Short answer: website, domain, hosting and maintenance services bought in the business's name and properly invoiced can generally be booked as business expenses. The real question is how. Is the full amount expensed in the current year, or spread over several years? That depends on the nature and size of the spending and on your business's situation.
A warning upfront: what follows is general information, not tax advice. Thresholds in Turkish tax rules are updated regularly, and the same expense can be treated differently by different businesses. Make the final call with your accountant.
Which invoices should you keep?
A website generates more invoices than you might think:
- The site build or design invoice (an invoice from an agency, or an invoice or freelance receipt from a freelancer)
- Domain registration and renewal invoices
- Hosting or server invoices
- Monthly maintenance and support invoices
- Theme, plugin and software licences
- Business email service
- Invoices from ad platforms such as Google Ads and Meta
The most common mistake we see is invoices issued to a person rather than the business, or payments made with a personal card. If you registered the domain years ago in your own name with your own card, getting those invoices accepted as business expenses can be harder. Having the business's registered name and tax number on invoices, and paying from the business account where possible, makes things easier; confirm the details with your accountant.
One-off and recurring expenses
Recurring costs (hosting, maintenance, domain renewals, software subscriptions) are usually treated as expenses of the period they belong to.
The build cost is more complicated. Purchases below an amount set in the rules can be expensed directly; that threshold is reset from time to time. A site build above it may be treated as a long-term asset and depreciated over several years. In practice, opinions differ on which asset class a website falls into, so it's not wise to generalise.
A practical tip: split the items in the quote and the invoice. When design and development, content entry, one year of hosting and the domain are on separate lines, your accountant can put each in the right place. An invoice with a single line saying 'website service' can make that harder.
Foreign subscription invoices
Shopify, Wix, Google Workspace, a theme bought abroad, or ad platform invoices may come from companies outside Türkiye. For these services, the buyer may need to declare VAT under the reverse charge mechanism. Who issues the invoice, and whether it includes VAT, can change the treatment; be sure to discuss this with your accountant.
Two habits make life easier. Download invoices from each platform as PDFs every month and keep them in one folder; platforms sometimes archive old invoices, or access disappears when an account closes. For foreign currency payments, keep the bank statement showing the exchange rate on the payment date next to the invoice.
Questions to ask your accountant
At your next meeting, you can bring these questions:
- Should we expense the build cost this year, or depreciate it?
- How do you want the invoice laid out, and should the items be split?
- Do our foreign subscriptions require a reverse charge VAT declaration?
- Does a service bought from a freelancer create a withholding tax or other obligation?
- How should we handle subscriptions we've been paying with a personal card from now on?
- Which documents should we keep for ad spending?
We went through the annual cost of a website item by item in a separate article; knowing those items makes both budgeting and bookkeeping easier. One more note: before a site project starts, agree at the quote stage on whose name the invoice will be issued in and which line items it will include. That single step prevents most of the back-and-forth later.
This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for legal, financial or tax advice. For your own situation, consult a lawyer or a certified accountant.
Frequently Asked Questions
I'm a sole proprietor. Can I expense my website?
Generally, business-related spending invoiced to your business can be treated as an expense for sole proprietors too. Whether it's expensed directly or depreciated depends on the amount and the current thresholds; check with your accountant.
Are domain and hosting renewals expensed every year?
Recurring services like these are usually treated as expenses of the period they relate to. It matters that the invoice is issued to the business and kept on file; confirm your own situation with your accountant.
I hired a freelance designer. Which document should I ask for?
Depending on their tax status, documents such as an invoice or a freelance service receipt come into play. Freelance payments can create obligations such as withholding tax for your business, so it's best to check with your accountant before paying.
Blog posts are for general information only and are not a substitute for legal, financial or technical advice.