What sets an accounting fee?
The fee follows the work a file creates, not the name of the service. The eight factors below decide how many hours a month a file takes, and a proposal comes from how your file reads against them.
| Factor | How it affects the fee |
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| Number of documents and transactions | The more documents issued and received each month, the more bookkeeping, reconciliation and checking time. This is the single biggest driver. |
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| Number of employees on payroll | Each employee means separate filings, payslips and premium calculations. A company with no staff and one with ten do not create the same work. |
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| VAT registration and filing frequency | Monthly VAT, withholding and advance tax filings set a fixed rhythm. Exempt transactions make each return more detailed. |
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| Cross-border transactions and foreign currency | Collections from abroad, platform fees, exchange differences and exemption tracking add a layer. If the service export deduction is used, its conditions are tracked here too. |
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| Incentives and exemptions in use | Where a technopark exemption, R&D incentive or investment incentive is used, in-scope and out-of-scope earnings are tracked separately and the documentation load rises. |
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| Reporting frequency | Filings only, or monthly reports and a cash projection as well? The second is separate work. |
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| The state of an incoming file | A file arriving with a messy history needs cleaning up first. That is separate work, not part of the monthly fee. |
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| Foreign shareholder or overseas head office | A foreign-owned structure brings notification duties, withholding on distributions and usually reporting in English. |
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What sets the fee for a sole proprietorship?
Sole trader registration usually runs within a smaller frame: a business ledger or a self-employment ledger, monthly VAT and advance tax, and the annual return. Inside that frame, what raises the fee is the number of documents and where the income comes from.
For a freelancer working with clients abroad, three extra pieces of work appear: recording collections in foreign currency, tracking platform fees separately, and, where it applies, following the conditions of the service export earnings deduction. The last one matters most, because the deduction depends on all the earnings reaching Türkiye in time, and watching that becomes part of the monthly routine. For a new taxpayer using the young entrepreneur exemption, the first three years are tracked separately.
To see the calculation itself, thefreelancer tax calculatorputs three routes side by side on the same inputs.
What sets the fee for a limited company?
Limited and joint stock companies keep balance-sheet books, so the ledgers, reconciliations and period-end work are wider than for a sole trader. Four items usually decide the fee, in this order: the number of employees on payroll, the monthly document volume, the scope of VAT and withholding returns, and how much reporting is wanted.
Two structural situations add to that. Where a technopark or R&D incentive is used, in-scope and out-of-scope earnings have to be tracked separately; that is the basis of the exemption calculation and a second set of records. In a foreign-owned company, notification duties, withholding on profit distribution and, usually, reporting in English come into play.
What is the minimum fee tariff?
Accounting fees in Türkiye have a floor, and it is not set freely. A minimum fee tariff published in the Official Gazette each year states the least a given piece of work may be charged at. Professional rules do not allow anyone to work below it; working above it depends on the scope.
You can read the current text and its tables by province group onTÜRMOB's minimum fee tariff page. I do not quote figures here because the tariff itself is the official source, and in practice the difference between two engagements is not in the tariff but in the work the file creates.
One-off advice and a written tax opinion
Not every question needs an ongoing accounting engagement. For a single issue, or a written opinion on a specific question, there is a separate way of working: you do not have to set up a company or move your books.
We define the scope in the first call: which question needs answering, which documents will be reviewed, and whether the output is a verbal assessment or a written opinion. The fee is set against that scope, in writing, before the work starts. The first thirty-minute intro call is free.
The four most frequently requested forms of one-off work are below. Each has a scope agreed up front and a written output, and none requires an ongoing accounting engagement.
Technopark Risk Review
Who it is forCompanies operating in a technopark that use, or are about to use, the exemption. Particularly files where on-site and off-site work are mixed and the expense allocation key is not documented.
Scope
- The exemption assessment per revenue line: which earnings fall in scope and which do not
- The expense allocation key and whether its rationale is documented
- On-site and off-site work tracking per employee
- The periodic exemption calculation against the fund obligation
- Whether the year-end file is ready for certification
OutputA written review report naming each finding and what it requires.
How it startsA free thirty-minute intro call. The periods and documents to be reviewed are defined together in the call; scope and fee are confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Book an intro callCross-Border Income Structuring
Who it is forCompanies and sole traders earning income from abroad, including those using the service export deduction, those unsure whether they qualify, and those collecting through platforms or into overseas accounts.
Scope
- A revenue map: which line falls under which tax treatment
- The earnings within the deduction, and whether the file meets its conditions
- The expense allocation table and the rationale for its key
- The transfer and collection calendar with a period-end position
- A comparison of ordinary and minimum corporate tax
OutputA written opinion mapping the revenue lines and listing any unmet conditions.
How it startsA free thirty-minute intro call. The question to be answered and the documents to be reviewed are agreed in the call; scope and fee are confirmed in writing beforehand.
Book an intro callFunding-Round Readiness Review
Who it is forCompanies planning to raise within the next year, and founders who want to see the state of the file before due diligence begins.
Scope
- The shareholder current account and the items that cause problems in due diligence
- The consistency of capital structure and shareholding records
- Whether the chart of accounts and expense labelling support investor reporting
- The conditions attached to incentives in use or available
- A pre-round checklist and a data room file list
OutputA written report setting out the open items and who owns each one.
How it startsA free thirty-minute intro call. The periods the review covers are agreed in the call; scope and fee are confirmed in writing beforehand.
Book an intro callSecond Opinion Health Check
Who it is forCompanies whose accounting routine is running but who want a second opinion on a specific issue, those considering a change of accountant, and those who want to see the state of a file before taking it on.
Scope
- A map of revenue lines against the advantages available
- The conditions and documents each advantage requires
- The tax and payment calendar with its cash effect
- A risk inventory: open items and a correction plan
- The e-transformation obligations checked against their deadlines
OutputA written assessment ordering the findings by priority, marking what is urgent and what can wait until period end.
How it startsA free thirty-minute intro call. Books do not move and no contract changes; the review runs on the existing setup. The fee is set against the scope, in writing, before the work starts.
Book an intro callWhat is not included in the fee?
- Notary, apostille, sworn translation and trade registry costs, paid directly to those institutions.
- Accounting software and e-transformation integrator subscriptions.
- Full attestation reports, which are a sworn CPA prerogative and priced outside this work.
- Company formation, entity conversion and liquidation, each scoped separately.
- Correcting past periods and cleaning up an incoming file.
- Independent audit, a separate authority carried out by a separate firm.
Frequently asked
- Is an online accountant cheaper?
- Working remotely is not what sets the fee; as long as the number of documents, the payroll and the filing load stay the same, so does the work. Professional rules do not allow anyone to work below the minimum fee tariff, and that applies to a remote accountant too. What remote work really changes is access, not cost: meetings happen online and documents move digitally.
- Is the fee monthly or annual?
- For ongoing work we run on a monthly advisory fee; for work with a scope agreed up front, such as company formation, a project fee applies. The monthly fee does not change by itself during the year; it is revisited when the scope changes, for example when the payroll grows significantly.
- Is the company formation fee part of the monthly fee?
- No, formation is separate work and priced separately. Notary, translation, apostille and trade registry costs also sit outside the fee and are paid directly to those institutions. The accounting and filing routine that starts after registration is what the monthly fee covers.
- Why is correcting past periods priced separately?
- Because it is not the monthly routine: closed periods are rebuilt, missing documents are chased, and corrective or voluntary disclosure returns are prepared. The time it takes depends on the file. Folding it into the monthly fee would mean clients with clean histories paying for it.
Which service are we talking about?
Each service page carries its own fees section: what is included, what changes the timing, and how the proposal is made.