When an individual pension participant dies, the person to whom the savings are paid is determined together with the beneficiary record in the contract. If there is no beneficiary, the statutory heirs come into play. A payment because of death is not a transaction that waits for the participant to reach retirement age or to complete the time in the system that would apply under normal conditions. BES savings, the life insurance benefit and the SGK death pension are separate rights. [1] [2]
First, the contract and the rights holder are identified
An heir can search for the pension company that holds a contract through the inquiry channels for heirs announced by EGM. If the scope of the electronic record is insufficient, an application is made to the company or to EGM with a certificate of inheritance. Because there may be more than one contract, automatic enrolment or employer contributions, examining a single bank account is not enough. [2]
The company is asked for the contract number, plan type, beneficiary record, beneficiary changes, savings, State contribution and, if any, information on restrictions on the right. A person’s name appearing in the contract and that person still being the valid beneficiary may not be the same thing; the latest change and the date of death are examined together.
Application documents and the time period
| Document or information | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Death certificate | Verification of the death |
| Certificate of inheritance | Determination of the heirs where needed |
| Beneficiary record | Contractual entitlement |
| Identity and representation | The applicant’s authority |
| Death payment request | Explicit application to the company |
| Tax document and account details | Payment conditions and recipient |
The EGM guide explains the documents required for a death payment and the twenty-business-day payment period upon request. If a document is missing, the date on which it was completed should be recorded. Asking for information by telephone is not the same as making the application required for payment. The company’s notices of missing documents and its acknowledgments of receipt are kept. [2]
A rights holder abroad can apply through an appropriate power of attorney. Whether the foreign death certificate and certificate of inheritance can be used, and the translation and certification requirements, are examined. That the payment account belongs to the rights holder, and the currency/account conditions the company requires, are confirmed separately.
Income tax and inheritance tax are calculated separately
In a BES payment made because of death, there is generally a five percent income tax withholding on the returns; the deduction should not be described as five percent of the entire principal. Special statutory exemptions are assessed separately. The character of the remaining payment as an inheritance or a gratuitous transfer is determined according to the rights holder’s situation. [4] [2]
For example, solely to show the calculation method, if the return subject to deduction is assumed to be 100,000 Turkish lira (TL) and there is no special exemption, the five percent deduction is 5,000 TL. This example does not calculate the total payment amount or any inheritance and transfer tax that may arise separately. Automatically applying the same tax result to a beneficiary and to an heir is not correct. [5]
The legal source of the BES payment must be determined correctly
An individual pension contract is a system relationship that invests pension savings in funds; it is not the same product as a life insurance policy. That they were sold through the same bank or company channel does not change this distinction. In a death file, which pension contracts exist, and each contract’s participant, beneficiary, funds and State contribution account, must be determined separately. The presence of a beneficiary in one contract does not automatically determine entitlement under another contract. [1] [2]
The app balance seen on the deceased person’s phone is not the final payment calculation. The date of the display, fund prices, the recording of the contributions and the status of the State contribution affect the result. An official account statement should be obtained from the company contract by contract; the information on the date of death and the calculation as of the payment date should be kept separate.
The relationship between the beneficiary record and the certificate of inheritance
The latest valid beneficiary record must be investigated
The beneficiary’s identity, the date of designation or change, the proportions if there is more than one beneficiary, and how the record is reflected in the company’s system are examined. If a different name appears on an old copy of the contract, the latest valid instruction is investigated. An oral statement by the family or the deceased person’s personal note does not by itself change the beneficiary record in the contract. The company should be asked to state in writing on which document it will base the payment. [2]
A certificate of inheritance does not show that all death payments will be made to the heirs in proportion to their shares. If the beneficiary arrangement in the contract applies, the rights holder is determined separately. On the other hand, where there is no beneficiary or the specific designation raises a legal problem, certificates of inheritance may become important. It should be clear whether the objection is directed at the beneficiary’s identity, at the validity of the instruction, or at the amount in the account.
A minor or foreign beneficiary
That the rights holder is a minor does not mean that the money can be paid to the representative as if it were the representative’s personal property. The representative’s status, any permissions that may be required and the protection of the money are assessed. For a foreign beneficiary, identity, name-matching, tax and payment account documents may additionally be requested. That a document was issued in a foreign country may give rise to a need for certification and translation; the same checklist should not be assumed for all foreign documents. [3]
State contribution and the calculation of fund value
In the case of death, entitlement to the State contribution and its returns differs from cases of leaving the system that depend on the ordinary time period. The explanation of entitlement in the event of death in the EGM guide should be taken as the basis; the partial vesting table used for early departure should not be carried over automatically to a death payment. The participant’s own savings, their return, the State contribution and the return on the State contribution should be shown as separate items. [2]
Because funds depend on market value, the estimated amount on the day of application and the sale and payment calculation may not be the same. Rights holders should ask on which date which fund was redeemed, the unit price applied and, if any, the transaction cost. The period the company waited because of missing documents and the sale or payment period of the funds are recorded separately. The mere fact that a higher balance was seen on a screen does not show that the whole difference is the company’s error; the price movement and the calculation method are examined.
How is the date on which the application is deemed complete documented?
The EGM participant information guide explains a twenty-business-day period, linked to the required documents reaching the company, for a death payment. It matters on which set of documents the starting date is based. Notifying the application by a first e-mail and completing all required documents may be different dates. The company should be asked in writing for the list of missing documents and the date on which the complete file was received. [2]
If documents are sent in parts, a record of each submission is kept. When the company asserts a new deficiency, it is asked whether this was included in the earlier request and why it is necessary. Unnecessary or repeated requests may matter in assessing the payment delay; however, a genuinely missing identity or representation document should not be disregarded either. In a dispute, which side the delay originates from should be shown with documents.
Which items are separated in the tax calculation?
On leaving the system because of death, the rate and base used for the income tax withholding should not be applied indiscriminately to the entire savings. The explanation of the five percent rate in the EGM guide should be read together with the relevant return base. The legal and tax character of the principal, return and State contribution items is separated in the company’s statement. In addition, for inheritance and transfer tax, the rights holder’s status and the nature of the payment are examined separately. [2] [5]
In the hypothetical example, calculating five percent directly from the amount the company shows as “total savings” may give a wrong result because the base has not been separated. First the breakdown of contributions and returns in the contract account is found, and then the statutory deduction base. That income tax withholding has been made on the same payment does not show that all declaration and tax clearance requirements have ended with respect to another tax.
Claims must be separated in cases of underpayment and beneficiary disputes
Where an error in calculation is alleged, the contract, contribution records, fund movements, sale date, deductions and the bank receipt (dekont) for the payment are compared. In a dispute over entitlement, on the other hand, the beneficiary instruction and the identity and representation records come to the fore. A single sentence such as “payment was not made” does not show the evidence for these two different problems. After the application to the company and the answer received, the competent authority and the prerequisites for litigation that may apply are determined according to the nature of the relationship.
It is not correct to treat a BES dispute automatically as a life insurance arbitration file merely because the word insurance appears in the company’s name. Whether the route to be followed is applicable in terms of the contract and the institution is verified separately. An administrative complaint or an internal review by the company does not mean that the time limit for bringing an action stops by itself.
When the payment is completed, the net amount, the rights holder’s account, the tax deductions and the contracts that were closed are checked. That only one of several BES contracts has been paid does not show that all of the deceased person’s pension savings have been collected. The closing report should contain a separate result for each contract.
A real Court of Cassation decision: Can payment to the beneficiary be blocked by an objection based on the reserved portion?
The subject of the dispute and the decision given
In the decision of the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay 11. Hukuk Dairesi) dated September 24, 2013, E. 2011/13687, K. 2013/16475, the person named as the beneficiary in the BES contract asked, after the participant’s death, for the savings to be paid to that person. The company did not pay, citing the rights of the heirs entitled to a reserved portion, and deposited the money at the place of deposit designated by the court. In the proceedings after the reversal, a judgment granting the claim in part was rendered regarding payment to the beneficiary; the Court of Cassation upheld that judgment. The decision shows the importance of the beneficiary record in the payment relationship. Access to the full text in the private database may require an account.
The event in the decision concerns a death in 2005 and the contract arrangements of that period. The word “insurance” used in the text does not lead to the conclusion that BES and life insurance are the same product today. Likewise, this decision does not mean that all claims of the heirs entitled to a reserved portion were rejected or that every beneficiary record is beyond dispute valid. The company’s payment obligation and the separate private-law claims that heirs may direct against the beneficiary are different matters. If there is a specific interim injunction or an allegation that the designation is invalid, this must be examined separately.
In practice, which documents change the outcome?
The beneficiary designation form, later changes, the record of the instruction having been transmitted to the company, and the contract valid on the date of death should be requested together. A company holding the entire file for an indefinite period solely on the statement that “the heirs are objecting” is not the same as a court ordering an injunction on a specific amount. The legal basis and scope of the holding should be asked about in writing. It should be clarified whether the heir’s objection is based on a ground of validity such as signature or lack of capacity, on the reserved portion, or on the payment calculation.
How does foreign citizenship affect the State contribution calculation?
Being able to join BES and becoming entitled to the State contribution depend on separate conditions. The contribution regime provided under Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 4632 for Turkish citizens, and for persons within the scope of Article 28 of Law No. 5901, is taken into account. That a foreign person has a BES account does not by itself show that State contribution must be credited to all of that person’s past payments. Nor does the fact that the heir is a Turkish citizen today retroactively change the decedent’s past contribution conditions. Law No. 4632
In a file involving a change of citizenship, the date of the change, each payment period and the company’s calculation records should be compared together. “One hundred percent vesting on death” means full vesting of the State contribution in the account; it does not mean that a new State payment equal to the total savings will be made. Confusing the contribution rate with the vesting rate leads to a wrong calculation of the expected amount.
The 2026 contribution rate and the vesting rate on death are not the same
In EGM’s statement on the State contribution and in the law’s note on Presidential Decision No. 10811, the twenty percent contribution rate applied in 2026 to contributions in Turkish currency is stated. This rate is different from becoming entitled, because of death, to the whole of the State contribution in the account. The rates of earlier years, the annual limits and the amounts earned are examined as preserved according to their own periods; the whole past account is not rebuilt with the new rate.
Documents and payment plan when applying from abroad
Foreign death certificate and heirship record
Recording a foreign death certificate in the records in Türkiye and submitting it to the pension company are separate procedures. The country that issued the document, the international convention, the apostille or an exemption from certification, and the need for a Turkish translation should be determined in advance. An apostille does not finalize the inheritance shares stated in the document under substantive law. An identity-matching document may be needed because names are written in different alphabets, a surname changed after marriage, or multiple citizenships.
When a power of attorney is prepared, the powers to obtain information from the company, to request the contract and beneficiary records, to file the death payment application and to carry out the necessary tax procedures should be drafted according to the intended transaction. Whether the collection will be made to the attorney-in-fact’s account or directly to the rights holder should be decided separately. If the company requires an account in Türkiye, the file should not be sent on the assumption that a foreign IBAN is sufficient.
How is a completed transaction documented?
In the final statement, the contract number, the participant’s savings, the State contribution account, the fund sale date, the tax base, the deduction and the net payment should be shown separately. If there is more than one beneficiary, the amount each receives should be tied to a written distribution table. The bank receipt for the payment, the tax document and the confirmation that the contract has been closed are kept. If there are other contracts or pending contributions, these are stated in the file as open items; the arrival of the first transfer alone does not show that all procedures are finished.
The order of steps that can be followed in a disputed file
| Problem | Priority document | First legal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Beneficiary record is disputed | Latest instruction and transmission record | Validity of the designation and representation |
| Amount is low | Fund movements and deduction statement | Separating price change from calculation error |
| Company is holding the file | Letter of deficiency or rejection | Date the application was completed and reason for the delay |
| Heirs are objecting | Basis of the objection, injunction if any | Limit between the company’s payment obligation and the separate inheritance claim |
| Foreign document is not accepted | Reasoned request for documents | Certification, translation and entitlement regime |
These distinctions do not mean that every dispute must be resolved by directly filing a lawsuit. First, a document or calculation deficiency that can be remedied is completed. On the other hand, if the obstacle to payment rests on legal entitlement, sending all the documents again may not by itself produce a solution. The addressee of the claim, the competent authority, the time limits and, if necessary, a protective measure must be assessed together.
Conclusion
A BES death file is completed by correctly identifying the beneficiary and separating the calculation of savings, State contribution, return and deduction. The net payment, the tax documents and any ongoing dispute over entitlement should be checked together.
Related articles: A foreign heir’s transfer of title in the land registry; Sale of an inherited home from abroad; Transfer of an inherited vehicle; Estate procedures without coming to Türkiye, and power of attorney; A foreign heir’s certificate of inheritance; The effect of a foreign certificate of inheritance in Türkiye; Death Benefit under Life Insurance; How Are Inherited Shares and Investment Funds Transferred?
Frequently Asked Questions
If a participant dies before reaching retirement age, is a payment made?
A payment because of death is assessed separately from the normal retirement conditions.
Is the whole State contribution received?
In the event of death, the full vesting rule applies to the State contribution in the account; whether the person was entitled to the contribution is checked separately.
Is BES money always divided according to inheritance shares?
No. The valid beneficiary record and the contract terms are examined.
Is the five percent deducted from the entire savings?
The general rule is a deduction on the returns; the base and special exemptions are calculated separately.
Sources and legal bases
- Law No. 4632 on the Individual Pension Savings and Investment System (Bireysel Emeklilik Tasarruf ve Yatırım Sistemi Kanunu)
- EGM Participant Information Guide (Katılımcı Bilgilendirme Rehberi), death and taxation sections
- Law No. 4721, Turkish Civil Code (Türk Medeni Kanunu)
- Income Tax Law No. 193 (Gelir Vergisi Kanunu)
- Law No. 7338 on Inheritance and Transfer Tax (Veraset ve İntikal Vergisi Kanunu)
- In the decision of the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay 11. Hukuk Dairesi) dated September 24, 2013, E. 2011/13687, K. 2013/16475,
- In EGM’s statement on the State contribution