2025 Presidential Decree on Overseas Per Diems to be Applied in 2025 has been published

Introduction

Circular 2026 – 022

Presidential Decision on Per Diem Allowances Abroad to be Applied in 2026 Has Been Published

The daily allowances for foreign travel were determined by Presidential Decree No. 10928, published in the Official Gazette dated February 2, 2026, and numbered 33154. This Decree also sets the portion of the daily allowances granted for foreign travel that will be exempt from income tax.

With the Decision in question, the amount of daily allowance exempt from income tax for trips to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, effective January 1, 2026, for the Presidency General Secretariat, which is considered the highest-ranking civil servant, 2,005.00 TL has been determined. Additionally, the daily subsistence allowances to be applied in other countries have been changed and announced in the decision. The amounts in the second column, which are valid for the Presidency of the Republic General Secretariat, considered the highest-ranking public official, have been included in the table below.
According to Article 24, Clause 2 of the Income Tax Law: The full amount of actual travel expenses and daily allowances paid to the chairman and members of the board of directors, auditors, liquidators, and employees of enterprises not covered by the Travel Allowance Law are exempt from income tax. These daily allowances are provided to cover accommodation and meal expenses. (If these daily allowances exceed the daily allowances given to state officials at the same monthly level, or if they exceed the highest limit of daily allowances given by the state, the difference shall be taxed as wages.)
Within the scope of Article 4 of this Regulation and Decision, it would be appropriate to pay attention to the following matters regarding the application of per diem allowances for foreign travel.

• For temporary business trips and stays abroad that cover multiple countries, the daily allowance for each country is based on the daily amount applicable to that specific country.
• The amounts shown in the table for the first 10 days of foreign travel and residence are applied by increasing them by % 50.
• Provided that it is limited to the first ten days of travel and residence abroad, no payment will be made for the portion of the amount paid against an invoice for lodging that does not exceed of the daily allowance calculated with the increase; if it exceeds , only of the excess amount may be paid additionally. However, the additional amount to be paid may not exceed % 100 of the daily rates calculated according to the rates in the attached table within the scope of the above explanations.

In this context, the table below presents the tax-exempt foreign daily allowances to be applied in 2026 for employees whose gross monthly amounts are equal to or higher than the gross salary of the highest-ranking civil servant (35,907.57 TL) (for countries other than Cyprus):

You can access the decision in question via the following link.

https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2026/01/20260131-1.pdf

Sincerely