Turkish Tax Number for Foreigners: How to Get One and Why You Need It
It is free, it is issued by the Revenue Administration, and nearly every other step of a Turkish property purchase depends on it. Here is what the number is, how to apply online from abroad, and the distinction that trips buyers up most.
The number everything else hangs off
Foreign buyers tend to arrive at a Turkish purchase with a mental checklist that starts with the property. In administrative terms the sequence runs the other way round. Before a bank account can be opened, before a notary will draw up a power of attorney, before the land registry will register a transfer into your name, and before an electricity meter can be put in your name, you need a Turkish tax identification number.
For a foreign national who does not hold a Turkish identity number, the relevant document is the potansiyel vergi kimlik numarası — the potential tax identification number. It is issued by the Turkish Revenue Administration, the Gelir İdaresi Başkanlığı or GİB. The word “potential” refers to the holder rather than the number: it identifies a person who may come to have Turkish tax obligations, without creating any obligation in itself.
It is a genuine, working identifier rather than a provisional placeholder. Banks accept it to open accounts, notaries accept it for deeds and powers of attorney, land registry offices accept it to register ownership, and utility companies accept it to open subscriptions. The great majority of foreign property buyers in Turkey transact on exactly this number.
The application is made to GİB, either online through the İnteraktif Vergi Dairesi — the Interactive Tax Office at ivd.gib.gov.tr, with a dedicated foreigners’ form at dijital.gib.gov.tr/foreigners/kimlikNoBasvuru — or in person at any tax office. Both addresses were live when this guide was published on 31 August 2026. GİB provides the number at no charge through the Interactive Tax Office.
The step that most often goes wrong is not the application itself but its timing. Buyers who apply early can run their banking, their legal work and their property search in parallel. Buyers who leave it until the reservation form is signed discover that several other steps were waiting on it all along.
The potential tax number at a glance
For foreign nationals without a Turkish identity number
How to get a Turkish tax number
The online route from abroad, and what to do differently if you are applying in person.
Have your passport in front of you
The application is built around your passport, so the data page is the document you need. Everything you enter — given names, surname, date and place of birth, passport number — should be copied from it exactly rather than from memory or from another document.
Open the GİB foreigners’ application
Go to the İnteraktif Vergi Dairesi at ivd.gib.gov.tr and select the application for a potential tax number for foreigners, or go directly to the dedicated form at dijital.gib.gov.tr/foreigners/kimlikNoBasvuru. Use the official GİB domains rather than a third-party site offering to do it for you at a price.
Complete the identity and contact fields
Alongside your passport particulars you will be asked for contact details including an email address and a telephone number, and to attach a scan or photograph of your passport data page. Enter a mother’s and father’s name if asked; these are standard fields in Turkish identity records rather than an unusual request.
Submit and download the document
The system produces an official document carrying your number, which you download and keep. Save it somewhere durable and send a copy to your conveyancer, because you will be asked for it repeatedly over the following weeks.
Or apply in person at any tax office
If you are already in Turkey, or you would rather not apply online, you can attend any vergi dairesi with your original passport and a photocopy of it. This is the standard fallback when an online application will not go through — a passport the system will not read, for instance.
Check the details before you use it
Read the issued document against your passport before it starts appearing on bank forms and deeds. Correcting a transliterated name at this stage is an administrative errand; correcting it after it is embedded in a title deed record is a different problem entirely.
Where you will be asked for the number
The tax number is less a tax document than a general key to transacting in Turkey as a foreign national.
Opening a bank account
A Turkish bank account is where purchase funds land and where utility direct debits are set up. The tax number is a standard requirement to open one, which is why it has to come first.
Notary transactions
Powers of attorney, sale undertakings and translated documents are executed before a Turkish notary, and the notary records the tax number of each party. Remote buyers rely on this route heavily.
Registering the title deed
Transfer of ownership is registered at the land registry against the identity of the new owner. For a foreign buyer without a Turkish identity number, the tax number is that identifier.
Utilities and subscriptions
Electricity, water, gas and internet subscriptions are opened in the owner’s name, and the provider records the tax number. Expect it to be requested again after completion.
Vehicles and insurance
Buying a vehicle, and taking out insurance policies, both involve the same identifier. Owners who spend part of the year in Turkey typically meet it in several contexts beyond the property itself.
Paying tax you actually owe
Annual property tax on a home you own, and tax on Turkish rental income, are assessed against this number. That is its original purpose, even if buyers meet it first as an administrative key.
Potential tax number, foreigner ID and tax residency
Three things that get run together in conversation and mean quite different things in practice.
| Potential tax number | Foreigner identity number | Tax residency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A tax identifier for foreign nationals | An eleven-digit identity number beginning 99 | A status determined by law |
| Who has it | Any foreign national who applies | Foreign nationals holding a residence permit | Those meeting the residency criteria |
| How you get it | Apply to GİB, online or in person | Issued with a residence permit | Not applied for — it follows from circumstances |
| Cost | No charge | Part of the residence permit process | Not applicable |
| Enough to buy property? | Да | Да | Not required to buy |
| Creates a tax liability? | Нет | Нет | This is what determines liability |
| Used at the land registry | Да | Да | Not an identifier |
| Replaced by | The foreigner ID number, once issued | Not replaced | Reassessed as circumstances change |
Starting a Turkish purchase and not sure of the running order?
We take foreign buyers through the sequence in the right order — tax number, banking, due diligence, then completion — so nothing sits waiting on a step that could have been done weeks earlier.
Turkish tax numbers — frequently asked questions
What foreign buyers ask most about getting and using a Turkish tax identification number.
Where to go next
The steps either side of this one, from opening a bank account to registering the title.
- Opening a bank account in Turkey — the step that comes immediately after the tax number.
- The tapu and Turkish title deeds — how ownership is recorded and what the deed shows.
- Taxes in Turkey for foreigners — what the number is actually used to assess.
- Property taxes in Turkey — the annual charges that come with owning a Turkish home.
- Can foreigners buy property in Turkey? — eligibility, restrictions and the zones that are off limits.
- Seven pitfalls foreign buyers still fall into — the avoidable omissions that cause most problems.
- DASK earthquake insurance — the compulsory cover, and what changed on 5 September 2026.
- All Turkey property guides — our full index of buyer guides and area research.
Get the groundwork done before you view
Tell us where you are in the process and we will map the sequence for you — tax number, bank account, power of attorney and due diligence — so that when you find the right property nothing is holding up completion. We work with licensed Turkish conveyancers and advisers.
Присоединиться к обсуждению