Freelancer Tax Calculator (2026)

Same income, three different tax bills

Two people can earn the same money from abroad and pay very different tax. What decides it is not the size of the income but three things: whether the work is on the statutory list, where the client is, and whether the money reaches Türkiye. This tool puts the three routes side by side rather than giving one number, because the real question is not "how much tax" but "which route am I on".

Route A works for listed activities supplied to a client abroad: software, design, engineering, architecture, data analysis and medical reporting among them. Where its conditions are met, the whole of the earnings is deducted from the taxable base. Route B is the same work when it is not on the list: translation, content writing, digital marketing, virtual assistance and consulting. The service still goes abroad and still carries no VAT, but the earnings deduction does not apply. Route C is not self-employment at all but a wage: being the Türkiye-based employee of a foreign employer, which produces no income tax when its conditions are met.

The order the calculation follows

First the earnings: documented business expenses are taken off the annual income. If you earn in foreign currency, the amount is converted at the rate when you were paid; the tool works from a single rate, so a volatile year can move the result.

Then the social security premium is deducted. The tool estimates it at the floor, the gross minimum wage; if you declare a higher base, the premium rises with it. Paying on time earns a five-point discount, which the tool asks about separately.

Then the reliefs, in order: the young entrepreneur exemption first, then the service export deduction on what remains. What is left is the taxable base, taxed under the 2026 tariff. The order matters, because the deduction works on the remaining earnings: if the exemption has already taken part of them, the base the deduction works on is smaller.

Why bringing the money to Türkiye changes everything

This is the most commonly missed condition: the whole of the earnings must reach Türkiye by the end of the filing period. If part stays in an account abroad, the deduction is not reduced pro rata; it is lost entirely, including for the part that did arrive.

When you leave that box unticked, a separate line appears under column A showing what it costs. For many people this is where the price of letting a platform balance build up abroad, or of leaving money with a foreign payment provider, actually shows up: the decision is rarely taken as a tax decision, the transfer is simply postponed.

VAT and social security: the two quiet items

No VAT is charged on services supplied to a client abroad, and that exemption does not look at the type of work, so a translator who cannot use the earnings deduction still benefits from it. On the other side, services bought from abroad, such as platform fees, can create a reverse-charge VAT filing. With a client in Türkiye the picture changes and 20% VAT applies.

Social security is separate from tax but in cash terms often larger than it. The annual figure appears as its own line in the results and is included in the effective burden, because what leaves your pocket matters more than what it is called.

Where the tool stops

The results are estimates. The tool assumes one income stream, one exchange rate and registration for the full year. A real return also takes in your other income, deductions such as education and health spending, advance tax paid during the year and any losses carried forward. In a mixed profile, where some work is on the list and some is not, income has to be split by type of work; the tool does not do that in one pass, so run it twice.

There is also a harder distinction. The same work is sometimes a wage and sometimes self-employment. If you work full time for a single foreign client, under their direction and with their tools, the relationship moves towards employment and the regime changes with it. Column C shows that possibility, but which column you are in is settled by the contract and by how the work actually runs.