General Communiqué on the Declaration of Recycling Contribution Fee

The Recycling Contribution Fee Declaration General Communiqué (Series No: 1) was published by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance in the Official Gazette dated 4 April 2019, No. 30735. It is based on Additional Article 11 of Environmental Law No. 2872 and sets out the procedures for declaring and collecting the recycling contribution fee (GEKAP) payable on the products in List (1) annexed to the Law. It was amended in the Official Gazettes dated 5 February 2020 (No. 31030) and 22 March 2020 (No. 31076).

Who submits the GEKAP declaration?

All points of sale that sell plastic bags, and all who place on the market or import the other listed products, must submit the declaration electronically, whether or not they are income or corporate taxpayers (Article 4). The declaration goes to the tax office to which an income or corporate taxpayer is attached; for natural persons without such status, to the tax office of their place of residence; for others, to the tax office of their legal seat or workplace (Article 5).

Even if there were no bag sales or product placements in the declaration period, the declaration must still be filed, ticking the option “no recycling contribution fee to be declared” (Article 4(7)).

What are the declaration and payment deadlines?

Declaration periods were six months in 2020 and have been three months from 2021 (January–March, April–June, July–September, October–December). The declaration is submitted by 23:59 on the last day of the month following the period; if that day is an official holiday the deadline moves to the next working day. The assessed fee is paid by the end of the month in which the declaration is filed (Articles 4 and 8).

Additional Article 11 of the Environmental Law sets the statutory deadline as the twenty-fourth day of the month following the month in which the product is placed on the market or imported, and authorises the Ministry of Treasury and Finance to re-set these deadlines by no more than one month. The periods and deadlines in the Communiqué rest on that authority.

How is the declaration submitted and approved?

Declarations are submitted through the Revenue Administration’s e-declaration system. Taxpayers may submit them themselves; accounting professionals with intermediary authority, and professional chambers authorised under the Defter-Beyan System, may also submit them (Articles 6 and 7). Those without taxpayer status obtain a user code by applying to the tax office with the request form annexed to the Communiqué.

The system pre-checks the declaration and reports any error to the sender. The declaration is deemed filed once approved, and an assessment slip is issued (Article 8). Payment may be made at tax offices, post offices, contracted banks, or through the Revenue Administration’s website.

What happens if a declaration is late, incomplete or wrong?

If a fee is declared on time but not paid, a payment order is issued and late-payment interest runs from the due date; the information is also shared with the Ministry (Article 9). If the Ministry finds that a fee was not declared or was under-declared, a notice is served requiring payment within one month of service, with interest at the late-payment rate (Article 10). For a declaration filed after the deadline, the fee is paid within one month of the declaration date; the tax office notifies the Ministry, and the fine under Article 20(z) of the Law is applied at 20 percent of the unpaid fee (Article 11).

A wrong or incomplete declaration is corrected with a correction declaration (Article 12). The fee on products returned under the refund conditions of the Regulation, except plastic bags, may be offset against the total fee to be declared; any excess is carried forward to the next period (Article 12/A).

What does it mean for destruction and recycling?

GEKAP is a system that finances the collection and recycling of products at the end of their life, and the obligation begins when the product is placed on the market. Businesses working in waste management and recycling, or having products destroyed, should check whether their own product groups are on the list. A person whose liability ends must notify the tax office within one month of the end date (Article 14).