Selling Property in Turkey from the UK: Turkish Tax, the Deed Fee and Bringing the Money Home

Published 16 October 2026 · satisofisi.com Editorial Desk

You can sell a property in Turkey while living in the UK, and the tax bill depends mostly on how long you've owned it. Turkey taxes the gain only if you sell within five years of buying; after that, there's no Turkish tax on the profit. As the seller you pay a 2% title deed fee, and once any Turkish tax has been paid, your bank can send the money abroad. If you're UK resident, the gain also has to go on your UK tax return.

This guide works through the questions UK owners tend to ask when they sell: is there capital gains tax in Turkey, what the sale costs, whether the money can come back to the UK, and how HMRC treats it. The official sources we checked are listed at the end.

Is there capital gains tax in Turkey?

Yes, but only on a sale within five years. Turkish income tax law treats the profit from selling property within five years of the date you acquired it as a taxable gain. If you've owned it for longer than five years, the gain isn't taxed in Turkey. This rule doesn't apply to property you inherited or were given.

When the gain is taxable, two things reduce it. The first 150,000 Turkish lira of such gains in a calendar year is exempt. And if Turkey's official producer price index has gone up by 10% or more between the month you bought and the month before you sell, you can uplift your purchase price by the same percentage before calculating the gain.

What's left is taxed at Turkey's income tax rates, which rise in bands. For 2026 they are:

A worked example: if your gain after indexation is 1,000,000 lira, the 150,000-lira exemption leaves 850,000 lira taxable. Using the bands above, the first 400,000 lira is taxed at 70,500 lira (15% on the first 190,000 and 20% on the next 210,000), and 27% of the remaining 450,000 adds 121,500, so 192,000 lira in all.

How do you declare the gain in Turkey?

If you don't live in Turkey and don't otherwise file an annual Turkish return, the law requires you to declare a taxable gain on a one-off return (münferit beyanname). It goes to the tax office for the area where the property is, within 15 days of the sale.

If you've owned the property for more than five years, there's usually nothing to declare in Turkey. If you're selling sooner, ask a Turkish accountant to calculate the uplifted purchase price and file the return. Keep your purchase deed, the bank records of what you paid, and the sale documents together, as you'll need the same figures for HMRC.

What does it cost to sell?

The seller pays a title deed fee (tapu harcı) of 2% at the land registry, and the buyer pays another 2%. The fee is based on the sale price you declare at the land registry, which can't be lower than the local council's valuation used for Turkish property tax. Our guide Is It Safe to Buy Property in Turkey from the UK? covers the same fee from the buyer's point of view.

If you use an estate agent, their commission is a matter between you and them. Declare the price you're actually being paid: the tax, the fee and how much you can send home are all calculated from the price on the deed, so putting a lower figure on it can land both you and the buyer in difficulty.

Can you transfer the money from Turkey to the UK?

Yes. Under the Turkish Central Bank's rules on capital movements, someone living outside Turkey can ask a Turkish bank to send the money from a property sale abroad without restriction, once tax and any similar charges have been paid.

Ask your bank in advance which documents it needs for the transfer. Having the buyer pay the price into a Turkish bank account in your name keeps the paper trail simple, both for the transfer and for HMRC later.

Do you pay UK tax when you sell property in Turkey?

If you're UK resident, yes: HMRC says you pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell overseas property, and you may also have to pay tax in the country where the property is. The UK and Turkey have a double taxation agreement.

Where tax is due in both countries on a house or land abroad, HMRC's guidance is that it's the UK that gives relief for the Turkish tax. You claim Foreign Tax Credit Relief when you report the gain on your tax return, and the credit may not cover all the Turkish tax you paid. The 60-day reporting deadline you may have heard about applies to UK property, not to a sale abroad.

It's worth knowing two things. A sale after five years can be tax-free in Turkey and still produce a gain for UK tax, because the UK calculates the gain under its own rules. And if you left the UK, you may still owe UK tax on an overseas property sale if you come back within five years of leaving. It's worth asking a UK tax adviser to do the sums.

Turkish and UK tax at a glance

Questions UK sellers ask

What is the capital gains tax rate in Turkey?

There's no separate capital gains rate. The taxable gain is taxed at the income tax rates in the table above, from 15% to 40% in 2026.

Does the UK have a double taxation agreement with Turkey?

There is. The UK-Turkey agreement entered into force on 26 October 1988 and has applied to UK Capital Gains Tax since 6 April 1989.

I bought my flat for Turkish citizenship. Can I sell it?

A property bought for citizenship has a restriction on the title deed preventing its sale for three years. Once that period has passed and the restriction is removed, the sale follows the steps above; the citizenship rules themselves are covered in the guide for UK buyers linked earlier.

Sources

We checked these official texts on 16 October 2026.

• Turkish Income Tax Law No. 193: Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, supplementary Articles 80 and 81 (mükerrer), Articles 101 and 103 (in Turkish).
• Turkish Fees Law No. 492, Tariff (4), item 20/a: Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (in Turkish).
• Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, Capital Movements Circular (July 2026 version), Article 13 (in Turkish).
• GOV.UK (HM Revenue and Customs): "Tax when you sell property: selling overseas property", "Tax on foreign income: if you're taxed twice" and "Turkey: tax treaties".

If you're selling to buy again, our checklist for buying a new-build home in Turkey sets out what to compare, and you can browse new-build developments in Turkey by city.