Turkish Labor Law
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SGK base (also called as Earnings Subject to Premium) is the amount SGK and unemployment premium rates are applied.
An employee may receive different type of payments along with his/her basic salary, such as allowances, bonuses and other fringe benefits. All these payments constitute the employee’s total earnings.
EARNINGS SUBJECT TO PREMIUM
In calculation of SGK base it is important to know which earnings (payments) are subject to premium and which are not. Because the pay items are treated differently in the payroll from the point of premium deduction.
Most common earnings subject to premium are as follows;
- base salary
- overtime wage
- transportation allowance paid in cash
- premium
- bonus
EARNINGS NOT SUBJECT TO PREMIUM
As per Social Security And General Health Insurance Law No. 5510, Article 80; “benefits in kind and funeral, birth and marriage benefits, duty travel allowances, mobile duty compensation, severance pay, dismissal pay or collective payment in the form of severance pay, estimated cost, pay in lieu of notice or cash compensation, and food, child and family increments of which amount will be determined the Institution in years, private health insurance premiums and personal retirement contribution fees, not exceeding 30% of the monthly total minimum wage, paid by the employers to private health insurances and personal retirement system for insurance holders shall not be included in the earnings subject to premium.”
SGK PREMIUM BASE LIMITS
SGK base, also called “Earnings Subject to Premium,” has a lower and upper limit. In other words, the base cannot be lower or over these limits regardless of the total amount of earnings.
The lowest premium base is the daily or monthly minimum wage, and upper limit (cap of SGK base) is equal to 7.5 times of daily or monthly gross minimum wage. SGK contributions don’t change over this cap amount.
Lowest and Cap SGK *(SSI) Base Amounts
As monthly gross minimum wage is determined as ₺2,558.40 for 2019, we can calculate the limits as follows:
| Daily SGK Premium Base/Minimum Limit | 85.28 TRY | Monthly SGK Premium Base/Minimum Limit | 2,558.40 TRY |
| Daily SGK Premium Base/ Maximum Limit (Daily Cap of SGK Premium Base) | 639.60 TRY | Monthly SGK Premium Base/ Maximum Limit (Monthly Cap of SGK Premium Base) | 19,188.00 TR |
*SGK (Social Security Institution = SSI)
For earnings exceeding daily 639.60 TRY and/or 19,188.00 TRY SGK premium will not be applied.
