How Many Days Do You Have to Issue an Invoice?

The legal answer to how many days you have to issue an invoice in Türkiye: no later than 7 days from the date the goods are delivered or the service is performed. The rule is set out in Article 231, paragraph 5 of the Tax Procedure Law (VUK), and it is the same for paper invoices, e-invoices (e-Fatura) and e-archive invoices (e-Arşiv). An invoice not issued within this period is deemed never to have been issued.

How many days do you have to issue an invoice, and when does the period start?

The period starts not from the order date but from the date of delivery or the date the service is performed. For services, the day the work is completed is what counts.

For online sales, the VAT (KDV) Law contains an important detail about the moment of delivery: under Article 2 of the VAT Law, when goods are sent to the buyer, starting their transport or handing them over to a carrier or driver also counts as delivery. That is why, for marketplace orders, the safe approach is to start the clock on the day you hand the product over to the shipping company. If you are unsure how to calculate the period in a specific situation, confirm it with your certified public accountant (mali müşavir).

In practice, marketplaces give you less time

Although the legal upper limit is 7 days, marketplaces' own rules often require you to issue the invoice earlier:

Note that on Hepsiburada the period starts from the order date, which is earlier than the start of the legal period (delivery). For details on marketplace rules, see our marketplace invoicing guide.

The smoothest method is to issue the invoice before the order is shipped, while printing the shipping label. That way you comply with both the legal deadline and the marketplace rules at the same time.

What happens if you miss the 7-day deadline?

An invoice not issued within 7 days is treated by the tax administration as never having been issued. In that case, the special irregularity penalty under VUK 353/1 comes into play: for each document, 10% of the document amount, with a minimum of 17,000 TL for the first detection in 2026. The minimum amount rises as the number of detections increases. For the full set of amounts, read our article on the special irregularity penalty for invoices.

You still need to issue a late invoice to keep your sales records and VAT return accurate; however, the fact that the deadline has passed does not eliminate the penalty risk.

Other deadlines that get confused with it

The invoice issuing deadline is often confused with other deadlines in e-document processes:

• 8 days: The cancellation and objection period for e-invoices and e-archive invoices; it starts from the date the invoice is delivered to the buyer. See e-archive invoice cancellation period.
• End of the following day: The deadline for reporting e-archive invoice data to the Turkish Revenue Administration (GİB).
• Before shipment: An e-dispatch note (e-İrsaliye) must be issued and sent to GİB before the goods are actually shipped.
• 7 days (e-dispatch note response): The period within which the recipient of an e-dispatch note must accept or reject it; it has nothing to do with the invoice deadline.