How to pay tax on affiliate income: 2026 year-end filing guide

Burcu, a 26-year-old freelance affiliate in Ankara, paid roughly 1,230 TRY (about $42) in 2025 income tax with zero penalties. As 2026 closes, this guide walks you through the same March 2027 filing — step by step, with the exact forms.

Register for simple-procedure tax status

In the last week of December, log into Turkey's e-Devlet portal and submit a "business commencement notice" through the Revenue Administration. For affiliates, the appropriate NACE code is 73.11.01 (advertising agency activities) or 63.12.00 (web portals). If your yearly revenue stays below 240,000 TRY, choose simple-procedure status — no bookkeeping obligation, only document retention.

The tax office assigns a tax number within 7 business days and emails a registration certificate. Upload that certificate to Stripe Tax Settings and the "Tax info" field in your thMenu affiliate panel; year-end commissions are then recorded with proper MERSIS invoicing instead of 1099-equivalent forms.

Keep an income-expense ledger

Open a Google Sheets file with six columns: Date, Description, Income (TRY), Expense (TRY), Document #, Notes. Every time a Stripe payout lands, paste the payout ID into "Document #". Burcu received 18 separate payouts in 2025 and tracked all of them in one sheet.

• Income: thMenu affiliate commissions (cumulative monthly)
• Expense: laptop, internet, office-share (up to 30%)
• VAT: simple-procedure does not collect VAT, but input VAT on expenses is creditable

Reconcile against your bank statement

Before filing in March 2027, download your bank statement for December 2025 – December 2026. Match Stripe payouts at the Central Bank daily rate; Burcu's 2025 total payout was 14,870 TRY. That number goes on the "professional service earnings" line of the return.

File online via the Revenue Administration's "Ready Declaration System". The first tax bracket is 15%; Burcu's example: 14,870 income − 6,640 expense = 8,230 base × 15% = 1,234 TRY. Paid in two installments — March and July.

FAQ

I made under 50,000 TRY — do I still need to file? Yes — under simple procedure, filing is required regardless of amount. The tax due may be zero in the lowest bracket.

thMenu commissions arrive from Stripe in USD — which exchange rate do I use? The Central Bank effective selling rate on the payout date. Stripe's "Tax exports" already converts payouts to TRY using the official rate.

What's the penalty for filing late? A 2.5% monthly late-payment charge applies after the March deadline. On a 1,234 TRY bill, 3 months late ≈ 92 TRY extra. Never miss by more than 6 months — that triggers an audit review.

Found this helpful? Share it.