What is bordrolama in Turkish payroll?

Payroll in Turkey is a repeating monthly operation, not a one-off calculation: each period the employer gathers attendance, leave, and variable-pay data, computes gross-to-net for every employee, files the statutory declarations, and delivers payslips with payment. Labor Law No. 4857, art. 32 requires wages to be paid at least monthly, so the cycle is effectively fixed at one month, and late corrections roll into the next period.

Two filings anchor the cycle. Withheld income tax and social security (SGK) premiums are reported together each month in the combined withholding and premium declaration (muhtasar ve prim hizmet beyannamesi, Income Tax Law No. 193, art. 98/A). Separately, new hires must be reported to SGK before their employment starts (Law No. 5510, art. 8).

A Turkish payslip starts from gross salary and deducts the employee's 14% social security premium (Law No. 5510, art. 81), 1% unemployment insurance (Law No. 4447, art. 49), progressive income tax starting at 15% (Law No. 193, art. 103), and stamp duty of 0.759% (Law No. 488). Since 2022, the portion of any wage up to the minimum wage is exempt from income tax and stamp duty. Employer social security contributions come on top of gross, and a Treasury-funded discount on the employer share is widely applied. As of January 2026 the discount is two points for most private-sector employers, while manufacturing-sector employers continue to receive five points through the end of 2026 (Law No. 5510, art. 81/ı, as amended by Law No. 7538).

Employers must give each employee a wage slip with every payment (Labor Law No. 4857, art. 37) and keep payroll records for ten years (Law No. 5510, art. 86).

Companies hiring in Turkey typically run bordrolama one of three ways: through a local certified accountant (the common route for small entities, with data handed over each month), through an employer of record when there is no Turkish entity, or in-house with payroll software. Running payroll and registering employees with SGK requires a registered Turkish employer file (Law No. 5510, art. 11), which is why entity-less companies use an employer of record.

Whichever model is chosen, the recurring friction is the monthly data handover — hours, leave, and pay changes. Payroll software that already holds attendance and leave data removes that step, while the accountant relationship usually continues for review and filings.