Short answer: Taxpayers with 2025 gross sales of 3 million TL or more were due on e-Invoice and e-Archive by 1 July 2026. Online sales and certain listing intermediaries use 500 thousand TL. Paper issued after that date, where an electronic document was required, falls under the special irregularity penalty. On the operating-account method and the simplified regime, invoices above 3,000 TL stay on e-Archive through 31 December 2026; on 1 January 2027 the amount goes and e-Ledger arrives.
In October 2026 the office hears the same sentence: “We missed the date and we are still printing paper.” The penalty does not land once. It accumulates on every sale that still leaves on paper.
This guide does not re-explain e-Invoice and e-Archive. That split is in e-Invoice or e-Archive. Here are the three limits people mix up, and what to do the week after missing 1 July. The same mix shows up in the e-commerce and courier files at our Kızılay office in Ankara.
Three limits that get mixed
A search for “e-invoice limit” usually means three rules: paper or electronic, whether you must register, and the amount above which a receipt is not enough. One number for all three produces either a needless panic or a false sense of safety.
| Rule | What 2026 says | Who it binds |
|---|---|---|
| When an invoice is required | Above 12,000 TL | Tax Procedure Law, Communiqué No. 588 |
| e-Archive amount | Balance sheet: electronic at any amount. Operating account and simplified regime: above 3,000 TL until 31 December 2026 | Not yet on e-Invoice. Communiqué No. 589 |
| Joining e-Invoice | 2025 gross sales of 3 million TL or more: 1 July 2026. Online sales and listed intermediaries: 500 thousand TL | Communiqué No. 509 |
| e-Ledger | 1 January 2027 for this transition group | Businesses that entered e-Invoice on 1 July 2026 |
12,000 TL is the general line at which an invoice must be issued. It does not mean “everything above this is an e-Invoice”. 3,000 TL is the e-Archive line for an operating-account or simplified-regime taxpayer who is not yet registered: above it, the invoice goes through the Revenue Administration portal. 3 million TL is the turnover line for registering, and for sending an e-Invoice when the customer is a user too.
Who should already have been inside on 1 July 2026?
The general rule is gross sales of 3 million TL or more in 2025, which ties entry to 1 July 2026. Staying under it does not leave every activity outside. Some have no turnover test, and that list is in the communiqué.
The second line is 500 thousand TL of 2025 gross sales. It covers your own site or a marketplace, internet intermediaries, real-estate and vehicle listing sites, and businesses that buy, sell or rent real estate or motor vehicles. A marketplace seller cannot hide behind 3 million by calling the shop small. The tax side is in the marketplace sellers’ tax guide.
In a courier or e-commerce file the figure lives in the platform report. Net payout after commission is not gross sales. Measuring the line on the net figure makes the transition look a year later than it is. We close that split in the first month of e-commerce accounting and courier accounting.
Who still has a paper window?
From 1 January 2026, a taxpayer on the balance-sheet method who has not joined e-Invoice must issue invoices electronically regardless of the amount. The sentence “under 3,000 TL can stay on paper” ended in 2026 for this group.
Communiqué No. 589 extended the window by one year for the simplified regime and the operating-account method. Through 31 December 2026, invoices that do not exceed 3,000 TL including tax may stay on paper. Above that, they are e-Archive from the portal. On 1 January 2027 the amount disappears. The extension does not give a paper right to a business already on e-Invoice, or to one that should have joined on 1 July and did not.
Not a survey. From October 2026 the bars show which date is behind us and which is still ahead.
What the paper invoice costs
A paper invoice that should have been electronic sits in the special irregularity rules. Communiqué No. 588 updated the 2026 amounts. In the tariff relayed by the profession, the annual ceiling, including paper where an electronic document was required, appears as 17 million TL. Do not multiply a public percentage by your document and call it your penalty. The notice is read with the number of findings, the document type, and the floor and ceiling.
In most files the ceiling is not the cost. Stacked paper invoices, a deduction dispute and an e-Ledger setup that never started land in the same month.
What to do this week
Take 2025 gross sales from the platform report, or from the invoice list if there is no platform. Over 3 million, or over 500 thousand for your activity, with no registration, the application is already late. If you are registered, list the paper invoices issued after 1 July. That list is the material the correction is built from.
The Revenue Administration portal is enough for low-volume e-Archive. Regular sales, a marketplace and courier collections need a private integrator or the e-document link in the accounting software. After approval, issue one test invoice and check that it reached the buyer with the same tax-inclusive total. Installing the program is not the transition.
If the customer is an e-Invoice user, the document is an e-Invoice. If not, you send e-Archive even though you are registered. We kept that split in e-Invoice and e-Archive. The switch does not move the VAT day on the monthly tax calendar.
1 January 2027 is close
For the group that entered e-Invoice on 1 July 2026, e-Ledger is mandatory on 1 January 2027. October and November are the months for the software and the berat timetable. A ledger screen that will not open in January is the missed transition, lived again. Businesses already on e-Invoice with 2025 gross sales of 10 million TL or more also had 1 July 2026 for e-Dispatch. A file that ships goods checks that line. A service business often has no dispatch note.
On the operating-account method and the simplified regime, the paper window under 3,000 TL closes on 31 December 2026. Before the year ends, settle the portal user and a backup signatory. If the password lives with one person, the invoice stops when that person is away.
Frequently asked questions
I am under 3 million. Can I keep issuing paper?
Not always. On the balance-sheet method, 2026 invoices are electronic regardless of amount. On the operating-account method and the simplified regime, only amounts up to 3,000 TL may stay on paper through 31 December 2026.
I missed 1 July. Is an application still worth it?
Yes. It does not erase paper already issued. It puts the next sale on an electronic document and stops the penalty from growing.
My marketplace sales are under 3 million. Am I outside?
No. Internet sales use 500 thousand TL of 2025 gross sales. Do not measure that line on the payout after commission.
Can I calculate the penalty myself at 10 percent?
No. The 2026 tariff quotes an annual ceiling of 17 million TL. Your figure comes from the number of findings, the document type and the notice.
Did e-Ledger also start on 1 July?
No. For this group e-Ledger is 1 January 2027. Registration does not open the ledger. Software and the berat calendar are set before the year ends.
Does a company outside Ankara face the same date?
Yes. The lines apply across Turkey. At the Kızılay office we read the turnover and the paper invoices from your list. The rule does not change by district.
In short
1 July 2026 has passed. Gross sales of 3 million TL in 2025, or 500 thousand TL on internet sales, meant e-Invoice was already due. On the balance-sheet method, paper is not protected by the amount in 2026. On the operating-account method and the simplified regime, the window under 3,000 TL lasts only until year end. e-Ledger for this group is 1 January 2027.
At Ankara Accountant, in the Kızılay office on Atatürk Boulevard, we list your 2025 turnover and the paper issued after July. Get in touch or see e-invoicing. For a first meeting, what to bring shortens the bag.
This week, produce one number: 2025 gross sales. That number says whether paper can continue. The rest is the application, one test invoice, and the 2027 ledger calendar.
