If your Türkiye entity places packaged goods on the market, hands out shopping bags, or imports tyres, batteries, accumulators, or lubricating oils, you are almost certainly within the scope of GEKAP — the Recovery Participation Fee (Geri Kazanım Katılım Payı). For foreign-owned operations, this environmental levy is easy to overlook because it does not look like a "normal" tax and it sits under the Environmental Law rather than the tax code. The 2026 amounts have been updated and the filing tool changed. This guide explains what GEKAP is, what changed for 2026, and where subsidiaries most often slip.
What is GEKAP and who does it apply to?
GEKAP is a participation fee collected from businesses that place certain products on the domestic market or import them. Its legal basis is Environmental Law No. 2872, and it is declared and paid through a return administered via the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
The main product groups in scope are:
- Plastic shopping bags
- All types of packaging (plastic, metal, glass, paper-cardboard, composite, wood)
- Tyres
- Accumulators and batteries
- Mineral and vegetable oils
- Electrical and electronic equipment
- Medicines
The key concept is "placing on the market." The party that first supplies a product to the domestic market — the producer or the importer — is the GEKAP obligor. A downstream reseller does not pay the fee a second time on the same product. Subsidiaries that import finished goods for local sale are frequently the obligor and do not always realise it.
What changed for 2026?
Under the notification published in the Official Gazette dated 30 December 2025, No. 33123, the GEKAP amounts applicable in 2026 were re-set, effective 1 January 2026. The increase was based on the 25.49% revaluation rate announced for 2025.
The most visible line is the plastic bag. In 2026, the recovery participation fee per bag is 107 kuruş. The 1.00 TL that a customer pays at the till for a bag includes this fee — meaning the bag charge is not the retailer's income; the fee portion is declared and remitted to the state.
The fees for the other product groups (packaging, tyres, batteries, oils and so on) were updated by the same revaluation rate. For the exact per-unit or per-kilogram amounts by product category, rely on the 2026 circular of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and confirm with your accountant, because the amounts vary by product type and unit of measure.
One practical detail: the GEKAP return preparation tool was also updated for the 2026 period. Companies preparing the return with a local program must move to the current version so the correct amounts populate. Calculating with last year's figures produces an under- or over-declaration.
When is the GEKAP return filed?
Filing frequency depends on the taxpayer type:
- Corporate income taxpayers: monthly
- Personal income taxpayers and others: quarterly
The return is filed by the 24th of the month following the relevant period. The accrued fee is then paid by the last day of the month in which the return is filed.
For quarterly filers, the periods and filing deadlines are:
| Period | Months | Filing deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | January-February-March | 30 April |
| Q2 | April-May-June | 31 July |
| Q3 | July-August-September | 31 October |
| Q4 | October-November-December | 31 January |
Where a deadline falls on a public holiday, it may extend to the next business day, so track the current tax calendar.
"We had no sales this period — can we skip filing?"
No. This is one of the most common GEKAP mistakes. Once a business is within scope, it must file a nil (zero-base) return even in periods with no products placed on the market. The obligation does not pause because "there were no sales." Skipping a period creates penalty exposure for a return not filed on time.
In practice, keep GEKAP as a fixed recurring reminder in the finance calendar. When the monthly or quarterly period closes, confirm the return was filed — sales or no sales.
How to keep GEKAP under control in your ERP
The difficulty with GEKAP is rarely the fee itself; it is collecting the data correctly. Manually tallying bag counts, packaging weights, and quantities placed on the market by product group at period end is slow and error-prone. Capturing this data at source makes the return far more reliable.
In a well-configured system, bag sales are tracked as a distinct product record so the count totals automatically; products subject to GEKAP are tagged with packaging type and unit weight so the quantity placed on the market becomes a report; and at period close the declaration base is read from a single report rather than from receipts and side notes. Birasyo's sustainability module is designed to hold packaging and environmental-obligation data inside daily operations, so these periodic filings become straightforward to prepare — and, alongside the compliance module, recurring filings like GEKAP are less likely to slip through the calendar.
The three most common mistakes
- Identifying the wrong obligor. Is it the party first placing the product on the market, or the intermediate seller? The wrong party filing means both overpayment and under-declaration risk.
- Skipping a nil period. A return is due even with no sales; a skipped period creates penalty exposure.
- Calculating with old amounts. The 2026 figures rose by 25.49%; calculating without updating the return tool and unit amounts causes an incorrect declaration.
Summary
- The 2026 GEKAP amounts were updated under the Official Gazette of 30 December 2025 (No. 33123), effective 1 January 2026, by the 25.49% revaluation rate.
- The plastic bag recovery participation fee is 107 kuruş per unit; the 1.00 TL bag charge is not retailer income.
- Filing frequency: corporate income taxpayers monthly, others quarterly. File by the 24th of the following month; pay by the last day of that month.
- An in-scope taxpayer must file a nil return even with no sales in the period.
- An ERP setup that captures bag and packaging data at source speeds up the periodic GEKAP filing and reduces error risk.
Sources and disclaimer: The amounts and dates in this article are based on publicly available accounting circulars and Official Gazette announcements (Official Gazette dated 30 December 2025, No. 33123; 2026 GEKAP update circulars). For exact per-category unit amounts and your company's specific obligation status, rely on the 2026 circular of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and confirm with your accountant. Legislation and amounts may change during the year.
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