According to Presidential Decree released on December 19th 2018, a withholding tax has been introduced for digital advertising.
Effective from 01.01.2019, a withholding tax is to be applied to payments made to companies such as Google, Facebook,Twitter, which are not taxpayer in Turkey. In this context, below withholdings are to be applied to advertising service provider in internet environment
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15%, if service provider is an individual (whether to be taxpayer or not)
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15%, if service provider is a limited taxpayer (foreigner)
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0%, if service proivider is a full taxpayer of corporate income tax
Moreover, if non-Turkey resident company provides a service in Turkey, or a service provided abroad which are utilised in Turkey, those type of services are liable to VAT. The provider is actually responsible for VAT in such transactions, but the taxpayer located in Turkey, who benefits from the service, is responsible for reporting and paying VAT as the provider does not reside in Turkey. This is called Reverse Charge VAT. The Reverse Charge VAT is allowed to be deducted from output VAT. In this way, the cost of Reverse Charge VAT is zero.
In conclusion, for invoices issued by companies outside of Turkey like Google Facebook and Instagram, gross amount is calculated through net amount of the invoices and then by VAT of 18% (Reverse Charge) and withholding of 15% have to be calculated through the gross amount by the taxpayer in Turkey. VAT is reported in VAT 2 Return; Withholding Tax in Withholding Return and these taxes are finally paid to tax office.
VATof 18% are collected by digital advertising company such as Facebook, Twitter etc in case purchaser of service does not register its tax number in the datebase of digital platforms. Which is why the purchaser is supposed to report its tax number to the platforms in order to prepare tax returns properly.