the closure of stores and warehouses by the operator and the finalization of such requests.
You may access the full Turkish text of the Regulations below.
The Regulation on the Amendment to the Regulation on Duty-Free Sales Stores
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