Authorities scrutinize doctors’ earnings, tax payments

ANKARA

The Finance Ministry's Revenue Administration is investigating the income of doctors operating private clinics to determine whether they are engaging in tax evasion.

Initial work showed that 3,663 doctors did not properly report the income earned from procedures such as examinations, aesthetic and surgical operations and dental treatments in their declarations, leaving approximately 13 billion Turkish Liras of revenue unrecorded.

As part of these inspections, the studies conducted by the Revenue Administration involve using AI-supported programs to analyze doctors' tax declarations.

Officials found differences reaching up to 400 percent between the declared income and the actual earnings.

It was also found that some doctors working in fields such as general surgery, orthopedics and neurosurgery underreported the fees they received from their patients.

Investigations revealed that surgeons, particularly those working in private hospitals or accepting patients in their own clinics, concealed taxable income by underreporting surgery fees.

For instance, it was found that a gynecologist declared an annual income of 6.5 million liras, leaving 53 million liras of income undeclared.

The rapidly growing aesthetic sector has also become the focus of tax audits.

Investigations revealed that some doctors performing procedures such as rhinoplasty, Botox and liposuction underreported their income.

They, for example, found that a doctor specializing in hair transplantation declared an annual income of 7 million liras but concealed revenue of 69 million liras.