Turkey Imposes 8% Tax on Yachts, Ending Luxury Exemption

Yachts on the waterfront in Istanbul.

Photographer: Nicole Tung/Bloomberg

Turkey has slapped an 8% special consumption tax on yachts, motorboats and other pleasure craft, ending a zero-rate exemption that had applied to luxury vessels.

The levy, announced in a presidential decree published Saturday in the Official Gazette, takes effect immediately. It also covers small cruise ships and passenger vessels not intended for sea navigation.