326 NEWSLETTER 2021 Taxation of Social Media Content Producers Earnings in Light of Recent Changes* Beyza Günsel Sürücü Introduction Social media has emerged with the development of the digital world and internet technology and has greatly influenced the world today. One of the main categories of actors in social media is social media content producers. These people earn through social networks in various ways such as advertising revenues, sponsorship, sales revenues, and paid subscription revenues. How these earnings will be taxed has been a matter of interest for a while both in the tax world and in the eyes of those who earn it. Through Law No. 7338 on Amendments to Tax Procedure Law No. 193 and Certain Laws published in the Official Gazette on 26.10.2021 (“Law No. 7338”), the issue of how to tax these earnings derived through social media became clear, and, a practical taxation system has been introduced. Accordingly, the repetitive Article 20/B was introduced to Income Tax Law No. 193 (“ITL”). Through this legislation, starting from 1 January 2022, the earnings of social media content producers derived from such activities as sharing text, images, audio, and video over social network providers on the internet will be exempted from income tax. In case the exemption conditions are met, these earnings will be subject to 15% income tax withholding through the banks. In addition, on 23.12.2021, the Draft Communiqué on Income Tax Serial No. 318 (“Draft Communiqué”) was published by the Revenue Administration, which has not yet entered into force as of the date of this article; and, regulates the procedures and principles regarding the repetitive Article 20/B of ITL. In the Draft Communiqué, it is also stated that taxpayers who want to benefit from the exemption must obtain an exemption certificate from the relevant tax offices. To understand the importance and * Article of December, 2021
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjUzNjE=