The Turkish government is implementing drastic tax changes to reduce online consumer orders from foreign online stores. Imports are duties that will increase significantly, while the exemption threshold will be lowered. In addition, a special tax will be introduced for certain categories of products.
E-commerce in Turkey is on the rise. Internet spending more than doubled last spring, the Commerce Department announced this spring. This is largely due to inflation, but there is also considerable autonomous growth.
Significant growth is again expected this year in Turkey, where almost 560,000 companies active in e-commerce have been registered. The government in Ankara wants to protect them from foreign online stores, which are gaining popularity.
Import duties and exemption threshold
According to Turkish President Erdoğan’s decree, the import duty on European packages will increase to 30 percent from the current 18 percent from August 21. The import duty on packages from outside the EU was already 30 percent, but will be doubled to 60 percent. This applies to goods delivered by post or express freight to individuals in Turkey.
For parcels from the EU, the duty will be 30%.
In addition, the exemption threshold was reduced from €150 to €30. This means that Turkish consumers will also have to pay taxes on smaller online orders from abroad, which will increase the cost of international orders and increase domestic online spending.
Extra fixed tax
In addition to rate changes and reductions in allowances, a special tax will also be applied. If the goods fall under a category specified in the Special Excise Act, such as luxury goods, a special fixed tax of 20 percent will be applied.
Temu and AliExpress
The tax measures follow recent advice from Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat about upcoming regulations on online shopping through platforms such as Temu and AliExpress. This is also a concern in Brussels. The European Union plans to abolish the exemption from import duty up to 150 euros for packages from countries outside the Union. It is planned to enter into force in March 2028.