SGK missing day codes: reasons, documents and getting from the timesheet to the filing

What is a missing day?

A missing day (eksik gün) is a day in the month on which the insured employee was not employed and not paid. The employer declares the number and reason in the monthly withholding and premium service return (formerly the monthly premium and service document) for that month (5510 art. 86/4). Reporting fewer days without a reason leaves an unexplained gap in SGK’s eyes.

An employee who works and is paid for the whole month is reported with 30 days regardless of the month’s length (Social Insurance Procedures Regulation art. 100/2). In a month with missing days, the count is the number of days in the month minus the days for which no pay was earned (art. 100/3).

The concept follows pay, not attendance: an employee on paid annual leave or paid compassionate leave is not at work but has no missing day. Conversely, every day without attendance and without pay must be explained with a reason code, whatever the cause.

What are the reasons for missing days?

The reasons match the documents listed in the Social Insurance Procedures Regulation: sick leave report, unpaid leave, disciplinary penalty, custody and detention, part-time work, signed timesheets, strike, lockout, events affecting public life, natural disaster, absenteeism, not working on the termination date, and short-time or half-time work allowance (art. 102/13).

SGK decides which code reports which reason and may change the codes (art. 25/1). That is why the codes are found not in the law or the regulation but in SGK announcements and e-Bildirge screens.

SGK missing day codes

The table lists the codes we confirmed by number and name in SGK’s own publications. It is not complete: codes we could not see in an SGK publication (for example disciplinary penalty and the “other” reasons code) are left out rather than given a guessed number; the list on the filing screen prevails.

Sources: SGK e-Bildirge V2 application page, SGK announcement of 20.11.2023 (07), SGK domestic-work notice explanations (12, 15) and SGK general health insurance announcement (06, 17). The “When” column is explanatory, not the official definition.

28 and 29 are not current codes. They are tied to the pandemic unpaid leave of temporary article 10 of the Labour Law, which allowed extensions only until 30 June 2021 at the latest. Unpaid leave in a current month is reported as “21 – Other unpaid leave”.

When is code 07 – timesheet records used?

Code 07 is for cases where missing work is documented by timesheet records bearing the employee’s signature (SSİY art. 102/13-e). Since 20.11.2023 SGK blocks this code for an employee who did not work at all in the month and is reported with 0 days and 0 earnings.

For part-time staff the usual route is code 06 – part-time employment, with the written contract as the document. For a part-time employee paid by the hour, the day count is the total hours worked in the month divided by 7.5, and any remainder under 7.5 hours counts as one day (SSİY art. 101/3). Details: part-time work guide.

Are missing-day documents sent to SGK?

No. Documents on missing work are prepared in the month concerned but not submitted; the employer keeps them for the period in 5510 art. 86/2 — ten years from the start of the following year (SSİY art. 102/13). Stating the reason in the return is enough.

• Fifteen days to produce them. If SGK asks for the documents, they must be produced within fifteen days.
• Documents not produced or not prepared properly are treated as invalid, and for periods reported as under thirty days SGK draws up the return ex officio and collects the premiums (5510 art. 86/5).
• The old form is gone. Submission of the documents ended from the March 2018 period (SGK announcement, 17.04.2018); the regulation’s Annex 10 “Missing Day Notification Form” was repealed on 18.08.2021.

In practice the document for absenteeism is an incident report; how to draw one up is covered in the absenteeism records guide.

From the timesheet to the missing-day report

The source of a correct missing-day report is the timesheet: the monthly sheet marking each day as worked, on leave, on medical report, on unpaid leave or absent. Even when a payroll accountant files the return, this is the only data they have to choose the code.

• 1. Classify the days. Separate paid days (worked, weekly rest, paid leave, public holiday) from unpaid days; only unpaid days are missing days.
• 2. Give every unpaid day a reason. Keep medical report, unpaid leave and absence apart; a day without a known reason does not go into the report.
• 3. Collect the document in the same month. The signed leave form, report or incident report is prepared that month; documents gathered later are open to challenge.
• 4. Choose the code. One reason, its code; several reasons in the same month, “12 – More than one”.
• 5. Check the day count. 30 minus unpaid days; if the employee joined or left during the month, the rule in SSİY art. 100/2–3 applies.

Example 1 — one reason. A monthly-paid employee took 3 days of unpaid leave in November (30 days) with a signed leave form. Premium days 30 − 3 = 27, missing days 3, reason “21 – Other unpaid leave”.

Example 2 — mixed month. The next month the same employee is on medical report for 2 days without pay from the employer and absent without excuse for 1 day. Missing days 3, day count 27, reason “12 – More than one”; the documents kept are the report and the absence record. The mixed month is where most errors happen: report and absence are not documented separately and go through under a single code.

Example 3 — on report but paid. If the employer pays wages, or the difference from SGK’s temporary incapacity benefit, for days on report, the payment is subject to premiums and the day count is based on the days paid (SSİY art. 100/4). Not every day on report is automatically a missing day; what decides is whether pay was made.

Joining or leaving during the month

For an employee hired during the month, the day count runs from the start date to the end of the month; for one who leaves, it equals the days worked that month (SSİY art. 100/2). Those days are not missing days: the employee was not on the payroll then.

Example. An employee starting on 10 November has 10–30 November, 21 days. If they also take 2 days of unpaid leave that month, the count is 21 − 2 = 19 and only those 2 days are declared as missing days with a reason (art. 100/3). Whether weekly rest pay was earned in the starting month also affects the count (art. 100/5).

Consequences of wrong or missing reports

Declaring the reason and number of missing days is the employer’s duty; if it is not fulfilled, administrative sanctions apply under article 102 of Law 5510 (5510 art. 86). If documents cannot be produced on request, SGK draws up the return ex officio for periods reported under thirty days and collects the premium (art. 86/5) — an undocumented missing day turns into unpaid premium for the employer.

It matters to the employee too: a wrongly reported day understates their premium days. An employee whose return was not filed or whose work SGK could not establish may prove the work in the labour court within five years from the end of the year in which it took place (art. 86). An accurate timesheet protects both sides from that dispute.

Does weekly rest affect missing days?

It can. Weekly rest pay is earned on condition of having worked the working days set under article 63 before the rest day (Labour Law art. 46). If an employee is absent without excuse for all working days of a week, whether that week’s rest day is paid has to be assessed separately — which can change the missing-day count. Make that assessment in the timesheet, before choosing a code.

For rest-day pay see the holiday pay guide; for the monthly sheet as a whole, what is puantaj.

Keeping the timesheet ready for the report

In our timesheet software the monthly timesheet is built automatically from clock-in records; days on leave, on medical report and with missing work are counted separately, and approved leave flows into the timesheet by itself. Documents such as medical reports are attached to the leave request. An approved month is locked; the timesheet exports as PDF, CSV and Excel and the accountant package as CSV and PDF. Your payroll accountant files the return and picks the missing-day code; the system gives them the day counts split by reason. Details: timesheets.

This guide is for information only and is not legal or payroll advice. Your collective agreement or employment contract may contain more favourable terms.