How to Electronically Invoice in Turkey

The electronic invoice has been mandatory in the Turkish B2B sector since 2014 when a massive incorporation of businesses according to their turnover began. The mandatory use of the electronic invoice has now been extended to the public sector.

Through communique 509, the Turkish Revenue Administration (TRA) published changes to current tax obligations to continue the progressive adoption of the e-Fatura and e-Arsiv. These changes are relevant to companies that are already obligated to issue and declare invoices to the TRA. 

New Tax obligations

Following the guidelines communicated by the TRA (Tax Revenue Administration) in February 2023, it will be mandatory to include a QR code on invoices, e-invoices, and e-archives starting from September 2023.

B2G Environment

• Since March 2021 all public entities have the obligation to receive electronic invoices. Suppliers with a turnover over 5 million TL registered to the TRA, will be able to identify their e-invoices by indicating KAMU These suppliers can issue invoices to public companies by indicating KAMU in the invoice.

• As of July 2021: All public and private institutions that have an agreement with the SGK public healthcare system must declare e-Fatura and e-Archive invoices to the TRA.

B2B environment

Currently, all companies in the B2B environment with an invoice volume surpassing 5 million Turkish Liras must issue electronic invoices.

• As of July 2021: 

  • All companies without the obligation to register in the TRA declare all invoices with a value of 5000 TL or with a daily invoice volume above 30 000 TL a day using the e-Arsiv format.

  • The declaration of e-Adisyon electronic tickets becomes mandatory. Companies in the service sector (tourism – restaurants) that issue paper tickets must now declare them in the e-Adisyon electronic format. The TRA will publish a list of affected companies that must comply with the new regulation within three months of its publication.

• As of July 2023: All companies that invoiced more than 3 million TL in 2022 (140k€) will have the obligation to declare all their invoices (e-invoice/e-archive invoice) on the TRA portal.

Other foreseen changes

We expect that the e-Gider Pusulu electronic expense notes will need to be declared as an obligation shortly. Currently, they only need to be reported on a voluntary basis.

The Electronic Invoice in Turkey: e-Fatura and e- Arşiv

The electronic invoicing system in Turkey has two different types of invoices. The first type is the e-Fatura, which is the electronic invoice used for B2B transactions between companies registered in the TRA. The second type is the e-Arşiv, the electronic invoice used for B2B and B2C transactions with companies not registered in the TRA.

e-Fatura

All companies with a turnover of more than 4 million Turkish Liras are required to issue and declare e-Fatura. Starting July 2023, all companies that invoiced more than 3 million TL in 2022 (140k€) will have the obligation to declare all their invoices (e-invoice/e-archive invoice) on the TRA portal. This project will progressively incorporate all companies so that eventually all of them will declare their invoices to the TRA.   

e-Arşiv Fatura

The e-Arşiv Fatura are the electronic invoices that  must be issued to all clients who are not registered in the TRA. The obligated companies must send these invoices electronically to the intended recipients. This implies a great challenge since many recipients do not have integrated solutions. To solve this challenge EDICOM offers companies the opportunity to publish e-Arşiv Fatura to those clients through the Business@mail invoice publication platform where they will be able to download and search their invoices. The invoice publication is completely automatic and integrates with your management system. Every time an electronic invoice is sent, the recipient will receive an email notifying them that the invoice is available on the platform.  The solution offers a set of notifications that inform the issuer about the status of the invoices guaranteeing complete control of communication flows with clients.

E-Irsaliye – E-Waybill

e-Irsaliye, e-Delivery, or electronic waybills must be declared to the TRA portal by the companies that must declare electronic invoices. 

The draft law also makes it mandatory to issue e-waybills and will become mandatory for companies that invoiced more than 10 million TL in 2021.   

Requirements to electronically invoice in Turkey

• Companies that want to invoice electronically in Turkey must register in the TRA with their VKN tax id.
• Companies must also complete a series of documents published in the government portal. It will be your fiscal advisor who will determine exactly what information you must report.
• Companies must have a moral person digital certificate and a digital seal for the entity in question to be able to identify themselves to the TRA and to guarantee security in all operations realized in their portal.

How Does the e-Invoicing System Work in Turkey?

Turkey has imposed a centralized B2B2G e-invoicing system through the Turkish Revenue Administration’s (TRA) portal.

Once authorized by the TRA companies must report invoices in UBL-TR 1.2 format. This process is performed automatically and instantaneously through our EDICOM GLOBAL E-INVOICING Platform. Our solution will receive data from the ERP and then will transform it into the correct format. Once validated they will be reported to the TRA. Once the TRA approves the message the invoicing document will be sent to the recipient.

It is mandatory to securely archive electronic invoices for 10 years. The secure archiving solution must guarantee the integrity of the documents for the entire storage period through the digital signature of the archived documents according to the national standard.

The Global e-Invoicing platform enables the centralized, automatic, and secure issuance and reception of any electronic invoice regardless of the country of operation. The platform can adapt the documents to the current legislation in every country. GLOBAL E-INVOICING can also exchange any kind of commercial document like the e-Irsaliye.

Evolution of the Electronic Invoice in Turkey

The electronic invoice process in Turkey began in 2010 with the approval of the Tax Procedure Law (VUK) which gave the electronic invoice legal equivalence to paper invoices. In 2014 the mass adoption of the electronic invoice began, and since then groups of companies have been obligated to issue all invoices electronically, depending on their annual turnover and business sector. Currently, the mass adoption of the electronic invoice is being enforced in the public sector.

• 2011 – Companies in the oil, alcohol, and tobacco sector were the first to be obligated to issue e-invoices.
• 2014 – Companies that invoice more than 25 million TL
• 2016 – Companies that invoice more than 10 million TL.
• 2019 – Companies that invoice more than 5 million TL.
• 2020 – The declaration of the e-waybill e-Irsaliye for all electronic invoice issuers.
• 2021 – All public entities must be able to receive e-invoices.
• 2021 – All private or public entities of the healthcare sector that have an agreement with SGK
• 2021  –  All companies that do not have the obligation to register in the TRA should declare invoices with a total of 5000 TL or more in e-Arsiv Fatura format. 
• July - 2022 - All companies that invoiced more than 4 million Turkish Liras in 2021 will have to issue and declare e-Fatura and e-Arsiv (e-Invoice and e-Archive invoice).
• July - 2022 - All companies that invoiced more than 10 million Turkish Liras in 2021 will have to issue and declare the e-Irsaliye (e-Waybill).
• July - 2023 - Companies that issued more than 3 million Turkish Liras in 2022 will also have to declare the e-Fatura and e-Arsiv (e-Invoice and e-Archive invoice).
• September 2023: It will be mandatory to include a QR code on invoices, e-invoices, and e-archives.

EDICOM coordinates GOVEIN2019 project (Action No: 2019-EU-IA-0046)

*The contents of this publication belong solely to EDICOM GROUP and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.​​​​