The social security of self-employed attorney-at-laws in Turkey can be assessed as before the Turkish Social Security Reform of 2008 and after.
In the system before the reform, social insurance of self-employed lawyers was being provided through “the Community Insurance System” within the framework of the Articles 186, 189 and 191 of the Attorneyship Code No. 1136 and the Article 86 of the Social Insurance Code No. 506. This situation has changed with the Social Security Reform of 2008, and as of October 1, 2008, self-employed lawyers have been deemed to be insured under 4/1-(b) (formerly Bag-Kur) social insurance status pursuant to the Article 50 of the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Code No. 5510, which is the main law of the reform.
Pursuant to this provision, lawyers who earn commercial or self-employment income on their own behalf and account, without a service contract bounded to an employer, and who are income taxpayers in real or simple procedure, are deemed to be insured within the scope of the Article 4/1-(b) of the Code No. 5510. Although it is called optional insurance in the law, the implemented systems is actually constitutes a compulsory insurance.
In this context, the insurance of lawyers starts with the start date of tax registration, and no notification is required by the relevant bar association, as is the case with the community insurance application.
The declaration regarding the lawyer is to be made by the relevant tax offices to the Social Security Institution. Tax offices are required to notify the Social Security Institution within 15 days from the establishment of the attorneys’ tax liability.
The statement of earnings subject to premium can be freely determined between the lower limit and the upper limit of the income subject to premium, according to the request of the lawyer concerned, and can be declared in written form to the relevant unit of the Social Security Institution or by entering the verbal statement into the system and receiving an accrual. As long as the premium based earnings statement is not changed and premiums are paid, this statement is also valid in the following months.
If earnings are not declared to the Social Security Institution, monthly payments are accepted as a declaration for the month to which the payment belongs, provided that they are between the lower and upper limits of the earnings subject to premium.
If the earnings are not declared within the due period and no payment is made, the premiums are accrued and collected over the lower limit of earnings subjec to social insurance premium (in other words over the national gross minimum wage).
