Tara, Koç Families Top Turkey's Tax Champions List

Turkey's Finance Ministry has revealed its 100 tax champions of 2014, with members of the Tara family, owner of construction giant ENKA, and the Koç family finishing in prominent positions.

Some 38 names in the top 100 list asked to remain anonymous in 2014, one of the highest in recent years.

Two members of Tara family placed in the top 10 by paying around 55 million Turkish Liras ($20.6 million) in taxes. Five members of the Koç family paid around 110 million liras ($41.3 million) in income tax to the state in 2014, according to the list.

Şarık Tara, founder and honorary president of the ENKA Group, was the tax champion of last year in giving more than 37.5 million liras ($14 million) to the state, rising from seventh in the 2013 list, while Koç Holding Honorary President Rahmi Koç, the champion in 2013, was second in 2014, with 29.7 million liras ($10.8 million).

Semahat Sevim Arsel, Rahmi Koç's sister, and Mustafa V. Koç, his eldest son, ranked third and fourth in the list with 26 million liras ($9.7 million) and 21.1 million liras ($7.9 million), respectively.

The taxpayers that ranked fifth and sixth on the list asked to remain anonymous, while Mehmet Ömer Koç, another son of Rahmi Koç, ranked seventh with 18.2 million liras ($6.8 million). He was followed by Şarık Tara's son, Mehmet Sinan Tara, with 17.7 million liras ($6.6 million).

The taxpayers that ranked ninth and 10th in the list also demanded to remain anonymous. Suna Kıraç, another member of the Koç family, ranked 11th in the list with 14.1 million liras ($5.3 million).

The highest number of tax returns was submitted in Istanbul with more than 509,000 returns, followed by Ankara and İzmir.

Yıldız Holding Chairman Murat Ülker, who was named the country's wealthiest man in the Forbes 2015 Wealth List, ranked 22nd in the tax champions list for 2014 with more around 7 million liras ($3 million) in income tax.

Sevda Gülçelik, daughter of ENKA Holding's co-founder Sadi Gülçelik, ranked 24th in the list with 6.7 million liras ($2.5 million).

Erman Ilıcak, another construction tycoon who also helped build President Tayyip Erdoğan's new palace, ranked 27th in the list by paying 6.3 million liras ($2.4 million) in income tax.

Banks top list of corporate taxpayers

Turkish banks were the top taxpayers among corporations in 2014, according to a list published by the Turkish Revenue Administration on June 26.

There are eight banks, including the Central Bank, on the list of Turkey's top corporate taxpayers, the report showed.

Turkey's state-owned lender Ziraat Bank, up from second in the 2013 list, topped the corporate tax champion list in 2014 with payments of about 1.59 billion liras ($597 million).

The Central Bank, which topped the list in 2013, ranked second this time with 1.46 billion liras ($549 million), followed by Garanti Bank, a major private lender, with a total of 1.315 billion liras ($494 million).

İş Bank, one of the largest Turkish lenders, ranked fourth, paying 1.135 billion liras ($492 million). It was followed by the Akbank, owned by Sabancı Holding, at just over 1.05 billion liras ($394 million).

Another state-run bank, Halkbank, ranked sixth in the 2014 list, paying 902 million liras ($339 million) in taxes.

Yapı Kredi Bank, a joint venture between Koc Holding and Italy-based Unicredit, ranked seventh in the list with 656 million liras ($247 million).

Turkey's biggest mobile operator, Turkcell, was eighth, paying 623 million liras ($234 million) in tax, followed by another national bank, Vakıf Bank, which ranked ninth paying 602 million liras ($226 million).

The last in the top 10 list for 2014 was Türk Telekom, Turkey's biggest telecommunications company, paying 548 million liras ($205 million) in tax.

A total of 38.3 billion liras ($14.4 billion) of corporate taxes were accrued by the administration, out of the declared 198.06 billion liras ($74.5 billion) of taxable income. - Ankara

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