How to Calculate the Cost of Hiring Your First Employee in Türkiye

In this article, “cost” means the monthly payroll cost of an employee to the company: the gross wage plus the employer’s share of social security premiums and the unemployment insurance premium, less the Treasury discount where its conditions are met. Occupational health and safety services, medical examinations, equipment and similar expenses are not included in this calculation. In 2026 employer premiums are 21.75% of the gross wage in non-manufacturing sectors and 18.75% in manufacturing where the Treasury discount conditions are met. For a person paid the gross minimum wage (33,030 TL), the monthly payroll cost in non-manufacturing sectors is 40,214.03 TL where the Treasury discount conditions are met, and 40,874.63 TL where they are not. The minimum wage support depends on separate conditions and is deducted separately. Income tax and stamp tax are withheld from the employee’s gross wage; where the gross wage is the agreed figure, they create no additional cost for the employer.

This article sets out the 2026 amounts and premium rates that a foreign-owned company hiring its first employee needs to know, the notification and occupational health and safety obligations that apply before the employee starts work, and two step-by-step calculation examples.

Key Amounts for 2026

By its decision No. 2025/1 dated 23 December 2025, the Minimum Wage Determination Commission (Asgari Ücret Tespit Komisyonu) set a single national minimum wage. The minimum wage for one day of normal work is 1,101 TL for the period 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026. The monthly gross amount is 1,101 × 30 = 33,030 TL. The decision was published in the Official Gazette (Resmî Gazete) No. 33119 of 26 December 2025 and entered into force on 1 January 2026. It sets one amount for the whole year; no interim increase has been made during the year.

Earnings subject to premiums (prime esas kazanç) are the gross earnings on which Social Security Institution (SGK) premiums are calculated. The lower limit is the minimum wage. Law No. 7566 raised the upper limit from 7.5 times to 9 times the lower limit with effect from 1 January 2026 (5510 s.K. m. 82/1).

Premium Rates Applicable in 2026

Premium rates are set out in Article 81 of the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510 (Sosyal Sigortalar ve Genel Sağlık Sigortası Kanunu), and the unemployment insurance premium (işsizlik sigortası primi) in Article 49 of the Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447 (İşsizlik Sigortası Kanunu). Law No. 7566 made two significant changes from January 2026. The total rate for disability, old-age and survivors’ insurance (malullük, yaşlılık ve ölüm sigortası; long-term insurance) rose from 20% to 21%, an increase of 1 percentage point, and the increase was passed on to the employer’s share (from 11% to 12%). The Treasury discount (Hazine indirimi) fell from 4 percentage points to 2 percentage points in non-manufacturing sectors (7566 s.K. m. 23, 27 and 38/ç).

In this article, a “percentage point” expresses the difference between two rates. For example, deducting 2 percentage points from the employer premium rate of 23.75% gives 21.75%. This is not a reduction of 2 percent of 23.75%. In amount terms, a 2-percentage-point discount equals 2% of the gross wage.

The Treasury Discount and Its Conditions

The Treasury covers 2 percentage points of the employer’s share of disability, old-age and survivors’ insurance payable by private-sector employers (5510 s.K. m. 81/1-ı). For workplaces operating in the manufacturing sector, this is applied as 5 percentage points until the end of 2026 (5510 s.K. geçici m. 108). In practice, whether a workplace is in the manufacturing sector is determined by its activity code registered with the SGK (the NACE code), so choosing the correct code at registration is important.

According to the SGK, the following conditions must be met to benefit from the discount:

• the monthly premium and service document (aylık prim ve hizmet belgesi) or the withholding and premium service return (muhtasar ve prim hizmet beyannamesi, MUHSGK) is filed within the legal deadline;
• premiums are paid within the legal deadline;
• the employer has no debt to the Institution for premiums, administrative fines (idari para cezası) or late-payment surcharges (gecikme zammı) (restructured, deferred and instalment debts are not an obstacle as long as they are paid regularly);
• no unregistered or fictitious insured persons have been reported;
• the work is not a public procurement contract or a purchase or construction contract based on international agreements.

If any of these conditions is not met, the discount does not apply and the employer’s share is paid at the full rate (23.75%). The Treasury discount is separate from the minimum wage support; meeting the conditions of one does not mean that the other also applies.

The 2026 minimum wage table of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanlığı) shows the same results: the total cost to the employer is 39,223.13 TL in manufacturing (with the 5-percentage-point discount), 40,214.03 TL in other sectors (with the 2-percentage-point discount) and 40,874.63 TL without the discount. The table does not calculate income tax or stamp tax and does not include the minimum wage support.

2026 Minimum Wage Support

Under provisional Article 112, added to Law No. 5510 by Law No. 7573, private-sector employers receive support (asgari ücret desteği) of 42.33 TL per premium day for the months January to December 2026. For a full 30-day month this comes to 1,269.90 TL (about 1,270 TL). The support is not paid in cash; it is offset against the premiums the employer owes to the SGK and is funded from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The support is subject to conditions separate from those of the Treasury discount:

• Existing workplaces: The support is calculated on the total number of premium days in 2026. However, this number may not exceed the total premium days, in the same month of 2025, of insured persons reported with daily earnings subject to premiums of 1,300 TL or less. For this reason, an existing workplace that reported no insured persons in the same month of 2025 does not, as a rule, receive the support for its first employee.
• Workplaces coming within the scope for the first time in 2026: The support is calculated on the total number of premium days of the insured persons in 2026. No comparison with 2025 and no wage limit apply to these workplaces.
• Common conditions: documents are filed and premiums paid within the legal deadlines; the employer has no debt to the Institution for premiums, administrative fines or late-payment surcharges (restructured or deferred debts are not an obstacle as long as they are paid regularly); there is no unregistered employment, no reporting of fictitious insured persons and no under-reporting of earnings. Where sham arrangements are made to obtain the support, such as changing the workplace’s trade name or shifting employees between related companies, the support is recovered (5510 s.K. geçici m. 112).

In the examples below, the support is shown on a separate line on the assumption that the workplace comes within the scope for the first time in 2026.

What to Do Before Hiring the First Employee

Workplace Registration

The employer must submit the workplace notification (işyeri bildirgesi) to the SGK no later than the date on which it starts employing insured persons. Where the company’s formation is reported to the trade registry, this notification is deemed to have been made to the SGK and no separate workplace notification is prepared. The trade registry directorate (ticaret sicili müdürlüğü) forwards the information to the SGK within ten days at the latest (5510 s.K. m. 11). No fee is payable to the SGK for workplace registration. In practice, it should be checked that the company’s workplace registration number (işyeri sicil numarası) has been created and that the e-Bildirge (online notification system) password has been obtained. For post-formation steps, see our article on the first 90 days after company formation.

Notification of Employee Start (İşe Giriş Bildirgesi)

The general rule in the law is that the employee start notification (sigortalı işe giriş bildirgesi) is filed before insurance coverage begins (5510 s.K. m. 8/1). In practice, it is filed no later than the day before work starts. The law provides some exceptions to this rule:

• In construction, fishing and agricultural workplaces, the notification may be made no later than the day work starts (m. 8/1-a).
• For workplaces submitting a workplace notification to the SGK for the first time, employees who start within one month of the date on which the first insured person was employed may be notified by the end of that one-month period (m. 8/1-b). This exception applies only to the first month of a new workplace. Employees starting after the first month are notified before they start work.

Late notification results in an administrative fine. It may also affect the conditions for the Treasury discount and the minimum wage support.

Work Permit for a Foreign Employee

If the first employee is a foreign national, foreigners within the scope of the International Labour Force Law No. 6735 (Uluslararası İşgücü Kanunu) may not work or be employed in Türkiye without a work permit (çalışma izni) (6735 s.K. m. 6/2). The exception to this rule is the work permit exemption (çalışma izni muafiyeti). An exemption is a document issued by the Ministry that, while valid, gives a foreign national the right to work and reside without obtaining a work permit (6735 s.K. m. 3/1-ç). The persons and activities covered by exemptions are listed in Article 48 of the Implementing Regulation of the International Labour Force Law (Uluslararası İşgücü Kanunu Uygulama Yönetmeliği). An exemption is limited to the activity and period stated in the document; for example, for shareholders of companies who hold no executive position and for board members of joint-stock companies who do not reside in Türkiye, the exemption is for up to three months (Yönetmelik m. 48/1-ç). An exemption does not arise automatically; work should not start before the document is issued. From 17 September 2026, exemption applications are filed via calismaizni.csgb.gov.tr. For a salaried foreign employee who is not covered by an exemption, the employer applies for a work permit before the employee starts work.

For when a foreign shareholder or executive needs a work permit and when an exemption applies, see our article on work permits and exemptions for foreign shareholders and company directors.

Occupational Health and Safety Obligations

The Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 (İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Kanunu, İSG Kanunu) applies from the first employee, regardless of headcount. The main obligations are:

• Risk assessment (risk değerlendirmesi): The employer must carry out, or have carried out, an occupational health and safety risk assessment (6331 s.K. m. 10/1).
• Pre-employment medical examination: A medical examination is carried out when the employee starts work (6331 s.K. m. 15/1-a).
• Training: Occupational health and safety training is given to employees before they start work (6331 s.K. m. 17/1).
• Occupational safety specialist (iş güvenliği uzmanı) and workplace physician (işyeri hekimi): The employer provides these services with its own staff or by engaging a joint health and safety unit (ortak sağlık ve güvenlik birimi, OSGB) (6331 s.K. m. 6). In workplaces with fewer than fifty employees classified as low-hazard (az tehlikeli), the employer or its representative may perform this service personally after completing the training announced by the Ministry. Pre-employment and periodic examinations are outside this scope (6331 s.K. m. 6/1-a). The deferral granted to these workplaces ended on 31 December 2024. That date was removed from the text of the law by the Constitutional Court (Anayasa Mahkemesi) decision of 22 July 2025 (6331 s.K. m. 38/1-a-1). Therefore, in 2026 Article 6 also applies to these workplaces.

OSGB service fees are set freely in the market; this expense should be budgeted taking into account the workplace’s hazard class and headcount.

Tax Withholdings from the Employee’s Wage

Income tax (gelir vergisi) and stamp tax (damga vergisi) are withheld from the wage. The employer withholds them and pays them to the tax office. Where the gross wage is the agreed figure, these taxes create no additional cost for the employer. Where the wage is contractually agreed as a net amount, the tax burden shifts to the employer.

• Income tax: The 2026 tariff was set by the General Communiqué on Income Tax (Gelir Vergisi Genel Tebliği, Seri No: 332). The brackets for wage income are: up to 190,000 TL, 15%; up to 400,000 TL, 20%; up to 1,500,000 TL, 27%; up to 5,300,000 TL, 35%; above that, 40% (GVK m. 103; GVK Genel Tebliği Seri No: 332, m. 3/3). The tax base is the gross wage less the employee’s SGK and unemployment premiums. The base is tracked cumulatively from the start of the year. As a result, with the same gross wage, the employee moves into a higher bracket during the year and the net wage falls.
• Minimum wage exemption (asgari ücret istisnası): The wage corresponding to the amount remaining after the employee’s SGK and unemployment premiums are deducted from the gross minimum wage is exempt from income tax (GVK m. 23/1-18). For higher wages, tax is first calculated on the whole wage. The tax corresponding to the exempt amount is then deducted from it. The deducted tax may not exceed the tax calculated on that month’s minimum wage. Where wages are received from more than one employer, the exemption applies only to the highest wage.
• Stamp tax: Wage slips (ücret makbuzu) are subject to stamp tax at 7.59 per mille (488 s.K. (1) sayılı tablo IV-1-b). The portion corresponding to the monthly gross minimum wage is exempt from stamp tax (488 s.K. (2) sayılı tablo IV-34).

Calculation Examples (2026)

Assumptions: A limited company with a foreign shareholder, established in Istanbul, hires its first employee in 2026. The employee is a Turkish citizen, works a full 30 days and has no wage from another employer. There are no additional payments such as overtime, bonuses, meals or transport. The calculations show payroll cost. The Treasury discount conditions are assumed to be met; the amount where they are not met is given on a separate line. The minimum wage support is shown on a separate line on the assumption that the workplace comes within the scope for the first time in 2026 and meets the support conditions. The main calculation is for a non-manufacturing sector (for example, consultancy or trade); the manufacturing sector is shown on a separate line. Amounts are rounded to the kuruş.

Example 1: Gross Minimum Wage (33,030 TL), January 2026

Because the wage of a minimum-wage employee is fully exempt from income tax and stamp tax throughout the year, the net wage is 28,075.50 TL every month. The employer cost is also the same every month.

Example 2: Gross 80,000 TL, January 2026

Cumulative Bracket Note: The 80,000 TL Wage Over the Year

Even though the gross wage stays the same, the cumulative income tax base rises by 68,000 TL each month. As a result, the employee’s tax increases during the year. The minimum wage exemption is also calculated on the cumulative minimum wage base (28,075.50 TL per month) and moves into the 20% bracket in July. Where the gross wage is the agreed figure, the employer cost (97,400 TL) does not change. Only the employee’s net wage falls.

The cumulative base reaches 816,000 TL at year-end, so the 35% bracket starting at 1,500,000 TL is not reached. If the wage is contractually agreed as a net amount, the gross wage must be increased at each bracket change to maintain the net amount. In that case, the employer cost also rises during the year.

Practical Notes

• The Treasury discount, the minimum wage support and other incentives depend on timely filing and payment. For existing workplaces, the minimum wage support also requires the comparison with 2025. The MUHSGK return should therefore be filed on time from the first month. For the payroll process, see our payroll services page.
• The 5-percentage-point discount for the manufacturing sector is valid until 31 December 2026. When preparing 2027 budgets, it should be checked separately whether this period has been extended.
• For gross wages above the upper limit of earnings subject to premiums (297,270 TL per month in 2026), premiums are calculated on the upper limit, while tax is withheld on the whole wage.
• For the formation and registration of companies with foreign shareholders, see our company formation with foreign shareholders page.

For your company’s specific situation, you can write to us through our contact page.

Last legislation check: 9 November 2026 · Period covered: 1 January – 31 December 2026 (2026 minimum wage, premium rates, Treasury discount and minimum wage support)