When Is MTV Due? Motor Vehicle Tax (MTV) Payment Calendar
Motorlu Taşıtlar Vergisi (MTV, Motor Vehicle Tax) is an obligation that lands on every vehicle owner's calendar at two fixed points, and these dates do not change from year to year. In this article we explain exactly which months MTV is paid in, what happens if the payment day falls on an official holiday, and what consequences follow when the tax is not paid on time — from the late-payment surcharge to the inspection and sale block. For general topics such as MTV's scope, who is liable, and how the amount is determined, see our pillar article, the MTV guide.
When is MTV due: two equal installments, January and July
MTV's payment calendar is explicitly set out in Article 9 of Law No. 197, the Motor Vehicle Tax Law (Motorlu Taşıtlar Vergisi Kanunu): "Motor vehicle tax is paid each year in January and July, in two equal installments." In other words, a vehicle's annual MTV amount is not paid in a single sum but split in two — the first installment within January, the second within July.
This tax does not wait for a separate notice to be sent to the taxpayer (mükellef): under the same Article 9, the tax is deemed to be automatically assessed annually by the relevant tax office at the beginning of January each year, and is deemed to have been notified to the taxpayer on the day it is assessed. In practice this means: as long as the vehicle is registered in your name, your MTV debt arises automatically every year — it is the taxpayer's responsibility to track the January and July installments without waiting for a letter or notification.
If you sell or transfer your vehicle during the year, particularly within January or July, Article 9 also specifies: if the change of ownership due to a transfer or sale occurs within these months, the tax for that period must be paid before the transfer/sale transaction. We cover how to check your MTV status before selling a vehicle in our MTV debt inquiry article, and the full sale process in our vehicle transfer and sale guide.
The most practical way to learn your current installment amount — the figure calculated according to that year's applicable MTV tariff — is the "MTV Inquiry and Payment by Credit Card" service on e-Devlet (Turkey's e-Government portal), where you can view your current debt using your plate number and pay by credit card on the same screen. We cover in detail which criteria (age, engine displacement, value) the amount is calculated on in our MTV calculation article — what matters here is the date, not the amount.
If the payment day falls on a weekend or official holiday
Although the due dates are fixed within January and July, the last day of the month can sometimes fall on a weekend or an official holiday. In that case, the general tax-procedure rule applies: under Article 18 of Law No. 213, the Tax Procedure Law (Vergi Usul Kanunu), official holidays are included within the period, but "if the last day of the period falls on an official holiday, [the period] ends at the closing hour of the first business day following the holiday." In other words, if the last day of a tax's payment period falls on a weekend or an official/religious holiday, the payment due date automatically shifts to the next first business day.
This is not an exception specific to MTV, but a general mechanism in tax law for calculating periods. For this reason, rather than treating a specific date such as "January 31" or "July 31" as the deadline by rote, it is safer to confirm the current final payment day via GİB according to that year's official holiday calendar.
If not paid on time: how the late-payment surcharge works
If you do not pay your MTV installment by the due date, your debt automatically starts to grow. The basis for this is not the MTV Law but the general collection law that applies to all public receivables: Article 51 of Law No. 6183, the Law on the Procedure for Collection of Public Receivables (Amme Alacaklarının Tahsil Usulü Hakkında Kanun), provides that an unpaid public receivable accrues a late-payment surcharge (gecikme zammı) separately for each month starting from the end of the due date, with amounts corresponding to fractions of a month calculated on a daily basis.
The important point to note here is this: although the late-payment surcharge rate is written in the law as a fixed percentage, the same article grants the President (Cumhurbaşkanı) the authority to change that rate from time to time (increase or decrease it). In other words, the late-payment surcharge is not always a fixed figure that stays the same — it is a monthly rate set by the state that can be updated. For this reason, we do not state a current rate in this article; before making a payment you should check the currently applicable late-payment surcharge rate via GİB's official announcements or the current debt inquiry screen on e-Devlet — when you inquire about your debt, the current rate is already factored into the figure shown to you.
Practical takeaway: the later you pay your MTV debt, the more months of late-payment surcharge get added on top; thinking "a few days won't matter" is costly, because even fractions of a month are calculated and collected on a daily basis.
The effect of unpaid MTV on inspection and sale
The consequences of an MTV debt are not limited to the late-payment surcharge. Article 13 of Law No. 197 directly ties unpaid MTV to two critical vehicle transactions:
- Technical inspection (fenni muayene): Under Article 13/d, a technical inspection cannot be carried out on vehicles whose tax has not been paid or has not been put on an installment plan under the relevant provision of Law No. 6183. In other words, if you have an MTV debt, your vehicle cannot pass inspection.
- Sale and transfer: Under Article 13/c, notaries (noterler) and those carrying out a sale/transfer transaction are required, before completing the transaction, to request a document showing that any MTV unpaid up to that date, along with any associated late-payment surcharges, has been paid. In other words, a vehicle cannot be sold at the notary without the MTV debt being cleared. You can also check your vehicle's current status via the registration document (ruhsat) in our ruhsat inquiry article.
These two rules turn MTV from merely a risk of a fine into an obligation that directly affects your freedom to actually use and dispose of the vehicle.
In summary
MTV is paid each year in two equal installments in January and July; if these dates fall on an official holiday, the due date shifts to the next business day. An installment not paid on time grows by a monthly late-payment surcharge set by the state, and unpaid MTV effectively blocks both your vehicle's inspection and its sale. Leaving this calendar to automatic reminders instead of tracking it by hand protects you from both the late-payment surcharge and last-minute inspection/sale surprises. You can follow MTV's general scope in our MTV guide and exemption cases in our MTV exemption article.