Hoteliers ask municipalities to defer taxes and fees...

TÜROB sent letters to the municipalities of the provinces where its members are located and to the district municipalities in Istanbul, calling for a three-month deferral of municipal fee and tax payments.

The Association of Turkish Hoteliers (TÜROB) called for the deferral of municipal fee and tax payments in order to reduce the adverse effects of the coronavirus outbreak on urban economies and the sector, and to keep the employment and operational structure of tourism enterprises afloat. TÜROB conveyed this request to the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Turkey and to all the provinces where its members are located (Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydın, Batman, Bolu, Bursa, Çanakkale, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Giresun, Hatay, Istanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Kırklareli, Kocaeli, Malatya, Mersin, Muğla, Nevşehir, Sakarya, Tekirdağ, Trabzon, Yalova, Zonguldak), as well as to the district municipalities in Istanbul.

It should be free of penalties and interest

In the letter it sent to the municipalities of all the provinces where it has members, primarily the Metropolitan Municipalities of Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Adana, Antalya, Muğla, Eskişehir and Muğla, TÜROB requested that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey make the necessary arrangements to defer, without penalties or interest, the payment of all municipal taxes and fees of certified tourism enterprises until 1 July 2020. The letter recalled that tourism in all its forms had come to a standstill worldwide, that the public authority, judging that the sectoral standstill and the loss of trained personnel into whom much effort had been invested were intolerable, had also announced its support for the sector, and had deferred the payment of part of the tax and similar obligations for 6 months.

Charges and taxes for which enterprises are responsible:

- Water/wastewater charge

- Natural gas charge

- Property tax 1st installment

- Environmental Cleaning Tax 1st installment

- Announcement and advertisement tax

- Entertainment tax

Municipal fees for which enterprises are responsible:

- Occupancy fee

- Building occupancy permit fee

- Business opening and operating permit fee