Turkey E-Fatura Guide: E-Arşiv, Thresholds and 2026 Rules

Quick answer: Turkey e-fatura is a mandatory XML e-invoice exchanged through the Revenue Administration (GİB) between registered taxpayers. Businesses with 3 million TL or more in gross sales must join from the seventh month of the following year, and since 1 January 2026 most other invoices must be e-Arşiv invoices whatever their amount.

Turkey has run electronic invoicing since 2012, and the system now reaches most businesses. The 2026 change matters for small firms in particular: the old rule that let you issue a paper invoice below a per-invoice amount has gone for most taxpayers. This guide explains how e-Fatura and e-Arşiv Fatura work, the current thresholds, what an invoice must show and how to issue one. If you bill clients outside Turkey and only need a clear commercial invoice, our invoice generator creates one in minutes.

Note: This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Turkish thresholds are updated by communiqué, so check the current GİB text or ask a certified accountant (SMMM) about your case.

e-Fatura vs e-Arşiv Fatura: which one you issue

Turkey splits electronic invoices by who the buyer is, not by what you sell. Both are electronic, both are reported to GİB, and both replace paper. The difference is delivery.

Feature	e-Fatura	e-Arşiv Fatura
Buyer	Registered e-Fatura user	Anyone not registered: consumers, small firms, foreign buyers
Delivery	System to system through GİB	Email, link, or printed copy to the buyer
Format	Standard XML (UBL-TR)	Same electronic data, reported to GİB
Buyer response	Commercial scenario allows accept or reject	No acceptance step
Typical use	B2B and B2G sales	B2C, exports and sales to non-registered firms

Before you invoice, you check whether the customer's tax number appears in the registered user list. If it does, you send an e-Fatura; if not, an e-Arşiv invoice. Software does this lookup automatically. For the general difference between a structured e-invoice and a PDF, see e-invoice vs PDF invoice.

Turkey e-fatura thresholds in 2026

The thresholds sit in Tax Procedure Law General Communiqué No. 509, which GİB keeps in a consolidated version. The main rules as of 2026:

• General threshold: taxpayers with gross sales revenue of 3 million TL or more in 2022 or any later accounting period must move to e-Fatura (and e-Arşiv) from the beginning of the seventh month of the following year. A business that crossed 3 million TL in 2025 had to start by 1 July 2026.
• E-commerce and online sellers: businesses selling goods and services online, and intermediaries providing the platforms, fall in at 500 thousand TL for 2022 and later periods.
• Specific sectors: groups such as certain fuel distributors, licensed sectors and dealers in real estate or motor vehicles have their own triggers, some regardless of turnover.
• New businesses in covered sectors: some must join within a short period of starting activity rather than waiting for a full year's figures.
• Voluntary registration: any taxpayer can join e-Fatura voluntarily, and many do because large customers prefer it.

How gross sales are measured

The test uses gross sales revenue (or gross business income for service providers) for the whole accounting period, before deducting costs. It is not profit, and it is not the VAT-inclusive figure on your bank statements. Use the revenue figure from your annual return or your accountant's year-end figures. Because Turkish lira amounts have risen quickly with inflation, a business that was well below 3 million TL a few years ago may now be over it on the same volume of work, so check the figure every year rather than assuming nothing has changed.

GİB's e-document obligation dates table summarises the triggers for each group. Once you are in the system you stay in it, even if turnover later falls below the threshold.

The 2026 change: e-Arşiv for invoices of any amount

For years a business outside the e-Arşiv system could still issue a paper invoice to a consumer, as long as the amount, including taxes, stayed under a per-invoice limit. The limit was lowered to 3,000 TL for 2025. The consolidated Communiqué No. 509 text published by GİB now says:

• From 1 January 2026: invoices issued by taxpayers who are not in the e-Arşiv system must be issued as e-Arşiv invoices regardless of amount, through the GİB portal or an authorised integrator.
• Exception until end of 2026: simple-method taxpayers and those keeping books on the business-account basis (işletme hesabı esası) keep the 3,000 TL test until 31 December 2026, and the any-amount rule applies to them from 1 January 2027.

In practice, paper sales invoices are disappearing in Turkey. If you have been relying on a printed invoice book for small consumer sales, plan the move now. The GİB portal is free and is the simplest starting point for low-volume sellers.

What a Turkish invoice must show

The Tax Procedure Law (Vergi Usul Kanunu) sets the minimum content of an invoice, and the e-Fatura schema turns those into fields. Expect to include:

• Invoice date, a unique serial and sequence number, and the invoice scenario and type
• Seller's name, address, tax office and tax number
• Buyer's name, address, tax office and tax number (or national ID for individuals)
• Type and quantity of goods or services, unit price and line amount
• Discounts, the VAT base, VAT rate and VAT amount, and any withholding (tevkifat) with its code
• For goods, the delivery date and dispatch note details where relevant
• The invoice total in figures and, by long-standing practice, in words

The Tax Procedure Law requires an invoice to be issued within seven days of delivery of the goods or performance of the service, so build that into your billing routine. A tidy invoice numbering system also matters, because e-Fatura numbers follow a fixed prefix, year and sequence pattern.

How to start issuing e-Fatura: step by step

1. Check your obligation. Compare last year's gross sales with the 3 million TL threshold, or the lower figure for your sector, and note your mandatory start date.
2. Get a signing tool. Individuals use a qualified electronic signature; companies usually use a financial seal (mali mühür) linked to the tax number.
3. Choose your channel. Use the free GİB e-Belge portal for low volumes, or a GİB-authorised private integrator if you want invoices created from your accounting software.
4. Apply and activate. Complete the e-Fatura application so your tax number appears as a registered user, and set up e-Arşiv at the same time.
5. Configure customers and products. Record each customer's tax number and tax office, and set VAT rates and any withholding codes on your services.
6. Issue your first invoices. Check whether each buyer is a registered user, then send e-Fatura or e-Arşiv accordingly.
7. Archive correctly. Keep the electronic invoices in their original format for the statutory retention period; a printout is not a substitute.

GİB portal or private integrator?

Both routes produce legally valid invoices. The choice depends on volume and how your books are kept:

• GİB e-Belge portal: free, browser-based and fine for a few dozen invoices a month. You type each invoice, so it suits freelancers, shops with few B2B sales and new businesses. The downside is manual entry and no automatic link to your accounting software.
• Private integrator (özel entegratör): a GİB-authorised company that connects your accounting or ERP system to GİB. Invoices are created from your existing sales records, delivered automatically and archived for you. Integrators charge fees, usually per invoice package or per year, so compare quotes.
• Direct integration: large companies with high volumes can connect their own systems directly to GİB, but this needs technical approval and in-house IT capacity.

Many small businesses start on the portal and move to an integrator once volume grows or when their accountant asks for invoices to flow straight into the books.

Delivering and archiving e-Arşiv invoices

An e-Arşiv invoice can reach the buyer by email, through a link or as a printout. When you sell online, the electronic version is normally sent to the buyer's email address. The data is still reported to GİB, and you must keep the electronic original. If a buyer asks for a paper copy, print the e-Arşiv invoice: that printout is a copy of an electronic document, not a paper invoice from an old invoice book.

Worked example: a consultancy invoice with 20% VAT

An Istanbul marketing agency bills a registered client for a campaign worth 50,000 TL, with a 5% discount agreed in the contract, and VAT at the general 20% rate.

Line	Amount (TL)
Campaign management	50,000.00
Discount (5%)	-2,500.00
VAT base	47,500.00
VAT (KDV) at 20%	9,500.00
Invoice total	57,000.00

Check the maths: 5% of 50,000 is 2,500, leaving 47,500; 20% of 47,500 is 9,500; and 47,500 plus 9,500 is 57,000. Because the client is a registered e-Fatura user, the agency sends this as an e-Fatura through its integrator. If the client were an individual, the same figures would go out as an e-Arşiv invoice. If the service were subject to partial VAT withholding, part of the 9,500 would be shown as withheld and paid by the buyer, and the amount the agency collects would be lower; your integrator's software handles the codes.

You can reproduce the calculation in our free invoice generator by entering the line, a 5% discount and a 20% tax rate. The sales tax calculator is handy for checking VAT-inclusive prices too. For a Turkish client, though, the legal document must still be issued through GİB.

Freelancers, exporters and foreign suppliers

• Self-employed professionals: consultants, designers, doctors and lawyers working for themselves usually issue a self-employment receipt (serbest meslek makbuzu) instead of a sales invoice, now mostly as an e-SMM. If the client is a company, income tax withholding is shown and paid by the client. Our guide to withholding tax on invoices explains how withholding lines work in general.
• Exporters: export sales to foreign buyers go out as e-Arşiv invoices (or under the export scenario where applicable), and customs data must match the invoice. A clear commercial invoice is still needed for the shipment paperwork.
• Foreign suppliers: a company outside Turkey with no Turkish registration sends a normal invoice. The Turkish buyer usually handles VAT on imported services under the reverse charge. Agree currency and bank details upfront; our foreign currency invoice guide covers the wording.

What changes for small shops in 2026

For a small retailer that used to hand customers a paper invoice from a printed book, the 2026 rule means three practical changes. First, every invoice, even for a small sale, now goes through the GİB portal or an integrator as an e-Arşiv invoice. Second, the business needs a working electronic signature or seal to sign them. Third, staff need a quick routine at the counter: enter the buyer's details, issue the e-Arşiv invoice and email or print it. Cash register receipts from approved payment recorder devices remain a separate matter for retail sales where no invoice is requested; ask your accountant how the two interact in your sector.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Missing the July start date: the obligation starts on the first day of the seventh month after the year you crossed the threshold, not at the next year-end.
• Sending e-Arşiv to a registered buyer: always check the registered user list; the wrong document type can mean the invoice is treated as not issued.
• Treating a PDF as the invoice: the legal invoice is the electronic record in the GİB system. The PDF or printout is only a view of it.
• Ignoring withholding codes: services in the tevkifat lists need the right code and rate, or the VAT shown will be wrong.
• Late issue: the seven-day window still applies to electronic invoices.

Turkey in the global e-invoicing picture

Turkey is a mature system: invoices pass through the tax authority, as in Egypt (see our Egypt e-invoice guide) and Brazil (see NF-e and nota fiscal in Brazil). That is a different model from Europe's Peppol networks. If you trade with both, our e-invoicing guide and the invoice requirements by country overview help you keep the rules straight.

Get your Turkey e-fatura process right

Turkey e-fatura is no longer only for large companies. Check your gross sales against the 3 million TL threshold, set up e-Arşiv for buyers outside the system, and plan for the end of paper invoices that took effect in 2026 for most sellers. For quotes, pro formas and invoices to clients outside Turkey, use our invoice generator or pick a clean minimal invoice template. Download the result as a PDF invoice you can email, print or upload to a client portal.