Subcontract checklist: 20 points to check before you sign

What is a taşeron sözleşmesi and which laws apply?

A taşeron (subcontractor) contract hands part of the work from the main contractor to a subcontractor. It is usually a contract for work under the Turkish Code of Obligations no. 6098, whose rules fill any gap. Labour Law no. 4857 art. 2 and Social Security Law no. 5510 art. 12 make the main employer jointly liable for the subcontractor's wages and premiums, and a contract cannot remove that. The Occupational Health and Safety Law no. 6331 requires coordination between employers on one site. On the tax side come stamp duty, withholding tax on multi-year works and VAT withholding on construction.

Parties and scope

1. Full legal names, tax numbers and notice addresses, plus an email or registered e-mail (KEP) address.
2. Social security registration of the subcontractor as a sub-employer for this job before any of its staff start work.
3. Link to the main contract, if you are yourself a contractor to a client.
4. A precise description of the work: location, quantity and main materials. A vague scope is the most common source of extra claims.
5. Exclusions, and a rule that out-of-scope work is paid only on written instruction at an agreed price.
6. Annexes and their order of precedence: specification, drawings, quantities, rate schedule, programme, guarantees, insurance.

Price, advance and progress payments

1. Pricing model: lump sum, unit price, mixed, or labour only. For unit prices, state the unit and how quantities are approved.
2. Currency and price adjustment: VAT excluded, currency, and whether an index (such as the TÜİK domestic PPI) applies.
3. Advance: rate, the guarantee it is paid against, and recovery from each payment at the same rate. Write zero if there is none.
4. Billing period and payment term: 30-day periods are common. If payment depends on the client paying you, say so with an outer limit.
5. Order of deductions from each hakediş; a worked example is in the hakediş guide.
6. Variation limit, often 30 % of the contract price, within which contract rates apply.

Retention and delay penalties

1. Retention type and rate: cash deducted from payments (5–10 % is common), a performance bond, or both. A bond's expiry must run past final acceptance.
2. Release conditions: commonly half at provisional and half at final acceptance, against the final account, a social security clearance letter, proof that wages are paid and a release (ibraname). Wait for the minimum labour cost review before releasing it.
3. Daily delay penalty in per mille of the price, and whether it also applies to interim milestones. 1 ‰ a day is common.
4. Penalty cap, commonly 10 %, with a right to terminate once it is reached.

Example: on a ₺2,400,000 contract, 1 ‰ a day is ₺2,400. A 10 % cap is ₺240,000, reached on day 100. Twenty-five days late costs ₺60,000, or 2.5 %.

Social security and tax clauses

Stamp duty has an annual upper limit, ₺29,115,961.10 per contract for 2026. Confirm all rates with your accountant.

Time, acceptance, warranty and termination

1. Start and finish dates, with site handover recorded and time extended if handover is late.
2. Programme with interim milestones; without dated milestones a milestone penalty is very hard to apply. See schedule and critical path.
3. Extensions on written application within a set number of days.
4. Provisional and final acceptance, defect correction period, warranty (12 months is common), and retention deductions (nefaset) for minor defects.
5. Covered work opened at the subcontractor's cost if hidden before inspection.
6. Insurance: additional insured on the contractor's all-risk policy, liability limits and expiry dates.
7. No assignment of the work or of payments without written consent.
8. Termination grounds for both sides, including a delay threshold, reaching the penalty cap and serious safety breaches.

Common mistakes and the checklist

• Copying last job's Word file and leaving the old subcontractor's name or price in it.
• A one-line scope.
• No penalty cap, or milestone penalties with no dated milestones.
• A bond that expires before final acceptance.
• Releasing retention without the clearance letter and release.
• Nobody tracking the payment, policy and bond dates after signature.

Before signing, tick off: parties and registration; precise scope and exclusions; annexes and precedence; pricing model, VAT, currency and adjustment; advance; billing period and payment term; order of deductions; variation limit; retention type, rate and bond expiry; release conditions; daily penalty and cap; dated milestones; social security documents per payment; minimum labour cost; stamp duty, withholding and VAT withholding; safety obligations; insurance limits and dates; acceptance and warranty periods; assignment and termination for both sides; court and mandatory mediation.

How Santix handles it

Santix has 40 contract templates: trade-specific ones from excavation and reinforced concrete to plumbing and lifts, scaffolding, crane hire and ready-mix concrete, plus a general subcontract. You pick the template and pricing model, pick the firm, answer the questions the app groups for you (parties, price, advance, billing period, retention, penalty and cap, dates, insurance, materials, scaffolding, accommodation, court) and review the draft. The topics above are clauses in the templates, and points such as joint social security liability, retention release and a precise scope are flagged as critical.

A helper suggests the next unanswered questions, and you can have a clause drafted for a term the template lacks. A penalty calculator shows the amount for a number of late days and the day the cap is reached. Once the signed PDF is attached, the app creates reminders: stamp duty deadline, each billing period close and, three days before it, a request for the clearance letter and payroll, 14 days before the policy expires, 30 days before the bond expires, 14 days before the finish date, provisional acceptance, final acceptance and retention release, and a withholding alert when the job becomes multi-year. See contract templates.

What Santix does not do: the templates are awaiting legal review and are not legal advice; there is no e-signature in the app; it does not file tax returns. A subcontractor user sees only their own contract.

Sources

• Turkish Code of Obligations no. 6098
• Labour Law no. 4857, art. 2
• Social Security Law no. 5510, art. 12
• Occupational Health and Safety Law no. 6331
• Income Tax Law no. 193, art. 94
• Stamp Duty Law no. 488