Frequently Asked Questions

Which employers shall be included?

As of 1.1.2017, 4a employees, considering the number of employees of the workplace to which they are affiliated, shall be included in the system.
Regardless of whether or not employees are qualified for the automatic participation, pursuant to the Regulation of Social Security Operations, the number of employees is calculated depending on the employer’s notification to Social Security Institution (SSI). When the number of employees is determined, the most recent SSI data (number of net employees) is taken into account at the date of coverage. For the periods following the coverage date, the beginning of the calendar year following this date shall be taken as basis.
In the private sector, employers with less than five employees are not included in the system at this stage.

Employer-Based Gradual Transition Dates

Private sector companies with over 1000 employees	01 January 2017
Private sector companies and public entities with 250-999 employees (general and special budgeted administrations)	01 April 2017
Private sector companies with 100-249 employees	01 July 2017
Private sector companies, Local administrations and SEEs (State Economic Enterprises) with 50-99 employees	01 January 2018
Private sector companies with 10-49 employees	01 July 2018
Private sector companies with 5-9 employees	01 January 2019

Which employees shall be included in the system?

Turkish citizens or individuals with blue card
Individuals who have not completed 45 years of age
Public (4c) and private sector (4a) employees and those will be newly started working will be included in the Auto-Enrollment system.
Within the framework of the draft law adopted on 09.01.2017 under merits no 1/796 it is prescribed that the case employees covered by temporary article 20 of the Code no 506 shall be also included in the system.
Employees covered by 4b are not included in the system.

What are the obligations of the employer?

Selection of the pension company
Every employer involved in the Auto-Enrollment system is obliged to contract with a pension company on behalf of its employees and to include employees who meet the criteria in the legislation. The choice of company should be favored considering the quality of service and the advantages provided to employees.
Selection of the Funds
during the entry to the system, the employer is informed by employee’s funding preference with interest / interest-free and makes such choice on employee’s account who have not preferred any. It may also be agreed that the employee's fund preferences will be communicated directly to the pension company under the contract between employer and the company.
Payment of the contribution amount
The employer is obliged to deduct from the salaries of the employees a minimum 3% of premium based earnings or monthly pension deduction based pay and to transfer this amount to the pension company no later than the first business day after the date of the employee's salary paid. Moreover, to allow their employees to be included in the system, the employer shall report all necessary information about law and sub-regulations to the pension company and forward this data to the pension company monthly.
Transfer Facility
The employer considering the operational requirements may leave to the pension company execution of his obligations other than election of a company and deduction of contribution share.
Notification
The employer shall be obliged to make the notification regarding the employees have been included in the system.

What are the sanctions to be applied if the employer fails to fulfill his obligations?

If the employer does not comply with these obligations and the legislation to be enforced in the scope of automatic participation, the administrative penalty of 100 TL shall be applied by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security for each violation.
If the employer fails to transfer or delays or diminishes the transfer of contribution share to the company, he shall be responsible from the monetary loss in the savings of the employee.

What happens in the case where the number of employees in the workplace decrease in the manner the workplace will be excluded from the scope?

Changes in the number of employees of a once covered workplace after the coverage date shall not be taken into consideration. For example, in the case where the number of employees of an employer which have 1000 employees on 01.01.2017 decrease to 998 within the following 2 months, this employer will continue to be existent in the Auto-Enrollment system.

In the case where the number of employees of the employer increases, the relevant employer shall wait until the beginning of the following year. The inclusion of the workplaces to the scope of the system, is possible if they have the number of employees required at the date of progressive participation only. For example;

Date	01.04.2017 (250-999)	01.07.2017 (100-249)	Date of Inclusion
Number of Employees	200	240	01.07.2017
Number of Employees	200	260^*	01.01.2018

*Even if it reaches as per the most actual Social Security Institution record (250-999) employees between 02.04.2017-30.06.2017, it shall not be included within the scope.

How should employers calculate the number of employees in order to determine whether they are included in the Auto-Enrollment system?

Regardless of whether or not employees are qualified for the automatic participation, the number of all employees in the workplace should be taken into account by the employer. (Number of employees under 45 years of age or older, domestic/foreign/working abroad, branches and/or multiple workplaces without discrimination.)

What shall constitute the basis with respect to the calculation of the contribution amount which will be paid by the employees?

Employee contribution shall be the amount corresponding to minimum 3% of the premium based earnings or monthly pension deduction based pay. Employees should inform their employer if they wish to pay higher than this amount.

What are the issues to be considered on the pay day?

For different groups of employees (e.g. blue collar, white collar, etc.) on the pension contract, one or more pay days can be set.
Contributions deducted from the salary of the employees are paid in cash to the account of the pension company on business day following the pay day. In case the employer makes payment for the same employee on multiple dates within the relevant period (Premium, bonus, salary differential etc.) contribution amount corresponding to such amount shall be transferred to the pension company on the relevant payment date or on the next business day following the payment date. The amount is transferred to the pension company as a contribution related to the pay period.
The pension companies follow separately the cash payment day and the payment due date determined by the contract.
The contribution amounts may be paid to the pension company prior to the payment day which is determined in the contract upon making deductions from the salaries of the employees. However, the contribution amounts must in any case be communicated to the pension company on the business day following the salary payment day.
Legal deductions (25% of salary) such as levy/alimony on the employee's salary will not change the amount of contribution payable as long as the premium based income and retirement deduction are not affected.
Employees may request automatic deduction of contributions in excess of the rate specified in the legislation at any time.
Employee can not pay additional contribution other than deduction from his/her pay.
Contribution will be calculated with reference to premium based income and pension fund.

Can employers pay an additional contribution on behalf of their employees?

The employers cannot execute contribution amount payments on behalf of their employees. On the other hand, the employee may have contribution payment under Employer Group Pension Contract (EGPC). In order to receive information regarding the Group Pension applications which make important contributions in terms of the employee commitment and motivation, please click.

How do the employers draft their Auto-Enrollment Contracts?

In the case where the employee works in more than one workplaces under the supervision of the same employer based on a single employment contract and a single salary is paid to the employee, a single contract shall be drafted.
If an employee works in more than one workplace under the supervision of the same employer and the employee has a separate employment contract with the employer for each workplace and the payment is made separately for each contract, separate contracts shall be drafted for each workplace.
If an employee works in more than one workplace under the supervision of the same employer pursuant to a single employment contract and the employee receives payments separately for each workplace, the employee shall be included separately in the relevant pension plan presented to the employees for each workplace by the employer.
In the case where the employee has more than one employers, Auto-Enrollment Contracts shall be opened before each employer within the scope of the Auto-Enrollment Contract.

In the case where you choose AgeSA with respect to Automatic Participation, you will be able to execute your Auto-Enrollment contract processes via the Bi'tıkla Automatic Corporate online branch. Furthermore, you can also manage the processes with respect to your AgeSA Auto-Enrollment contracts via the PPS Auto-Enrollment module in your payroll software if you are using the Payroll solutions of Logo Yazılım.
Detailed Information

Which forms should be filled in by the employers?

An agreement detailing the obligations of the parties shall be signed between the employer and the pension company. The minimum content of the agreement is specified in the circular dated 30.12.2016 and numbered 2016/39 which is published by the Undersecretariat of Treasury.

Which forms or signatures shall be requested from the employees by the employers?

Employers shall not receive any forms or signatures from their employees.

Can employers change the pension company?

The employer will be unable to change the contracted pension company with another company for at least 2 years as from the signature date of the contract. In order for a contract which is drafted by means of transfer from another company to constitute the subject matter of retransfer, working with the relevant company for at least 1 year shall be required.

How will the settlement processes of the employers with the pension companies progress?

Including the method to be applied when the total contribution amount which is sent by the employer to the accounts of the pension company is less or more than the amount stated in the collection data with regard to the relevant period, the settlement processes are required to be clarified with the pension companies.
In the case where the collection data on the basis of employees cannot be obtained from the public expenditure and accountancy information system due to force majeure, the mentioned amount shall be returned to the employer within the following 2 business days at the latest subsequent to the payment date for the reason that no distribution can be made with respect to the collectively received amount.

In the case where you choose AgeSA with respect to Automatic Participation, you will be able to execute your Auto-Enrollment settlement and collection processes via the Bi'Tıkla Automatic Corporate online branch. Furthermore, you can also execute the collection transactions with respect to your AgeSA Auto-Enrollment contracts via the PPS Auto-Enrollment module in your payroll software if you are using the Payroll solutions of Logo Yazılım.Detailed Information.

Will the structures in the nature of corporate groups or holdings be considered within the scope of Auto-Enrollment under a single roof?

If an employee works in more than one workplace depending on the same employer under a single service contract and is paid a single salary, the employee is included in a single pension plan by the employer.

If an employee works in more than one workplace depending on the same employer, has separate service contract with the employer for each workplace and payment is made separately for each contract, the employee is included separately in the relevant pension plan presented to the employees for each workplace by the employer.

Will employers who have more than one workplace in the same or different locations be included under Automatic Participation?

For employers with more than one workplace, the sum of the employees in all the workplaces is taken into consideration and Auto-Enrollment is included under one roof.

If the employee works with more than one employer, will each employer be included in the automatic attendance system?

The employee will have an Auto-Enrollment agreement with each employer who is included in automatic participation.

If the employees do not choose any fund in the entrance to the Auto-Enrollment system, in which funds will the contributions be invested?

When they first participate in the system, making a fund selection between the interest bearing or interest-free funds shall be requested from the employees. In the case where the employee does not make a fund selection, the fund notified by the employer shall be valid. In this context, the contributions are firstly directed to “Initial Funds" stated in the plan in accordance with the preference made. Provided that the result of the survey shall not be binding, the risk profile survey shall be submitted to the employees who prefers to exit the system subsequent to completion of the establishment of the fund. Contributions and saving are directed to investment through funds / fund groups at different risk profiles presented in the preference of participant. If the customer does not make any changes, it will be automatically transferred to the "Standard Fund" from the "Initial Fund" as from 01.01.2018. A risk profile survey, without being binding, shall be presented to the participants, who have decided to quit the standard fund.

If in the current workplace, there is an employee retired from the SSI and under 45 years old, will he/she be included in the Auto-Enrollment system?

Yes, he/she will be included.

Is there a deduction from the salary for paying the contribution if there are legal deductions such as levy/alimony on the employee's salary (25% of the salary)?

It will not change the amount of contribution payable as long as the premium based income and retirement deduction are not affected.

Can the employees request automatic deduction of contributions in excess of the rate specified in the legislation?

Yes, they can.

When an employee changes his/her job, what method will be followed if there is a retirement plan under Auto-Enrollment in the new workplace?

Savings of an employee in his/her private pension account who has an Auto-Enrollment contract as of his/her job change date and his/her paid state contribution amount if available can be transferred to the plan which is available in the new workplace in accordance with his/her request if a group pension plan which is presented to the employees in the new workplace is available. The period which constitutes the basis in terms of the pension and state contribution entitlement of the employee within the context of the system shall exactly be maintained in the plan within the new workplace.

Can the current pension plan continue when the employee changes jobs if he or she is unemployed or there is no pension plan under Auto-Enrollment at the new workplace?

When the employee changes jobs, if the new employer does not have a pension plan for Auto-Enrollment or if the working relationship of the person has ended, he/she can continue the existing pension plan. In this case, he/she makes the payments himself/herself (through credit card, bank account etc.) to the pension company with which Auto-Enrollment contract is executed.

Can the contract of Auto-Enrollment continue when the employee is unemployed?

If the employee wishes to continue the relevant pension plan, he/she has right for saving related to the contract.

To whom will the notifications be made if the employee leaves the job?

In the case of separation from the employee's work, he will do all his work directly with the pension company.

What does the employee pay for entering and leaving the system and during the system?

Within the scope of automatic participation, employees do not pay entrance fee, in case of leaving, they do not pay any deferred fee or payment. As long as they are participated in the system, no deduction is made by pension companies other than the Fund Operation Expenses Fee (FOEF) in terms of the savings of the employees in the pension account. The maximum annual fund operation expenses fee rate (FOEF) is applied as 0.85% for all funds offered to employees who are included in the individual pension system through their employers under automatic participation. In accordance with the legislation, the Fund Total Fee (FTF), including the FOEF, in pension mutual funds offered under Auto-Enrollment can not exceed maximum 1.09% per year.

When should the employers include the employee into the system again after he/she withdraws / leaves ?

Employees who are separated from the Auto-Enrollment pension plan and affiliated to a workplace are automatically reincluded into the system by their employer, provided they are still working for the company and have not completed the age of 45 years.
The Pension Monitoring Center (PMC) identifies those who have left the retirement plan of a workplace in the previous calendar year and still continue to work in the same workplace and who will not complete the age of 45 by the end of the following April and reports to the pension company within one month. The pension company informs the relevant employers of their employees identified until the end of the month following the PMC notification, so that they can be reincluded into the system. Employers include their employees in the system until the end of the second month following the notification.

Can the employee go back to the system any time after withdrawal/leaving?

If an employee withdraws from /leaves the system he cannot enter again the system at his own discretion.

However, employees who continue to work in the same workplace and meet the conditions will be included in the automatic system under the procedures determined by the Undersecretariat.

How is employee contribution payments monitored in the case of employer's bankruptcy?

Employee contribution is a privileged receivable qualified for worker’s receivable regarding proceeding with levy and bankruptcy under Enforcement and Bankruptcy Code no 2004 dated 9/6/1932 for which the employer is a party. Employers are inspected by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in terms of their obligations under Auto-Enrollment application.

İşveren İçin

Frequently Asked Questions

Employer-Based Gradual Transition Dates