Payment

The total value of online credit card payments in Turkey rose by 46 percent annually to 8.5 billion Turkish Liras (around $2.4 billion) in May, the country's Interbank Card Center (BKM) announced on June 20.        

Online payments accounted for 15 percent of total card payments in May, the BKM noted.        

A two-week extension has been granted to the country's 1.41 million freelance workers, self-employed professionals and farmers for the payment of their March social security contributions, due to errors in the pay notices of previous months.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Moscow visit, brought a proposal that Turkey should build the infrastructure of the "Mir" payment system of Russia. Is this possible? This system was established in 2015 covering local credit card payments in the Russian ruble.

The first indications of mass compliance by freelance workers with the obligation to accept payments by card are already evident in data from the first month of the year, as, according to banks, one in four requests for the installation of card terminals is coming from professionals such as doctors, lawyers, accountants etc.

The payment of utility bills using credit or debit cards will also count toward the tax discount for electronic transactions, according to sources, as the state appears unable to distinguish such payments from spending on goods and other services.

Banks are raising their estimates for plastic money transactions in 2017 to 20 billion euros, compared to an estimate for 2016 of 15 billion euros. This concerns transactions made by Greeks using debit and credit cards and not including those by foreign visitors, which would raise the sum for this year to 17 billion.

Only taxpayers who make payments by credit and debit card will be entitled to claim a tax-free threshold as of next year, according to a bill the Finance Ministry tabled in Parliament midnight on Monday. However, there will be an exception for pensioners, who will be gradually introduced to the obligatory use of cards for the tax discount.

Turkey is introducing a new electronic card payment clearing system called TROY, the InterBank Card Center (BKM) announced on April 28.        

"We are ready. Since April 1, TROY has been available at all swiping machines and ATMs," Soner Canko, chairman of the card center, told a press conference.        

All expenses stated in the tax return should have been paid with credit or debit cards or via bank, Deputy Minister of Finance Trifon Alexiadis said to private TV channel SKAI .

In this way, non-taxable payments will be only those made using credit or debit cards or through bank transfer, including payments for rent, medical exams, family expenses and car purchases.

Turkey has launched a new electronic card payment clearing system, the InterBank Card Center (BKM) has announced Sept. 30.  

The system, named "TROY," will be operational from April 1, 2016, the Center said.

"It is time that Turkey used its [own] payment system," Soner Canko, chairman of the Istanbul-based BKM, said on Sept. 30.