At that time the government gave people several months to declare this money and said it was the last chance. The head of the Revenues Administration added that the government was not intending to extend the March 2 deadline. Then the government extended the deadline until Sept. 30, on which date the government gave a second extension and made a final deadline that will expire on Dec. 31. The feeling I get from the government makes me believe that there will be no more extensions. In Turkey, unregistered money that is most likely not illegal, or black money, is called “under the pillow money” or “under the pillow investment.” Don't laugh. This is what it is called in Turkey. The term “under the pillow” comes from the old days when people used to keep their money under their pillows. Who knows; maybe people are still keeping money under their pillows. I don't know where people keep their money in England. You know what I mean. I know that not all pennies are registered in England or in the EU. I know a lot of people use cash all the time so tax authorities cannot track how much they spend. So where do you keep your money if not under your pillow? In a fine biscuit box, I would guess.
The purpose of the law is to uncover the under the pillow money. This is rather an important regulation and a chance for people who are interested in declaring their assets located abroad or assets in Turkey that have not been declared until now.
According to local press reports yesterday, the head of the Revenues Administration said that the size of inflows related to this “repatriation” is markedly above the widely expected $12 billion. The law that was enacted in November 2008 promises that the government will not investigate the source of residents' repatriated funds if they are transferred to Turkey before Dec. 31, 2009. The repatriation has been successful until now, and it is probably one of the drivers of sizable “unclassified” FX inflows in the balance of payments, which reached $12.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 and has provided a major source of support for the lira in recent months.
The fact is that the repatriation advantage is granted only for assets including money, gold and property that were acquired before Jan. 1, 2008.
I have some personal remarks concerning this point. Whenever such a law is implemented, honest taxpayers always feel that they are being swindled because they paid their taxes instead of hiding their assets. While this is already a peace offering to people who have not paid their taxes, and this is already looking very bad, I don't understand why the government left out some time periods, namely after Jan. 1, 2008.
I don't want to use bad language here; it's not a good idea. I believe the law would be much more effective, understandable and wise if it had said, “All covered assets and hidden monies are under the coverage of this law.” I am saying this because people ask me questions like “I have X much money, and I want to declare it. But how will the government know when I made this money? Then they have to investigate it somehow to find out if I am in compliance with the law. Then this is an investigation, and I don't want to be investigated at all.”
A call to the government: Give another extension and also amend the law to cover a wider area for all unregistered monies made until the date of declaration. Then there will be no question marks, and I bet that you will get much more in one month than you have in one year. Have I made my point?
