Prepare before leaving your current country.

Build your residence evidence

The exemption looks back at the three calendar years before the year you become settled in Türkiye. For a 2026 settlement, the relevant years are 2023, 2024 and 2025. This is not simply the preceding 36 months. Prior Turkish domicile or disqualifying tax liability can matter even if most of your time was abroad.

Gather foreign residence certificates, tax returns and assessments, tenancy or ownership records, employment evidence and travel history. Turkish address records and tax registrations should also be checked. A foreign residence certificate supports a case; it does not by itself resolve the Turkish statutory test.

Do not change, conceal or backdate historic records to fit the rules. If an address is wrong, seek a properly documented correction through the relevant authority and ask how it affects the legal analysis.

Close the departure-country loop

1. Tell your tax adviser your planned departure date, retained home, family ties, work pattern and expected return visits. Ask about residence tests and any split-year treatment.
2. Check whether departure creates an exit tax, capital-gains event, deferred charge or special reporting. Review shareholdings, trusts, pensions, stock awards and private businesses before selling or restructuring.
3. Confirm how retained rent, employment, directorships or pensions will be reported after moving. A Turkish exemption does not erase foreign-source taxation.
4. Update banks and investment providers with your actual address and tax residence when appropriate. Ask whether products can be retained by Turkish residents.
5. Arrange continued access to tax portals, two-factor authentication, official mail and a professional representative. Keep enough liquidity in accessible accounts during the transition.

Country-specific starting points

For UK departures, HMRC provides guidance on residence and whether departure information belongs in Self Assessment or a P85 process. Do not assume buying a ticket or spending fewer than 183 days in one place settles every residence question.

US citizens and resident aliens can retain US worldwide filing obligations while abroad, with separate foreign-account reporting considerations. Obtain US advice before treating the Turkish exemption as a reduction of the total tax bill. Other countries have their own exit and continuing-obligation rules.

Prepare documents and practical arrangements

Ask the receiving Turkish office for a current checklist before ordering apostilles and translations. Birth, marriage, custody, education and company documents may require different treatment. Apostille or consular legalisation requirements depend on the document and issuing country; a notarised photocopy is not automatically enough.

Prepare secure digital copies and carry required originals separately from shipped belongings. Arrange insurance from arrival, short-term accommodation, school records and essential prescription documentation. Check customs rules before shipping household goods or a vehicle; the personal income exemption is not a customs concession.

Your document checklist

This is a preparation list. The receiving authority or bank may require additional or different documents.

• Foreign tax-residence and tax payment evidence for each relevant year
• Entry/exit history and Turkish historic address/tax records
• Birth, marriage and custody records as relevant
• Translations/legalisation requested by the receiving office
• Bank and broker confirmation of post-move access
• Departure-country advice and household relocation budget

Ask your adviser

• Do retained ties keep me resident in the departure country?
• Are there exit taxes or temporary non-residence rules?
• Which documents need an apostille and a Turkish translation?