Türkiye's Treasury and Finance Ministry has proposed more than TL 220 billion ($5.2 billion) in taxes and penalties following nearly 50,000 taxpayer audits conducted in the first 10 months of the year, a report said on Friday.
Authorities intensified measures across sectors this year and expanded inspections as they seek to tighten tax discipline and curb the informal economy. The efforts included higher penalties for irregularities and the rollout of the National Vehicle Identification System to combat tax evasion in the fuel industry.
Authorities have also relied on multi-source data analysis powered by artificial intelligence, which helps auditors detect high-risk patterns and discrepancies.
The digital push was reinforced by the e-Audit System, launched in 2025, which has accelerated and streamlined tax examinations. Through this system, authorities issued 83,000 “invitation to explain” notices, resulting in TL 6 billion in additional tax assessments, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on Friday.
Alongside digital audits, the ministry expanded on-site controls. To monitor invoice compliance and value-added tax (VAT) practices, authorities carried out more than 1.1 million field inspections in 2024.
Almost the same number of audits took place in the first nine months of this year, the AA report said.
The 2024 revenue determination system also entered full implementation this year, producing 253,000 inspections between January and September.
The ministry’s Corporate Tax Return Monitoring Program, launched last year, required 40,000 companies to review their declarations. As a result, 17,437 firms increased their tax bases by TL 32 billion.
Meanwhile, the High-Income Groups Monitoring Program identified 10,000 company shareholders who had never declared income. Of these, 2,843 corrected their filings, adding TL 15 billion in taxable base.
Property market oversight also expanded through a Spatial Data Analysis Program aimed at detecting underreported real estate values. Over the past six months, this effort produced TL 1.2 billion in additional title deed fee declarations.
There has also been an increase in the number of tax returns and declared income. For 2024, the number of tax returns related to rental income, wages, investment income and other earnings rose by 24%, reaching nearly 2.25 million.
The calculated tax doubled compared to the previous year. This year, 473,000 taxpayers filed a return for the first time. The number of taxpayers declaring real estate income, which was 2.25 million in 2022, increased by about 1 million, reaching 3.2 million as of this September.
The number of income tax returns filed by taxpayers with commercial, agricultural and self-employment income exceeded 2.7 million, and the declared tax amount increased by 90%, reaching TL 143.7 billion.
The number of income tax returns, which was 3.8 million in 2022 and 4.4 million in 2023, rose to 5 million in 2024. During the program period, the calculated tax doubled each year.
