One of the basic obligations of employers who employ workers in Turkey in terms of Turkish Social Security Law is the payment of social security premiums of the insured employees. In Turkey, social insurance premiums are monitored and collected by the Social Security Institution, which is the sole governing body for social insurance and pensions in the country.
Employers who employ insured people who are within the scope of subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of the Article 4 of the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Code No. 5510, deduct the premium amounts for the insured share, which will be calculated based on the premium-based earnings of the insured employees they employ within a month, from the wages of the insured, and the premium corresponding to their own share. Employers must add the amounts to these amounts and pay them to the Social Security Institution by the end of the following month/period at the latest.
If the last day of the payment period falls on a public holiday or a weekend, the premium amounts must be paid to the Social Security Institution at the latest within the first business day following the end of the public holiday.
Insurance premiums must be paid within the following periods for insured persons subject to 4/1-(a) social insurance status:
- For insured people who receive wages for their work between the 1st and 30th of the month, payment must be made no later than the last day of the month following the month to which the document relates (The last day of the calendar month).
- For insured people who receive wages for their work between the 15th of the month and the 14th of the following month, payment must be made no later than the 14th of the calendar month following the period to which the document relates.
Procedures for Offsetting Premium Debts from VAT Refund Receivables
Employers’ premium debts to the Social Security Institution can also be paid by deducting them from the value added tax refund receivables. Employers must apply to the Social Security Institution to offset their premium debts from their VAT refund receivables.
For employers who will pay their premium debt in this way, it is possible for the owner of the value added tax refund right to request offset for the premium debts of the employers from whom he or she purchases goods or services or has a subsidiary or partnership relationship.
In this case, if the premium debts are requested to be paid by offsetting the value added tax refund receivable, the legal period within which the premium must be paid at the latest is between the 1st and the end of each month for employers who employ insured persons subject to subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of the Article 4 of Act No. 5510.
For employers who pay in relation to the premium, it will be the twentieth day following the due date instead of the end of the month (maturity date) following the month to which the premium relates.
For employers who pay the wages of the insured for the period from the 15th of each month to the 14th of the following month, it will be the twentieth day following the maturity date instead of the end of the period (maturity date) following the period to which the premium relates.
On the other hand, when the premium debts for the current month are paid by deducting from the value added tax refund receivable within the twenty-day period following the end of the legal payment period, if the deducted amount does not cover the entire premium debt, the deducted part will be deemed to have been paid within the legal period, whereas the unpaid part will be deemed to have been paid within the legal period. It will be paid by applying delay penalty and late payment interest from the date of expiration of the legal payment period to the date of payment, regardless of the twenty-day period.
