In accordance with the Decision No. 7846 published in the Official Gazette dated November 24 and the relevant legislation on the implementation of surveillance in imports, the amounts declared and uncertified in the customs declarations for the goods subject to surveillance and all kinds of taxes, duties, taxes arising due to these amounts and included in the VAT base, The right to deduct VAT paid due to duties and shares has been abolished. In the same Decision, customs duties and/or additional financial obligations applied as protection measures in accordance with the relevant legislation on the implementation of protection measures in imports, anti-dumping taxes and compensatory taxes applied within the scope of the relevant legislation on the prevention of unfair competition in imports, and the taxes arising from these amounts and included in the VAT base. The right to deduct VAT paid due to all taxes, duties, charges and shares has been abolished.

According to the Decision on Import Surveillance Practice No. 2004/7304, in addition to the documents required by customs legislation in the import of a good subject to prospective surveillance, a "Surveillance Certificate" is also required in cases where the unit prices of the goods within the scope of this Decision are below the "threshold price" determined by the Ministry of Commerce. . Importers who do not want to deal with the procedure of obtaining a surveillance certificate through the Ministry, carry out their imports by recording the unit price of the imported goods in the "overseas expense" section of the customs declaration in an amount that will reach the "threshold price".

As stipulated by the GATT Safeguards Agreement, member countries must compensate the losses arising from the import of a large quantity of goods that would cause "serious harm" or "threat of harm" to domestic producers producing similar or directly competing goods. Protection measures can be applied. In this context, according to the Decision No. 2004/7305 in force, measures can be taken such as an increase in customs duty, additional financial obligations, quantity/value restrictions, tariff quota application or a combination of these.

On the other hand, within the scope of the Law No. 3577 on the Prevention of Unfair Competition in Imports and the Decision No. 99/13482 published based on it, "Anti-Dumping Tax" is collected in our country as a result of 189 different investigations and "Compensatory Tax" against subsidy is collected as a result of 1 investigation.

In the 1st paragraph of Article 29 titled "tax deduction" of the Value Added Tax Law No. 3065, "Taxpayers may deduct the following taxes regarding their activities from the VAT calculated on their taxable transactions, unless otherwise provided in this Law: a) .. b) Imports VAT paid for goods and services, c) ..”

The general logic of the discount clause is that the VAT amount, which grows like a snowball rolling down the slope, is reflected on the final consumer by deducting the VAT amounts from the invoices issued on all deliveries, starting from the importer or manufacturer, and the goods transferred to another intermediary, and is compatible with world practices. Of course, VATs that will not be subject to deduction can also be determined by the Presidential Decree.

According to the newly entered into force Decision No. 7846, the VAT amounts collected at the import stage will no longer be subject to deduction.

Recently, the concept of "Financial Literacy" seems to have been adopted by everyone. In addition, there is also a concept called "Foreign Trade Literacy". The above explanations were written in a way that a "Foreign Trade Literate" can understand. If you wish, let us explain the issue “in a way that the public can understand”.

A company buys an item from abroad at a certain price. The government said, “Even if you buy this item at the price you want, you cannot declare it to the customs below the threshold price I have determined when bringing it into the country. "If you bought below the threshold price, you need to get an inspection certificate from me," he says. Or the state may say, “One of my sectors is facing the threat of serious damage. For this reason, I will charge additional taxes as a Protection Measure for the items on the attached list,” he says. Or “The overseas producer of this product is doing serious dumping (price reduction) in order to sell more.” "In order to eliminate this dumping margin, I will impose Anti-Dumping Tax at the following rate on the import of the said goods," he says. Or “So and so country subsidizes the producer, contrary to the GATT Agreement, so that more of this good can be exported from its country, and my domestic producer is harmed. “I will receive a Countervailing Tax to eliminate this subsidy,” he says.

If you pay attention, in all three cases, there is no price transferred abroad by the importer company. There are only measures to protect the domestic industry that our state has determined according to its own evaluations. These are not only practices seen in Turkey. As a matter of fact, relevant international agreements were referenced above.

What is not understood here is why, while there is no real delivery or service, the VAT paid to the state for these fictitious value differences cannot be subject to deduction?

The definition of "declared and uncertified amounts" stated in Decision No. 7846 is also very inconsistent. Because although there is no payment to be documented, there is a declaration or tax intended to increase the value of our state's imported goods.

It is not necessary to be an astrologer to understand that these initiatives are aimed at reducing the foreign trade deficit and reducing the amount of imports. However, it is also important that the methods followed are consistent within themselves.

You issue a new Import Regime Decision, just like in the 1970s. You publish a narrow-scope "Free to Import" list in the annex to the decision. "To import the remaining goods, you must obtain an 'import permit' from the Ministry of Commerce." You make a decision saying: You turn away those who apply for an Import Permit at the door. This would be a more consistent application in itself.

“Chicken in the Coop” could be the subject of a separate article. However, the businesses we describe as "foreign capital ventures" do not always belong to the famous "15 Families". When you examine the profile of foreign investors in Turkey, you may also come across social purpose organizations such as the "Massachusetts Pension Fund" or the "Japan Pension Fund" that try to finance payments to retirees. This capital, which is extremely fragile and timid, does not welcome attempts to "change the rules after the game has started".

While we are struggling to attract foreign capital into the country, we should also not cause the current capital in our country to go back.