Which reform package holds the digital company regime, what do stock options bring?
The digital company (dijital şirket) regime is one heading of the reform package announced on 27 April 2026 at a meeting chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz. In the same package, Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek listed employee stock option plans and venture-capital-friendly financing instruments (Diken, 27 April 2026). Extending the Istanbul Financial Centre (İFM) incentives to 2047 was on the same list. Şimşek described the package as “not an ordinary incentive package but an economic positioning strategy” and declared 2026 a year of reform.
What this means for you: the digital company is not a stand-alone incorporation shortcut; it is one part of a package with four headings. The stock option and venture capital headings concern the ownership and investment side of the company you set up. We follow all four headings in one place on our digital company page.
Which reform package announced the digital company regime, and what happened on 27 April 2026?
The announcement came out of a single meeting. At the meeting chaired by Cevdet Yılmaz, Şimşek listed the headings aimed at the investment climate. The digital company was one line in that list, not a bill of its own.
The meeting and the headings: four lines in one package
According to Diken, Şimşek said: “We are introducing a digital company regime; incorporation, operations and all transactions will be possible online.” The same speech covered the transit trade exemption and Terminal Istanbul. Employee stock option plans were on the list as well.
2026 as a reform year: the gap between announcement and practice
Şimşek called 2026 a year of reform. From April to October, the digital company received only one legal provision and one programme target. The developments are listed in date order in our digital company timeline; this article looks only at the other headings of the package.
Which headings sit next to the digital company in the reform package?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Employee stock option plans
- Venture-capital-friendly financing instruments
- Transit trade exemption and İFM incentives until 2047
- Terminal Istanbul: the package’s physical address
Three headings travel in the same package as the digital company: employee stock option plans, venture-capital-friendly financing instruments and physical location incentives.
Employee stock option plans
Şimşek said employee stock option plans would be developed. An option is an instrument that gives an employee the right to buy shares later at a price set today. New companies offer this right instead of, or on top of, a salary. Which companies the plan will cover was not announced.
Venture-capital-friendly financing instruments
The second heading of the package is venture-capital-friendly financing instruments. Which instruments will be regulated, and which investment stage is targeted, was not said. Today’s numbers for the investment ecosystem are covered separately in our article on the Mega Fund and 2025 venture investments.
Transit trade exemption and İFM incentives until 2047
The corporate tax exemption on transit trade was announced as 100 percent inside the Istanbul Financial Centre and 95 percent outside it. Physical location incentives were extended to 2047. This heading concerns companies setting up regional headquarters more than a small founder setting up a digital company.
Terminal Istanbul: the package’s physical address
The Terminal Istanbul start-up hub was named in the same speech. What the hub will offer its members, and where it stands today, is covered in a separate article in our existing guide; here only its place in the package matters.
What will a stock option plan bring a founder, and how do founder and employee become partners?
A stock option lets a founder build a team with a promise of future ownership instead of cash. In Türkiye, the framework of the plan has not been written yet.
What exists today: no detail, only direction
Which law and which tax regime the option plans will arrive under has not been announced. A company that wants to grant options today proceeds under general provisions and by contract; that route needs an accountant and a lawyer.
How could venture-capital-friendly financing instruments change the way you raise investment?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- The three things an investor looks for
- The instruments are not announced, the ecosystem waits
- The digital company and the investment instrument point the same way
An investor looks at which instrument will carry the money into the company. If the instrument is unclear, investment slows down. This heading of the package aims to make the contractual tools between investor and founder easier.
The three things an investor looks for
An investor looks first at the company’s records, then at the product’s footprint, then at the team. The records are in MERSİS, Türkiye’s Central Registry System; the product’s footprint is on the website, in content and in search results. A company whose digital side has not been built has no footprint to show an investor.
The instruments are not announced, the ecosystem waits
There is no definition, regulation or timetable for the venture-capital-friendly instruments. The Mega Fund call in the Ministry of Industry and Technology’s 2025 report is in the same waiting room. For a founder, these two headings belong on the legislation watch list before going out for a funding round.
The digital company and the investment instrument point the same way
The digital company regime aims to move transactions online; the investment instruments aim to bring capital in fast. What they share is a company whose information can be verified on screen. The one-stop office target in the Medium-Term Programme points the same way; the detail is in our article on the Medium-Term Programme and the one-stop office.
Why was the digital company counted as part of a positioning strategy in the reform package?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- “Bring it home”: cash, gold and securities
- Turquoise Card and residence permits: the existing tools
- Two ministries, two announcements, one day
- There is still no definition
The package aims to draw capital and talent from abroad into the country. The digital company is the entry door for that aim. Şimşek’s speech also named other tools that complete the door.
“Bring it home”: cash, gold and securities
Şimşek described drawing cash, gold and securities held abroad into the country under the heading “bring it home”. That heading looks at the capital side. The digital company looks at the online incorporation of the company that capital will set up; the two are two ends of the same strategy.
Turquoise Card and residence permits: the existing tools
The speech mentioned the Turquoise Card (Turkuaz Kart) and residence permits as existing tools. A foreign founder arrives with these tools today. Citizenship-by-investment thresholds came up in the same speech; that heading is examined separately in our article on citizenship by investment and the digital company.
Two ministries, two announcements, one day
On 27 April 2026, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır also announced remote incorporation. Şimşek described the package; Kacır described the incorporation. The two announcements are compared in our article what Mehmet Şimşek said.
There is still no definition
The digital company line of the package depends on the definition from the Ministry of Industry and Technology. As of October 2026, when this article was updated, the Ministry had not published that definition. The only provision in force is the definition-dependent dues exemption in Law No. 7582 of 4 June 2026. The concept as a whole is in our article what is a digital company.
What should a founder watching the reform package do today?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Follow the four headings on four calendars
- Write your ownership and investment plan today
- The company’s digital side does not depend on the package
Follow the four headings separately, do not postpone your incorporation date for any of them, and plan the company’s digital side together with incorporation.
Follow the four headings on four calendars
The digital company definition will appear on the Ministry’s website, the option and investment instruments in the Official Gazette, the İFM incentives in separate legislation. Waiting for a single “the package is out” headline is misleading. Each heading will arrive on its own date; a weekly check is enough.
Write your ownership and investment plan today
You can write down who gets how much equity before the option plan arrives. You can gather the numbers you will show an investor before the investment instrument arrives. We run the work of building this plan together with incorporation in our digital transformation management service.
The company’s digital side does not depend on the package
A domain name, a website, content and accounts opened in the company’s name wait for no line of the package. Investors and customers look at these today. When the package arrives, these assets are adapted to the status in a day; an asset that does not exist cannot be adapted.
Quick Summary
- The digital company regime was announced on 27 April 2026 at the meeting chaired by Cevdet Yılmaz, in a package with four headings.
- Employee stock option plans and venture-capital-friendly financing instruments were listed in the same package.
- The transit trade exemption is 100 percent inside the İFM and 95 percent outside; location incentives were extended to 2047.
- Şimşek described the package as an “economic positioning strategy” and declared 2026 a year of reform.
- The Ministry’s digital company definition had not been published as of October 2026; there is no legislation for the option and investment instruments either.
Short Glossary
- Stock option
- Stock option is the instrument used to give an employee the right to buy company shares later at a price set in advance.
- Venture capital
- Venture capital is the type of financing used to invest in new companies expected to grow, in return for a shareholding.
- Transit trade
- Transit trade is the form of trade used to buy goods in one country and sell them to another without the goods entering Türkiye.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
If you want to plan your company’s digital side together with incorporation, book a discovery call on our digital company page and ask for the My Digital Company (Dijital Şirketim Olsun) delivery list; we stay your friendly adviser throughout your digitalisation.
The definition and conditions of the digital company scheme are not final yet; support amounts and conditions may change. Check the latest information with the Ministry of Industry and Technology, KOSGEB and the Official Gazette before deciding. This is not legal or financial advice.
Sources: Diken, Mehmet Şimşek: we are introducing a digital company regime (27 April 2026) · Dünya/AA, Minister Kacır’s announcement (27 April 2026) · Official Gazette, Issue No. 33270 (4 June 2026) · AA, Medium-Term Programme report (10 September 2026)
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Şimşek presented the package not as a list of incentives but as the country positioning itself for investors and founders. In that frame, the digital company is a tool that opens the same door to foreign and local founders alike.
A shareholding gives shares today; an option gives the right to buy shares later. If the employee stays with the company for a set period, the right is exercised. The exercise price, the vesting period and the tax treatment are the real design questions of the plan.
A new company cannot keep an experienced employee on a high salary. An option promises the employee a share in the company’s growth. Combined with the online incorporation of a digital company, the ownership structure could be set up on screen from the start.
In the reform package presented by Mehmet Şimşek on 27 April 2026 at the meeting chaired by Cevdet Yılmaz. Stock options, venture capital instruments and İFM incentives were in the same package.
No. Şimşek said the plans would be developed; the scope, tax regime and timetable had not been announced as of October 2026. Companies granting options today proceed under general provisions and by contract.
For now, only direction. The only provision in force is the definition-dependent dues exemption in Law No. 7582; no secondary legislation has been published for the option and investment instruments.