You are cordially invited to the seminar organised by Bilkent University Faculty of Law.
“Taxation of User Data” Asst. Prof. Dr. Alara Efsun Yazıcıoğlu
Kadir Has University Faculty of Law
13 May 2025, Tuesday – 13:30-14:30
Art Gallery, Main Campus Library
The seminar is in English.
Taxation of the digital economy has been one of the most debated topics in international tax law for the last twenty years. As per the provisions of double tax treaties, business profits may be taxed by source countries only if a permanent establishment is constituted in the countries concerned. The existence of a permanent establishment is dependent upon the presence of a physical connection. The necessity of such connection forms a significant barrier to taxation of enterprises active in the digital economy in source countries. This challenge is even more pronounced for enterprises following a business model incorporating the ‘digital barter’, i.e. collecting user data in exchange for services rendered instead of receiving a monetary compensation. In their contribution published in 2023 entitled ‘Taxation of Big Data’, Oberson and Yazıcıoğlu focus on the concept of digital barter and argue that user data collection should be subject to a ‘data collection tax’. The seminar focuses on the importance of taxing user data in an efficient manner and the concept of ‘data collection tax’.
Alara Efsun Yazıcıoğlu completed her undergraduate law degree at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, while pursuing a master’s degree in economic law at the same university, she worked in the compliance department of Fortis Intertrust. She began her career in tax law in 2009 as a teaching and research assistant under the direction of Prof. Xavier Oberson at the University of Geneva. Yazıcıoğlu worked as a legal consultant in the field of tax law at the Geneva-based law firm Oberson Avocats between 2012 and 2014. After completing her degree equivalency in 2015 at Galatasaray University, she continued her career at GSG Attorneys at Law, within PwC Türkiye in Istanbul. In 2016, she completed her doctoral studies, with her thesis entitled ‘Taxation of International Sports Events’ under the supervision of Prof. Xavier Oberson at the University of Geneva. In 2017, she completed her legal internship and registered with the Istanbul Bar Association. Since 2018, she is an assistant professor at the Financial Law Section of the Faculty of Law at Kadir Has University.
Yazıcıoğlu has numerous national and international publications in the field of tax law. She was awarded one of the 2025 Young Scientists Awards of the Science Academy (BAGEP), Social Sciences Award in memory of Rona Serozan, for her work on ‘pink tax’. Her current research topics include pink tax and tampon tax, taxation of the digital economy, digitalisation of tax administrations, and Pigouvian taxes.