In the early days, when payment institutions and electronic money institutions were established, the commissions they received from customers were taxed under VAT. However, since payment and electronic money institutions carry out a kind of banking activity, there was discussion that they should pay BSMV (Banking and Insurance Transactions Tax).
This problem was resolved with Expenditure Taxes General Communiqué No. 91, which was published to end the confusion.
So how are taxation and the tax base determined for payment services related to electronic money issuance?
According to Article 7 of Expenditure Taxes General Communiqué No. 91, BSMV must be calculated on the commission amounts collected by the electronic money institution under the agreement it has made with the payment service user.
ARTICLE 7 – (1) BSMV must be calculated on the commission amounts collected by an electronic money institution operating within the scope of the first paragraph of Article 12 of Law No. 6493 under the agreement it has made with the payment service user.
Example: Mr. (A) bought goods worth 200 TL from the website of a store that has an agreement with an electronic money institution, and the electronic money institution collected a 10 TL commission from the store for this transaction. BSMV must be calculated on the 10 TL commission collected by the electronic money institution for this transaction.
(2) Under the fifth paragraph of Article 18 of Law No. 6493, prepaid instruments that can be used only in the issuer's own store network, only for purchasing a specific group of goods or services, or only within a specific service network under an agreement are considered outside the scope of that Law; therefore, persons providing payment services related to such electronic money issuance outside the scope of the said Law do not become liable for BSMV.
You can access Expenditure Taxes General Communiqué No. 91 from the link below.
