Electronic period in foreign currency purchase and sales

There will be an obligation for foreign currency purchase and sales documents issued in paper, to also issue an “e-Foreign Currency Purchase and Sales” document as of January 1, 2022. An announcement has been made by the Revenue Administration (GİB) on ebelge.gib.gov.tr that foreign currency purchasing and selling transactions will be transferred to electronic environment in the new year. Accordingly, the authorized institutions engaged in the purchase and sales of foreign currency, pursuant to the relevant articles of the TPL No. 213 (Tax Procedure Law) and the authorization given to the Revenue Administration by the General Communiqué No. 509, it became obligatory to issue the sales documents as “e-Foreign Currency Purchase or Sales Document” and “e-Currency Sales Document”. It has been announced that the penal provisions stated in the Law will be applied to taxpayers who do not issue or receive e-currency purchase and sales documents.

The e-Foreign Currency Purchase – Sales document is not a new type of document and has the same legal qualifications as the paper document currently used. Instead of issuing documents on paper, the process of organizing, storing and presenting the documents electronically is started with this e-Document application. Taxpayer institutions that will implement e-Foreign Currency Purchase and Sales must be prepared for this electronic process within the next three months.

In the new year, authorized taxpayer institutions that will carry our such a business will be able to send the documents they will arrange electronically to the citizens who buy or sell foreign currency via e-mail, according to the request of the citizen, or by printing out a paper upon request. The e-Foreign Currency Purchase and Sales Document to be issued in paper form must be signed and delivered by the authorized institution with a stamp and signature. It is obligatory to keep the copy of the document by the authorized institution in an electronic environment, signed with an electronic certificate. Another important issue is the statement made by the GİB that it is obligatory to have a “data matrix” or “barcode” on the documents in order to query and verify documents electronically. On the other hand, on September 29, 2021, “e-Foreign Currency Purchase and Sales Document Technical Guide” was published by the GİB.