As Arel Law Firm; We provide legal consultancy and litigation services to our clients with our expert team on issues related to Tax Law that individuals and legal entities are exposed to, in light of updated legislation; conducting the pre-litigation reconciliation process, ensuring litigation follow-up in cases where litigation is required, cancellation of tax penalties and correction requests.
With its experienced attorneys and financial consultants, Arel Law Office provides legal consultancy and litigation services in all matters of tax law, primarily seeking to resolve issues through settlement before the tax administration; and, if no settlement can be reached, by filing lawsuits before the tax courts. The firm also assists in resolving disputes concerning tax offences, tax loss (tax deficiency) penalties, and irregularity penalties, as well as in all matters related to the termination of tax debts.
Arel Law Office carries out all procedures and transactions related to the Personal Income Tax Law, the Tax Procedure Law, the Corporate Tax Law, as well as all other tax legislation. It manages settlement procedures regarding tax penalties, arranges installment payment plans, and, if settlement cannot be achieved, files applications before the tax courts. The firm also handles matters concerning tax incentives, withholding taxes, corporate tax exemptions, and deductible expenses. In addition, it develops solutions for disputes related to thin capitalization and hidden profit distribution through transfer pricing.
Our law office provides services in relation to all types of tax litigation, and the legal services we offer in the field of Tax Law are summarized below:
- Filing and pursuing all types of administrative applications and objections.
- Managing the exhaustion of administrative remedies and monitoring settlement procedures.
- Case management and dispute resolution.
- Resolving issues arising from customs legislation and other administrative fines, as well as tax offences and penalties.
- Disputes relating to income tax, value-added tax (VAT), corporate tax, motor vehicle tax, property tax, and all other types of taxes.
- If no settlement is reached regarding tax penalties, filing a lawsuit before the competent Tax Court.
- Assessment based on declaration, ex officio assessment, additional assessment, or assessment carried out by the administration.
- Incorrect or incomplete income declarations, erroneous deductions.
- Carrying out the procedures for deducting the minimum living allowance, disability allowance, and individual insurance premiums from the tax base.
- Carrying out corporate tax (R&D) deduction procedures; breach of state incentive conditions; failure to complete an R&D project or an unsuccessful outcome.
- Preparation of the inheritance and transfer tax return, and deduction of debts and expenses from the inheritance and transfer tax base.
- Ensuring taxpayers’ tax depreciation deductions are applied.
- Tax withholdings for corporations and employees.
- Obtaining a tax identification number for foreigners.
- Corporate tax exemptions and incentives.
- Procedures for deducting expenses from corporate tax and offsetting losses.
- Disputes regarding thin capitalization and disguised profit distribution through transfer pricing.
- Conducting settlement procedures before and after tax assessment.
- Correction of calculation errors and taxation errors.
- Tax evasion (tax loss) offense, irregularity penalties, and smuggling offenses.
Administrative Law.
As Arel Law Office, within the scope of protecting natural and legal persons against the administration, we provide legal consultancy regarding the filing of annulment actions and full remedy actions, the annulment of decisions of the Public Procurement Authority, the filing of annulment actions against the acts and decisions of ministries, public legal entities, municipalities, and other administrative authorities, and representation before courts.
Administrative law is a branch of law based on the Constitution that regulates the functioning of the administration—whose purpose is to serve the public interest—and its relationship with individuals. Accordingly, administrative acts carried out by the administration closely affect natural and legal persons; therefore, if such acts are unlawful, it is necessary to apply to the competent authorities of the administration and to file lawsuits in order to remedy these unlawfulnesses. The main services our law office provides in the field of administrative law are as follows;
– Annulment Actions
Pursuant to Article 2 of the Administrative Procedure Law No. 2577, an “annulment action” is defined as a lawsuit filed by persons whose interests have been violated, seeking the annulment of administrative acts on the grounds that they are unlawful in terms of one of the following: authority, form, reason, subject matter, or purpose. In an annulment action against an act established by the administration, the aim is to ensure that the administration’s activities comply with the law and to protect the legal order.
An annulment judgment rendered by the court as a result of an annulment action is not a review of the expediency (appropriateness) of the administrative act. The administrative court does not function as a superior authority; it merely decides to annul the act due to its unlawfulness. As a result of an annulment judgment, the administrative act is deemed void from the date it was first issued. Annulment judgments have retroactive effect; accordingly, the administrative act is considered as if it had never been issued from the outset and produces consequences as though it had not been issued.
The administration may need to take certain actions and measures in order to implement an annulment judgment. However, once an act has been annulled, it cannot be reissued by changing the type of act or by adopting a new regulatory act; likewise, an act producing the same result cannot be carried out under a different name. The same act cannot be reintroduced in a manner that would eliminate the res judicata effect of the annulment judgment.
If the act subject to the annulment judgment is a negative administrative act rejecting a request, the act is deemed null and void automatically upon annulment, and the administration does not need to take any further action. However, the annulment of a negative act does not, by itself, create a positive outcome by substituting for the administrative act. Even though an annulment judgment does not replace the administrative act, the administration is obliged to take the appropriate measures and actions required by the judgment.
An annulment judgment repeals the annulled act and any dependent acts with effect from the date they were issued. The administration is obliged to comply with annulment judgments, to fulfill their requirements, and to act in a manner consistent with the content and purpose of the judgment. With our competent team in zoning and planning law, our law office provides legal consultancy regarding disputes and grievances arising with the administration, as well as the filing and follow-up of annulment actions.
– Urban Transformation Law and Annulment Actions
Annulment actions against administrative acts arising from the relevant legislation—primarily Law No. 6306 and its Implementing Regulation—are handled by our specialized team.
– Full Remedy Actions
These are lawsuits filed by persons whose personal rights have been directly violated due to administrative actions and acts.
In administrative jurisdiction, compensation lawsuits—comprising compensation, restitution, and recovery actions specific to administrative law and falling within the scope of full remedy actions—aim to remedy violations of rights that arise in the parties’ subjective legal positions as a result of a legality review of administrative activities. They serve as an effective instrument of oversight and sanction, ensuring that the administration remains within the bounds of legal rules.
A compensation lawsuit is the most prominent and most commonly used type of full remedy action. Compensation claims filed before the administrative courts arise from administrative acts and administrative actions. Compensation claims arising from administrative actions are examined on the basis of service fault or strict (no-fault) liability principles.
Under the principle of the rule of law, the administration is required to carry out its activities in compliance with the law; therefore, as a rule, the administration’s unlawful action or the issuance of an unlawful administrative act constitutes a service fault.
The administration’s compensation of special and extraordinary damages suffered by individuals in the course of providing public services is, pursuant to Article 125 of the Constitution, a natural consequence of the Republic of Türkiye’s character as a “social state governed by the rule of law.”
As a rule, the administration is obliged to compensate damages that can be causally linked to the public service it provides; damages arising from administrative actions and/or acts are compensated within the framework of administrative law rules pursuant to the principles of “service fault” or “strict (no-fault) liability.” On the other hand, a causal link is not an absolute prerequisite for the administration’s liability to compensate. Certain damages related to the administration’s sphere of activity—which it is obliged to prevent but could not prevent—must also be compensated under the “social risk” principle, without requiring a causal link.
– Lawsuits for the Annulment of Correction Notices for Ecrimisil Assessed for Immovable Properties in the State’s Private Ownership
When immovable properties that are in the State’s private ownership or under its control and disposal are occupied, an ecrimisil fee (compensation for unauthorized use) is demanded, in an amount to be assessed and determined by the competent commission. However, such ecrimisil amounts may be excessive or determined in a wholly unlawful manner. A request is made for re-examination of the amount, and upon such request the administration issues an ecrimisil correction notice. It is possible to file a lawsuit against the administration seeking the annulment of the ecrimisil correction notice.
– Expropriation (Condemnation) and De Facto Expropriation (Unlawful Taking) Lawsuits
De facto expropriation (unlawful taking) is when an administration vested with expropriation authority, without carrying out a procedure in accordance with the Constitution and the laws, takes possession of a person’s immovable property and constructs a facility, building, or road on it, or allocates that immovable property to another public service, or otherwise undertakes any action aimed at restricting the owner’s exercise of ownership and use rights over the immovable property.
Practices deemed to constitute de facto expropriation (unlawful taking) may occur either through the administration’s actual use or control over an immovable property without any legal basis, or through an administrative decision that prevents the exercise of the right of ownership.
– Annulment Actions Filed Against Municipal Fines
Under Municipal Law No. 5393, every person residing in, present within, or having a connection to the municipal boundaries is obliged to comply with the municipality’s decisions and announcements that are based on the law. If these obligations are not complied with, certain penalties предусмотрены by law are imposed by the municipal executive committee (encümen). If such penalties are unlawful, annulment actions may be filed.
– Annulment Actions Against the Administration’s Regulatory Acts
Regulatory authority is the power of the executive and the administration to issue general and objective rule-making acts that are not individual in nature. In this sense, regulatory authority corresponds to the definition of “law” in the substantive sense and is closely associated with the concept of legislation. Laws and other positive legal texts of equivalent force are normative acts that contain legal rules which are objective, abstract, general, and continuous, and which—by their effects—create a new situation in the realm of objective law or regulate or abolish an existing situation.
Pursuant to Article 24 of the Council of State (Danıştay) Law, it is possible to file a lawsuit seeking the annulment of regulations, by-laws, communiqués, and similar acts issued and put into effect by the administration, if they are unlawful.
– Consultancy on Public Procurement Matters, and, if potential disputes are brought before the courts, legal representation and follow-up of the proceedings
Within the scope of the Public Procurement Law and its secondary legislation, it is possible for our clients to be represented before the competent administrative courts to ensure that the legal requirements of tenders carried out by the administration are fulfilled or to resolve any unlawfulness that may arise during the tender process.