Turkish Labor Law
The criteria for the 5-point treasury discount have been changed. This discount from which most employers have benefited is a 5% discount on the insurance premiums that the employer is obliged to pay for each insured employee as long as the employer reported and paid the premiums on a regular basis and properly at the workplaces. With the new regulation, the premium of all the workplaces of the same employer rather than the specific workplace (like it used to be) will be checked.
Legal Basis of the New Regulation
As stated in the “i” clause of Article 81 of the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510, the amount corresponding to 5 points of the employer’s share of the premiums paid on behalf of the long-term insurance branches for the employees was covered by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance for the employers that meet the criteria. For this, employers must have paid their insurance and unemployment premiums within the legal deadline. In addition, there should not be any administrative fines and/or related penalties and increment debts due to late payment.
This application has been updated with the SSI Circular No. 2021/26 published on 19 July 2021. While debt inquiry was made for the specific workplace before, it is now applicable for the debt of all workplaces of the same employer operating in Turkey.
Debts need to be paid across Turkey
As of the withholding and premium service declaration for September 2021, all the workplaces of the employer in Turkey will be inquired instead of the one workplace that is in question for the 5 point discount. In case the employer has an overdue premium debt, administrative fine or delay penalty of more than 15TL in total at any workplace, the treasury discount of 5 points will not apply.
In other words, employers who have workplace files in more than one SGK across Turkey must have paid their debts of all workplaces throughout Turkey, in order to benefit from the 5-point discount. A late payment in any workplace disqualifies the workplace from the 5-point discount.
Not registered in the name of the employer and not in the position of subcontractor;
- If the workplace acts as a partner, senior manager and employer representative
- If the employer is an individual, premium debts within the scope of 4/b or 60/g arising from the employer’s own insurance
the debts will not be checked to qualify for the 5-point discount.
In workplaces benefiting from regional incentives, employers who lose their right to a 5-point discount for this reason will not be able to benefit from the 6-point regional incentive application for the relevant month. (Muhtemel ceviri)
Regulation Effective From September
The amendment made with the Circular numbered 2021/26 will be valid for the concise premium and service declarations for the period of September 2021, and need to be notified until October 26, 2021.
