Türkiye is directing efforts and continues to focus on tax auditing of individuals in the high-income group, according to a report on Sunday.

Tax audits conducted by the Tax Inspection Board (VDK) continue to focus on individuals in the high-income bracket, a report by Anadolu Agency (AA) suggested, citing information obtained from the Treasury and Finance Ministry.

Using different audit methodologies, including tax inspections, requests for explanations, and monitoring, authorities are working to ensure that these taxpayers properly fulfill their tax obligations.

Through the work carried out by the board, some 31.3% of large-scale taxpayers have been subjected to tax inspections this year, the report said.

This means that nearly one in every three large taxpayers is currently under inspection.

In previous years, the rate for large taxpayers had been around 11%.

This year, the corresponding rate was 7.3% for medium-sized taxpayers and 1.1% for small-scale taxpayers. For medium-sized taxpayers, authorities generally prefer measures such as requests for explanations, while for small-scale taxpayers they tend to use monitoring measures intended primarily as warnings.

Increase in tax base

In addition, this year the board launched the 2nd High-Income Groups Monitoring and Compliance Program to ensure that taxpayers in the high-income bracket accurately declare their earnings for 2025.

Under the program, the total increase in the tax base declared by taxpayers reached TL 48.7 billion (around $1 billion). A total of 16,307 taxpayers were identified as being in the high-income group and brought under monitoring, the report noted.

As part of the initiative, these taxpayers were divided into two groups.

The first group consisted of individuals who were found to have ownership stakes in some of Türkiye's 42,000 largest companies by scale. Their income tax payments were found not to correspond with the earnings identified through risk analysis.

The second group consisted of individuals who did not hold stakes in any company but whose taxes paid were inconsistent with the luxury lifestyles they displayed.

Filing tax returns for 1st time

It was also determined that approximately 7,000 taxpayers brought under monitoring had never filed a tax return in previous periods. Following the monitoring process, most of these individuals filed tax returns and declared their income for the first time.

As a result, the increase in declared income tax amounted to TL 6.7 billion. The increase in the tax-withholding base reported by companies in which these individuals were shareholders reached TL 4.2 billion, while the increase in the corporate tax base of those companies reached TL 33.9 billion.

Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, commenting to Anadolu Agency, said that the effective use of technology had significantly strengthened the capacity for tax inspections.

"As part of our efforts to increase fairness in taxation, we are directing our audit capacity toward large-scale taxpayers and those in the high-income group. We are inviting these taxpayers to voluntarily comply with their tax obligations," he said.