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Forget Dubai? Turkey Reveals 20-Year Tax Holiday · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Turkish President Erdogan just unveiled a tax package that, if Parliament passes it, would give new foreign residents an exemption longer than any competitive European regime without any required investment in the country.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's a specific reason Turkey is moving now, and it may change your interpretation of the country and its citizenship by investment program.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: In this video, you'll learn Erdogan's long-term strategy and how you can benefit.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: But first, let's talk about what President Erdogan proposed.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: He announced the package at an event in Istanbul called the Turkey Century Strong Center for Investment Programme.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: The proposal still needs parliamentary approval, and Erdogan didn't specify when the legislation will be submitted.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So this is not law yet, but it's worth understanding exactly what's being proposed.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because if it passes in the form Erdogan described, it will be the most aggressive personal tax incentive package any major economy has put forward in years, and immediately one of the top programs in the world.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Erdogan said this: individuals who haven't been Turkish tax residents for at least three years can relocate to Turkey and pay zero Turkish tax on their foreign source income and capital gains for 20 years.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Only domestically earned income would fall within the Turkish tax net.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Inheritance and gift tax for qualifying individuals would drop to a flat 1%, while standard rates currently run from 1 to 30%.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Erdogan called it a radical step and said his government is determined to make Turkey a global centre of attraction.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: The language alone tells you Ankara is not aiming small.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Europe has been the default destination for the wealthy looking for tax-favourable residency programs in recent years.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Italy, Greece, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, Spain each has or has had some version of a special tax regime designed to pull foreign capital in.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So how does Turkey's proposal compare to the heavyweights?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Italy's€300,000 per year lump sum program runs 15 years.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Greece's non-DOM regime, which requires a one-time investment of€500,000 and charges a flat annual tax of€100,000, 15 years.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Turkey's proposal, which requires zero investment in the country and no entry cost, would double Portugal's former NHR program and outlast both Italy's and Greece's.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's the comparison European policymakers are reading this week.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, if you're trying to compare programs across Europe and beyond, IMI's Encyclopedia covers almost 300 residency and citizenship programs in 140 countries.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can sort, filter, and run side-by-side comparisons at IMIDaily.com slash programs.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: The timing of this announcement isn't an accident.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And Ankara isn't pretending.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Erdogan said earlier this month that just as the pandemic opened doors for Turkey, the Iran war crisis will too.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: In the past few months, not only has the conflict damaged infrastructure across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and beyond, it's also damaged reputations.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: While the Gulf hubs are dealing with reconstruction and capital flight from rattled investors, NATO member Turkey has remained unscathed.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And to capitalize on the exodus from Dubai and other Gulf financial hubs, Turkey is rolling out tax incentives.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek confirmed weeks before Friday's announcement that the government was preparing radical perks to attract foreign capital.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Bloomberg reported earlier in April that the Treasury was drafting legislation to extend Istanbul finance center perks to foreign companies across the country.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So this has been in the works for months, and the Iran War just gave Ankara the political opening to push it through.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Guni Gildez, who advises the Anthysis Group and previously worked at the Abu Dhabi Global Market, called the corporate incentives a direct play for the intermediation business, Dubai's owned for the last two decades.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Turkey is likely the world's top citizenship by investment program, and it's been running since 2017.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: What the program didn't have until now was a fiscal layer that made Turkish citizenship worth holding and Turkish tax residency worth claiming.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship holders who became Turkish tax residents under the existing system faced progressive income tax rates of 15 to 40% on worldwide income.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Double taxation treaties offer partial relief, but the exposure is enough to fend off investors and entrepreneurs.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's why most Turkey CBI applicants have treated the Turkish passport as a travel document, not a tax base.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: They got citizenship, but most didn't move.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: This proposal flips that calculation entirely.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Under the rules, as described, citizens who have never been Turkish tax residents could qualify for the 20-year holiday.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship plus passport plus zero tax on foreign income for two decades.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: IMI Pro Tamar Polding of Istanbul-based CIP Turkey called it the final piece of the puzzle and said this could elevate Turkey from a Eurasian hub to a global powerhouse.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: The final draft of the bill and the form parliament eventually approves will determine whether that reading holds.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: We'll cover the legislative process as it moves, so be sure to subscribe to the channel below and to the email newsletter so you don't skip a beat.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: So this is all great news, right?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let's bring everything back to reality.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Tax incentives change behavior, sure, but they don't move infrastructure.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Turkey's economy still runs on double-digit inflation and a depreciating lira.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Istanbul ranks 101st on the latest global financial centres index, Dubai at 7th, Abu Dhabi 21st, Riyadh 61st.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a 100-place gap to Dubai, and tax breaks don't close it on their own.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: What tax breaks do change is the calculation for a specific kind of mobile capital.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Someone whose income is generated abroad, whose investments sit offshore, and who needs a residency base that won't tax them on either.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And once you add the citizen pathway on top, most programs cannot match the full package.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Policy shifts like this one are why diversification strategy isn't a one-time decision.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: The countries that look optimal today won't look optimal in three years.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tax regimes get extended, slashed, repealed, or layered with new conditions.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Same for residency and citizenship by investment programs.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: The mobile professional or business owner who picked their residency base in 2022 has a different optimal answer in 2026.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's the reason we built IMI Sovereigns, by the way.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our community for entrepreneurs, investors, and high net worth individuals who want to surround themselves with similar inquisitive, ambitious folks around the world.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Get your sovereign score, learn where you stand on tax exposure, residency optionality, and citizenship strength, and fill your gaps.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can find it at imidaly.com slash sovereignscore.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: If Turkey makes it onto your short list, the next question is how much citizenship costs, especially if you're applying with a family.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: We rank the 12 cheapest citizenship by investment programs for families in the video on your screen.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And spoiler alert, Turkey came in as the cheapest.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: But the others might fit your situation better.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: The full ranking is in the video on your screen.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss IMI updates.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: See you in the next one.