Türkiye unveils list of top 100 taxpayers

Türkiye has unveiled the list of top taxpayers, with Selcuk Bayraktar, the board chairman of unmanned aerial vehicle producer Baykar, ranking first.

The Revenue Administration of the country announced the list of top 100 taxpayers for the 2024 tax period.

Haluk Bayraktar, the general manager of Baykar, ranked second; thus, Baykar executives managed to top the list for the last four years.

In 2024, Selcuk Bayraktar paid 2.76 billion Turkish liras ($84 million) in income tax, while Haluk Bayraktar paid 2.53 billion liras ($77 million).

The amount of tax paid by Bayraktars has increased by approximately 18 times since 2021, and this increase was driven by Baykar's export revenues.

Baykar, the leading exporter firm in the defense and aviation sector, generated 90% of its 2024 revenue from exports.

It achieved $1.8 billion in exports last year, ranking among the country’s top 10 companies with the highest exports for the second consecutive year.

The taxpayer in third place did not wish to have their name disclosed, while the fourth was Mustafa Rahmi Koc, honorary chairman of Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding, with 757.75 million liras ($23 million).

The taxpayers in the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th positions did not wish to disclose their names, Erman Ilicak, honorary chairman of another Turkish conglomerate Renaissance Holding, was in 10th place with 372.7 million liras ($11.3 million).

- Corporate tax

In the corporate tax side, private lender Garanti Bank ranked first on the list with 25.29 billion liras ($769.8 million).

State-run lender Ziraat Bank ranked second with 20.84 billion liras ($634.4 million), while participation lender Kuveyt Turk ranked third on the list with 12.07 billion liras ($367.4 million).

The USD/TRY exchange rate was at 32.85 on average during 2024.