In Search of VAT Neutrality for BOTs and PPPs in Turkey

Turkey attracts significant flows of funds from abroad and imports large quantities of (investment) goods and services from suppliers established in the European Union, inter alia, in the framework of build-operate-transfer (BOT) and public-private-partnership (PPP) structures. The legislature attempts to neutralize the VAT burden on those projects by means of specific, ad hoc measures. In this article, the author examines to what extent the concessions for investment projects under BOT and PPP structures actually achieve the desired neutrality of VAT.