Selling a home-produced product online does not by itself create a tax-free area of trade. The two tradesperson exemptions (esnaf muafiyeti) under Article 9 of Income Tax Law No. 193 (GVK) are tied to different products, sales channels, bank accounts and working conditions. Buying ready-made products online and reselling them is not within the same scope as manufacturing products at home. Amounts for 2025 should be read together with the current thresholds for 2026. [1]
Legal nature of the practice and how it differs from other obligations
The exemption provisions for home production are not a single rule. The product sold, the tools used, whether outside workers are employed and whether sales are made only online each determine which provision applies.
First determine which exemption provision applies
| Subject | Income Tax Law (GVK) 9/6 | GVK 9/10 |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Home-made products listed in the law | Products manufactured at home |
| Sales channel | Internet and other permitted sales, subject to conditions | Internet and similar electronic channels only |
| Outside workers | Must not be employed | May be employed; may affect the withholding rate |
| Documents and accounts | Exemption certificate optional | Exemption certificate and a dedicated commercial account mandatory |
| 2026 amount check | Internet sales: 396,360 TL | Annual gross receipts: 1,900,000 TL |
The two provisions cannot be used together in the same calendar year. The choice should not be based on the higher monetary limit alone. Product type, physical sales plans, staffing needs and payment-collection arrangements should be considered together. A person who does not meet all conditions of one provision is not automatically treated as falling under the other.
Home-produced goods under GVK 9/6 and working conditions
This provision covers towels, covers, socks, knitted goods, lace, various handicraft products, and home-made foods such as tarhana, noodles (erişte) and manti, as listed in the law. Machines capable of industrial or serial production must not be used. For home-type sewing and embroidery machines, food processors and similar tools, the exception in the provision is considered separately. The presence of a machine at home does not mean that it is not of industrial type.
Hiring outside workers and opening a separate workplace are incompatible with the exemption conditions. An exclusion check is carried out for persons who run their own commercial, agricultural or professional activity subject to the regular procedure, and for persons whose activity shows dependence on an income or corporate taxpayer. A brand of another business on the product does not by itself explain the whole relationship; the actual structure of orders, production and economic dependence is examined.
Continuous sales in market-stall form (pazar takibi) are not the same as sales at a kermes, festival or temporary location designated by public institutions. Even if an event organised by a commercial organiser is called a kermes, its legal nature should be assessed separately. The fact that sales outside the internet are possible does not mean that every form of physical sale is free.
How is the internet sales limit monitored?
For GVK 9/6, the limit of 396,360 TL for 2026 is based on the annual amount of the gross monthly minimum wage. All sales made over the internet are monitored together; opening accounts on different platforms does not create a separate limit. The physical, non-internet sales permitted under this regime are assessed separately.
Exceeding the annual internet sales limit within a year leads to a transition to the regular procedure from the first day of the following year. A person who also meets the other conditions may be able to complete the steps needed to move to the GVK 9/10 regime by the end of January of the following year. This transition plan cannot take retroactive effect merely by opening a bank account months after the limit has been exceeded.
If the buyer is obliged to make tax withholding, a 2% withholding applies to qualifying product purchases under this paragraph. In each sale to a final consumer, the consumer is not expected to make a separate withholding. Checking the buyer's status is therefore part of the collection and document arrangements.
Only online sales under GVK 9/10
Under this provision, products made at home, without opening a separate workplace and without using industrial-type or serial production machines, may be sold only over the internet and similar electronic channels. The resale of purchased ready-made products is outside its scope. If the same product is sold physically, at a fair stand, in a shop or by hand, this may affect the sales-channel condition of this regime.
A Tradesperson Tax Exemption Certificate (Esnaf Vergi Muafiyeti Belgesi) must be obtained, a commercial account must be opened at a bank established in Türkiye, and all sales receipts must be collected through this account. Where a payment is received into another bank account and later transferred in bulk, the compliance of the first collection is still examined. The platform's commission deduction does not justify the assumption that sales receipts are only the net bank inflow.
The annual gross receipts limit for 2026 is 1,900,000 TL. It is not applied separately per product or per platform. Profit left after deducting material, shipping and platform costs cannot be used in place of the limit. Orders, returns, cancellations, platform commissions and bank inflows should be reconciled.
Bank withholding and the employee condition
The bank's withholding on gross receipts is generally 4%. Where at least one worker has been employed for at least ten days in the relevant month, the 2% rate comes into play. The start of employing a worker, and any loss of this condition, must be notified to the bank, and the required social security documents submitted. Hiring a person for a short period at the end of the month does not secure the lower rate if the ten-day condition is not met.
Because all amounts received into these accounts may affect the withholding process, personal money transfers should not be mixed with sales receipts. More than one account may be used, but each account should be linked to the exemption arrangement. For sales subject to bank withholding, the rule that a second withholding under Article 94 of GVK is not made is also taken into account in the buyers' records.
Limit exceedance and other breaches do not lead to the same result
Where only the annual gross receipts limit is exceeded, the exemption continues for the year in which the limit is exceeded, and the regular procedure applies from the first day of the following year. The prohibition on returning to this exemption later should also not be overlooked. Other breaches, such as not using the mandatory account, selling bought-in products or opening a workplace, may by contrast lead to different tax consequences, effective from the start of the year or from a later date on which the documentation began.
For example, a producer who meets all formal and substantive conditions and reaches 1,950,000 TL in gross receipts by year-end does not have the same file as a producer who keeps part of 900,000 TL in sales in a personal account. In the first case, the effect of exceeding the limit on the following year is examined; in the second, breach of the collection condition is examined. Tax, penalties and interest are determined according to the nature of the breach.
Document, shipping and retention arrangements
The exemption does not make it unnecessary to keep purchase documents for the goods used in production. The documents specified in the guide are kept for five years. A buyer who is a taxpayer evidences the purchase with an expense receipt (gider pusulası) or a bank document meeting the conditions of Article 234 of the Tax Procedure Law (VUK). Each bank receipt does not automatically fulfil all the functions of this special document.
Under the GVK 9/10 exemption, the exemption certificate must be renewed every three years, product information relating to shipments must be properly organised, and bank records must be monitored. The first application file, as well as the limit, worker and sales-channel checks in later years, matter. As the business grows, the e-document, bookkeeping, value added tax (VAT, KDV) and social security effects of a transition to the regular procedure should be prepared without stopping sales.
Decision to make before acting and the file to prepare
First determine which exemption provision the activity fits. Monitor sales channels and the receipts entering the bank account regularly, and assess separately the consequences of exceeding the monetary limit and of breaching other conditions, since they differ in period and sanctions.