The 3% Fund Obligation: Skip It and You Burn That Slice of the Exemption (2026)

Most companies operating in a technopark know about the exemption. The obligation attached to it they usually hear about for the first time while the tax return is being prepared. Yet neglecting this obligation directly burns part of the exemption.

In short: if your exempted earnings exceed TRY 2 million, you must channel 3% of them into venture capital. If you do not, you cannot claim the exemption for that amount.

What is the rule?

The regulation attached to provisional article 2 of Law No. 4691 imposes the following on taxpayers benefiting from the exemption: if the earnings exempted on the annual return exceed a certain threshold, a certain proportion of that amount is transferred to a temporary account under liabilities and invested in venture capital by year-end.

The parameters in force for 2026, set by a Presidential Decision dated 31.12.2025 and applicable from 1.1.2026:

	2026
Threshold at which the obligation arises	Exempted earnings of TRY 2,000,000 or more
Proportion to be set aside	3% of the exempted earnings
Annual upper limit	TRY 100,000,000

The cap limits the obligation for companies with very large exempt earnings. Few companies sit at that end of the scale, but knowing the ceiling exists changes the planning.

The threshold looks at exempted earnings, not turnover

This is the most common mistake. The threshold does not look at your turnover or your total profit; it looks at the earnings exempted on the return.

The practical consequence: a company with high turnover but low exempt earnings may have no obligation, while a modest-turnover software company with high margins may have one. To see which side you are on without waiting for year-end, the exempt earnings have to be tracked during the year.

For the same reason, your in-scope/out-of-scope separation directly affects this threshold. Include out-of-scope items in the exemption and you cross the threshold early; leave in-scope items out and you never see the obligation at all.

Where does the fund go?

The amount placed in the temporary account must, by year-end, go to one of three destinations:

• Purchase of units in a venture capital investment fund established to invest in entrepreneurs resident in Turkey,
• Investment in a venture capital investment trust,
• Contribution as capital to other entrepreneurs operating in incubation centres within the scope of Law No. 4691.

The third option is the least used but can be the most meaningful for some companies: putting capital into a startup you already know, in the same ecosystem you work in, is both a more strategic and a more visible use than buying fund units.

What happens if you do not do it?

Understanding the mechanism correctly matters here. There is no penalty imposed when the obligation is unmet. What happens is this: the exemption cannot be claimed for the portion corresponding to the amount that should have been invested.

So a company with TRY 10 million of exempt earnings that skips setting aside TRY 300,000 does not lose TRY 300,000 — it loses that much of the exemption itself. That comes back as a difference in the tax base multiplied by the corporate tax rate, and in most companies it is not cheaper than the fund would have been.

There is also a limited window for making good an investment not made on time. “We’ll invest next year” is not a strategy.

What about a company reporting a loss?

A frequent question. The obligation is tied to the earnings exempted on the return. If there are no exempted earnings, no obligation arises.

But there is a distinction to watch: in-scope activity may have produced earnings while the company reported an overall loss because of out-of-scope losses. That is not the same as saying “there are no exempted earnings”. The year-end accounts have to be read with that in mind; the issue has also been addressed in Revenue Administration rulings.

Timing: this is not a December job

The fund has to have been invested by year-end. Buying units in a venture capital fund is not as quick as a bank transfer: fund selection, documentation, the unit subscription process and, in some funds, a minimum investment amount all come into play.

My practical recommendation: if it becomes clear in the third quarter that your exempt earnings will cross the threshold, set up the fund side in October or November. In the last week of December this transaction gets compressed — and compression produces mistakes.

In short

For technopark companies with exempted earnings above TRY 2 million, the 3% venture capital obligation is an inseparable part of the exemption. Failing to meet it produces not a penalty but a loss of exemption. The threshold looks at exempted earnings rather than turnover, which is why it is directly connected to your scope separation.

You can use the corporate tax calculator to see the tax side, and book a call for your own position.

Sources

• Law No. 4691 on Technology Development Zones, provisional article 2 — Legislation Information System
• Presidential Decision dated 31.12.2025 setting the fund rate and amounts — Official Gazette
• Advance rulings on loss reporting and the fund obligation — Turkish Revenue Administration ruling database

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This article reflects 2026 legislation and is provided for general information only; it is not legal or tax advice. Rates and amounts are updated by Presidential Decision — verify the amount in force before acting.