Buying Through a Turkish Company vs Personal Name: Structure, Tax and the CBI Trap

Last updated: August 2026

Your accountant says "put it in a company." For most businesses, in most countries, that is sensible reflex advice. In Türkiye, if citizenship is part of your plan, it can be the single most expensive mistake available. Before we compare tax rates or running costs, here is the rule that decides everything about buying property in Turkey through a company: the citizenship-by-investment programme requires the qualifying property to be owned personally, in the applicant's own name. Property held by a company — even one you own 100% — does not qualify. That is the current rule as of August 2026; confirm the latest position with GMC before structuring anything.

Everything else in this article is nuance on top of that headline. Let's take it in order.

The rule that decides everything

Türkiye's citizenship regulation ties the USD 400,000 property route to acquisition by the foreign applicant as a natural person: the tapu (title deed) must carry your name, the SPK-licensed appraisal is issued for your acquisition, and the no-sale commitment (3 years) is annotated against you personally. A Turkish limited company (limited şirket) is a separate legal person — when it buys, the company owns the property and you own shares. Shares are not tapu. No tapu in your name, no citizenship file.

We call this the CBI trap because it usually surfaces late: a buyer forms a company for "tax efficiency," completes the purchase, then discovers the file cannot be lodged — and unwinding means a second transfer with a second round of title fees and taxes, plus a restarted clock. The USD 400K route guide shows where personal title sits in the sequence.

For citizenship buyers, the answer is: personal name, full stop.

Not sure which side of the line your plan falls on? Run it through GMC Pre-Check® — a free structural screen of your goal, budget and timeline: glmbcp.com/precheck

When buying property in Turkey through a company does make sense

A company is not the villain — it is a tool for a different job. A Turkish limited şirket earns its keep when:

• You are building a multi-asset portfolio beyond the CBI property. Five rental flats under one roof, consolidated accounting, one balance sheet.
• You operate commercially at scale — short-let licensing, serviced apartments, an office floor rented to your own trading business.
• You want liability separation between the property risk and your personal wealth.
• You have VAT-recovery scenarios: commercial operators charging VAT on rent or services can typically offset input VAT paid on acquisitions — impossible for a private individual.
• Succession and exit planning: transferring company shares can be simpler than transferring title deeds, useful for family holdings and partial exits.
• You have partners or co-investors and need a cap table, not a co-ownership headache on a single tapu.

None of these advantages requires the citizenship property to sit inside the company — which is why the hybrid structure below exists.

How a foreign-capital company actually buys property

A Turkish company with foreign shareholders does not buy like a local company. Under Article 36 of the Land Registry Law No. 2644, companies with majority foreign capital or foreign control acquire real estate through a governorship (valilik) procedure that screens the property against military and special security zones. In practice this adds several weeks and some documentary weight to the transaction. It is routine — GMC coordinates dozens of these — but it is slower than a personal purchase, and it is one more reason not to interpose a company without a concrete benefit. The statutory text is on the official legislation portal (mevzuat.gov.tr).

Tax: personal vs company ownership

Rates below are indicative as of August 2026 and hedged deliberately — brackets and rates move, and your residence country's treaty position matters. Confirm current figures with GMC and Turkish tax counsel before acting. Official source: Revenue Administration (gib.gov.tr).

Two lines in that table do most of the work. First, the 5-year exemption: an individual who holds for five years typically exits tax-free on the gain; a company never does. For a buy-hold-sell investor, that single feature often outweighs every corporate advantage. Second, the double layer: corporate tax plus dividend withholding means company profits reach your pocket thinner than personal rental income at comparable brackets, unless you reinvest inside the company. For rate context on rental strategy, see our Turkish property taxes guide for foreign buyers.

What a company costs to run

A company that exists only to hold one apartment burns USD 2,000–5,000 a year producing no benefit an individual owner would not have had — and forfeits the 5-year exemption while doing it. That is the arithmetic your accountant's reflex advice has to beat.

The hybrid structure most HNW families actually use

In practice, sophisticated files split cleanly:

1. The citizenship property — personal name. Tapu in the applicant's name, SPK appraisal, bank transfer trail, 3-year no-sale annotation. Clean, eligible, done.
2. Everything else — corporate. The rental portfolio, the commercial floor, the operating business sit inside a limited şirket (or more than one), with liability separation, consolidated accounts and share-based succession.

You get citizenship eligibility and corporate efficiency without forcing one structure to do the other's job. GMC coordinates this with Turkish tax counsel on every structured file — and if the corporate side is needed, our company formation desk sets up the şirket in parallel so neither track waits on the other.

Want a second opinion on a structure you have been given? Message our advisory team on WhatsApp at +90 544 457 55 12 or book a fixed-fee consultation in Istanbul (Altunizade), Athens or Dubai.

Decision tree: which name goes on the tapu?

This table is a starting point, not an opinion on your file — as of August 2026, confirm your specific structure with GMC before signing anything.

How GMC handles structure questions

We are advisers on the property and migration file, not a substitute for tax counsel — so we work with vetted Turkish tax lawyers and CPAs, and we bring the property facts they need: independent valuation on every file, verified title and zoning status, realistic rent projections from hand-checked inventory. Our fee is fixed, we are an Investment Migration Council (IMC) member, and if the honest answer is "you do not need a company," that is the answer you will get.

The bottom line

Buying property in Turkey through a company is the right answer to a specific question — scale, liability, VAT, succession — and the wrong answer to the citizenship question, every time. Decide the goal first, then the structure: personal tapu for the passport, corporate wrapper for the business, hybrid when you want both. The expensive version of this article is reading it after the deed is signed.

Get the structure right before the deposit moves. Start with a free Pre-Check® at glmbcp.com/precheck, or sit down with GMC and our tax counsel network — fixed fee, three offices, one clear recommendation.