Turkey AML Obligations for Accountants: Law 5549 and the MASAK Regulation

Turkey's anti-money-laundering rules are built on a short law and a detailed regulation, and the regulation is where accountants appear. If you work with Turkish clients, or are comparing how different countries treat accountancy professionals, this guide sets out what the English texts of Law No. 5549 and the Regulation on Measures say about who is covered, customer identification, suspicious transaction reporting, record keeping and penalties. For the general principles behind these duties, see our guide to KYC and customer due diligence for accountancy practices.

Where this guide comes from

We read two English-language texts published on the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance website: Law No. 5549 on Prevention of Laundering Proceeds of Crime (adopted 11 October 2006, Official Gazette 26323), shown as a consolidated version with amendments including Decree Law 646 of 2011 and Law 6545 of 2014; and the Regulation on Measures Regarding Prevention of Laundering Proceeds of Crime and Financing of Terrorism (Official Gazette 26751, 9 January 2008, in force 1 April 2008), with amendment notes through 2014. Neither is dated later, so some details may have changed. Article numbers below are from these texts. This is general information, not legal advice.

Who is covered

Article 2 of the law lists the obliged parties by sector, such as banking, insurance, capital markets, exchange offices, real estate, precious metals and jewellery, and it allows the Council of Ministers to add other fields. It does not name accountants. The regulation does. Article 4(1)(t) covers certified public accountants and sworn-in certified public accountants operating without being attached to an employer, and also names certified general accountants. Article 4(1)(u) covers independent audit institutions authorised to audit in financial markets. Article 3(m) classes those two groups as designated non-financial businesses and professions.

Customer identification

Article 3 of the law requires obliged parties to identify the people carrying out transactions, and those on whose behalf they act, before the transactions are carried out. Under article 5 of the regulation, identification applies regardless of the monetary amount when a permanent business relationship is established, and also to single or linked transactions at or above a stated threshold. The English text we read garbles some of the monetary figures and omits the currency, so we do not repeat the thresholds here. Identification must be completed before the relationship is established or the transaction conducted (article 5(2)).

Beneficial owners

Article 17/A of the regulation deals with beneficial owners of trade-registered legal persons. Natural-person partners holding more than 25 percent of the shares are identified as beneficial owners. If there are none, the fallbacks are the natural persons who ultimately control the entity and, failing that, the senior managing official. Our guide to ultimate beneficial ownership explains the concept in more general terms.

Reporting suspicious transactions

Article 4(1) of the law requires a report to MASAK, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, when there is any information, suspicion or reasonable grounds to suspect that assets are illegally acquired or used. The law itself sets no deadline and leaves procedures to regulation. Under article 27(2) of the regulation, reports are required regardless of amount, and under article 28(2) they must reach MASAK within ten working days starting from the date the suspicion arose, with any additional information provided without delay (article 28(3)).

Article 4(2) of the law prohibits telling anybody, including the parties to the transaction, that a report has been made, except for examiners and courts during legal proceedings. Article 10(2) protects the identity of the person reporting. A breach of article 4(2) carries imprisonment of one to three years under article 14(1). Our guide to suspicious activity reports and tipping off explains why this matters worldwide.

Record keeping

Article 8(1) of the law and article 46 of the regulation set a retention period of eight years, counted from the date a document was drawn up, the last record date or the last transaction date, depending on the record. Article 46(2) extends the rule to suspicious transaction records and internal reports to the compliance officer. Records must be provided to the authorities on request.

Compliance officers and internal controls

Article 5(1) of the law says obliged parties may be required to assign an officer with the necessary authority at administrative level, and to operate training, internal control and risk management systems. The Ministry decides which parties must comply, and how, based on size and business volume. Where a party fails these duties, article 13(3) gives at least 30 days to remedy before administrative fines apply.

Enforcement

Article 13 of the law provides administrative fines imposed by MASAK for failing identification, periodic reporting and suspicious transaction reporting obligations, with doubled amounts for banks and similar entities. The amounts printed in the English text are the original figures, and article 28 requires annual revaluation, so we do not state a current amount. Article 13(6) says no fine may be imposed more than five years after the violation. MASAK sits under the Minister of Finance (article 19), analyses reports and files criminal complaints, and examiners carry out supervision (article 11).

Practical steps (our suggestions)

• Confirm whether your Turkish engagement falls within the regulation's accountant category or merely touches an obliged party.
• Keep a dated record of how and when you identified each client and its beneficial owners.
• Diarise the ten-working-day reporting window from the day a suspicion first arises.
• Set an eight-year retention date for client records and reports.
• Build team awareness with training. Our CPD courses include financial crime topics.

What we could not confirm

The English texts we read show amendments only to around 2014, and they contain formatting errors, so we could not confirm monetary thresholds, current fine amounts, or any later changes, including the more recent MASAK compliance programme rules. We did not find accountant-specific requirements beyond inclusion in the list of obliged parties, and we did not read guidance from Turkish professional bodies. Check the Official Gazette and MASAK before relying on any detail here.

Frequently asked questions

Are accountants covered by Turkish AML rules?

Yes. Article 4(1)(t) of the regulation lists certified public accountants and certified general accountants operating independently.

How quickly must a suspicious transaction be reported?

Within ten working days of the suspicion arising, according to article 28(2) of the regulation.

How long must records be kept?

Eight years, counted as described above.

Who receives the reports?

MASAK, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board.

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