Türkiye Limited Şirket (Limited Company) Formation

Türkiye offers international businesses a large domestic market, a substantial manufacturing economy and a strategic position between Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. The limited şirket is the standard limited-liability form for many privately owned businesses and foreign subsidiaries entering that market.

Foreign investors can generally establish companies on the same basis as domestic investors, making the structure commercially accessible. The important work lies in capital, management, activity, registration and the tax and employment framework that turns the company into an operating Turkish business.

The current minimum capital is TRY 50,000

Türkiye's current company-law framework sets minimum capital of TRY 50,000 for a limited şirket following the 2024 increase. The capital structure should be settled alongside the shareholders and the articles before registration.

Inflation and the scale of the intended business make the statutory minimum a particularly poor proxy for working capital. A company importing goods, employing staff or leasing premises should be funded around its real cash requirements.

Foreign ownership is generally open

Türkiye's foreign-investment regime broadly applies equal treatment to foreign investors, allowing international individuals and companies to establish and own Turkish companies subject to sector-specific restrictions.

That openness makes the limited şirket useful for wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries, but regulated activities, real-estate issues or incentive programmes can introduce additional conditions that should be identified before formation.

MERSİS and the Trade Registry create the corporate platform

Formation is coordinated through MERSİS and the relevant Trade Registry, with the articles, managers, shareholders, capital and company address forming the core registration information.

Tax registration, accounting, VAT, payroll, social security, employment, licences and banking then follow the actual business. For international groups, transfer pricing and intercompany agreements should be established early.

How Coutts Consultants approaches a Turkish limited company

We begin with shareholders, activity, management, capital and the Turkish operating plan, then coordinate KYC, MERSİS, constitutional and Trade Registry workstreams.

After registration we identify tax, VAT, accounting, payroll, licensing and banking requirements. The objective is to use Türkiye's open investment framework to establish a properly funded operating subsidiary rather than simply a registered company. For exporters and manufacturers, Türkiye's customs-union relationship with the EU and extensive regional trade links can add a further commercial reason for establishing locally, provided the company has a genuine Turkish operating role.