Serkan Yılmaz
CPA
Auditor
Partner
Background
Serkan Yılmaz is a founding partner of the accounting and audit firm GEMS Serbest Muhasebeci Mali Müşavirlik A.Ş.
Before the firm was established he worked for seventeen years at Moore Türkiye, the Turkish member of the international Moore Global network, where he held every position in the audit profession from audit assistant through audit manager and audit director to general manager and partner.
Serkan Yılmaz graduated from Bornova Anadolu Lisesi in Izmir in 1997 and from the Faculty of Business Administration of Istanbul University in 2003. In 2017 he completed the leadership programme at Harvard Business School in Boston.
He holds the Turkish certified public accountant licence (Serbest Muhasebeci Mali Müşavir) and is registered as an independent auditor with the Public Oversight, Accounting and Auditing Standards Authority (KGK); he also holds the independent audit authorisations of the Capital Markets Board (SPK), the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) and the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK).
He works in Turkish and English.
Serkan Yılmaz is responsible for the accounting and audit practice of GEMS Serbest Muhasebeci Mali Müşavirlik A.Ş. and in this role mainly looks after the Turkish subsidiaries of foreign groups. His work covers bookkeeping, payroll and social security filings, the preparation of tax returns and year-end financial statements under Turkish law, compliance with electronic invoicing and bookkeeping obligations (e-Fatura, e-Defter), and reporting to group headquarters under international financial reporting standards.
Independent audit forms one focus of his work. As an independent auditor he conducts year-end and interim audits of companies and prepares audit reports that meet the requirements of foreign parent companies and their group auditors.
In tax matters he advises on the tax structuring of investments in Turkey, on the use of investment incentive certificates and regional incentive schemes, on double taxation questions between Turkey and the home countries of foreign investors, and on withholding tax and VAT obligations on payments abroad. For intra-group transactions he prepares transfer pricing documentation and assesses the tax consequences of group financing, profit distributions and capital movements of the Turkish subsidiaries of foreign groups.
In tax audits and in disputes with the tax administration he represents taxpayers from the audit stage through to settlement; at the litigation stage he works together with the lawyers of GEMS Schindhelm. In acquisitions he conducts financial and tax due diligence, carries out company valuations and accompanies the post-acquisition accounting integration.
For private individuals relocating to Turkey he prepares tax opinions on residence and on the taxation of foreign income in Turkey, and handles the registration for tax purposes in Turkey and the annual filing obligations.
Serkan Yılmaz works closely with the lawyers of GEMS Schindhelm on matters with a predominantly legal dimension, in particular company formations, restructurings, liquidations and the relocation of private individuals to Turkey, where tax and legal questions are closely intertwined.