The CBRT rate and invoices: reading the daily bulletin
The CBRT (TCMB) announces its indicative rates once every business day, in a daily bulletin. Two bulletins are therefore candidates for a date: that day's bulletin and the previous business day's. Which one applies can depend on the transaction's time, its type and the applicable rules.
The daily bulletin and its dates
The CBRT announces its indicative forex and banknote buying and selling rates at 15:30 on every business day. No bulletin is published at weekends or on public holidays; on those days the latest bulletin is the previous business day's. Before 15:30, that day's bulletin has not been published yet; only the previous business day's exists. After 15:30 both are published.
Source: tcmb.gov.tr ·
The CBRT's data system, EVDS, lists the rates announced at 15:30 on a business day under the next business day's date. The same rate can therefore carry two different dates; check which list a date comes from.
Source: evds2.tcmb.gov.tr ·
What the legal texts say
Valuation rests on Article 280 of the Tax Procedure Law No. 213 (unofficial translation):
Foreign currencies are valued at the exchange rate. (…) Where a foreign currency has no exchange rate, the rate to be applied in the valuation is set by the Ministry of Finance.
Source: mevzuat.gov.tr ·
The Ministry announces year-end valuation rates for currencies without an exchange rate in a General Communiqué on the Tax Procedure Law. Communiqué No. 491, published for 2017, for example, says that where the Ministry has announced no rate for the valuation day the CBRT's rates apply: the banknote buying rate for foreign currency held as banknotes (the forex buying rate where there is none), and the forex buying rate for foreign currency held as forex.
Source: resmigazete.gov.tr ·
Which bulletin and which rate an invoice or a foreign-currency transaction uses depends on the transaction and the applicable rules. This page does not pick or recommend one; ask your accountant for the exact treatment.
Finding the lira value
Our official-rate tool shows a foreign-currency amount in lira on the date you pick, with both candidate bulletins side by side, the lira difference between two dates and the year-end (31.12) rates. It makes no tax or accounting statement. The full bulletin is on the CBRT rates page.
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This content is for information only; it is not investment advice.