Turkey paves way for Twitter 'e-office' to bypass tax row

The Finance Ministry is working on a draft to allow Twitter to open an ?electronic office? in Turkey, which will allow the microblogging giant to pay taxes in Turkey and ease tensions with Ankara.

?According to the current law, Twitter is not liable to pay taxes in Turkey, as it pays taxes where its servers are located,? Finance Minister Mehmet ?im?ek said, adding that Twitter?s executives were visiting Turkey but problems still existed as it does not have a base in Turkey, in accordance with international and OECD implementations.

?A new tax law will bring in the ?electronic workplace? issue, making companies tax liable even they do not have a central office or branch in Turkey due to the fact that they are electronic workplaces,? ?im?ek said.

He added that some companies have accepted being tax liable in Turkey but the issue is still being discussed with Twitter.

This is also a hot debate in the U.S., as technology companies generally prefer to operate in countries where there are tax advantages, ?im?ek said, adding that the code would make advertisement revenues on social media also subject to taxes.

The code will take its final shape in discussions at parliament, he stressed.

Turkey hit international headlines when it blocked access to Twitter last year, hours after then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an vowed to ?wipe out? the social media platform on March 20, 2014.

YouTube was also banned in Turkey on March 27, hours after a top-secret government meeting on Syria was leaked allegedly revealing top government officials discussing a possible false-flag operation on Turkey in an effort to drag it into Syria?s war.

The Constitutional Court unblocked Twitter on April 2, 2014, and YouTube...