The 2026 Notary Fee Tariff: Translation Fees

The one-sentence summary is this: notary fees are set by an official tariff, they are the same everywhere in Türkiye, and they are not a price fixed by the translation agency. We publish the tariff values in force in a dedicated section of this site and keep them current; what is explained here is how the tariff works.

What is the tariff, and who sets it?

The fees to be applied to notarial transactions are set by an official tariff published each year. The tariff appears in the Official Gazette and binds every notary’s office from the date it enters into force. No notary’s office may charge above or below it.

The direct consequence is that the question “which notary is cheaper?” has no answer. A notary’s office in Ankara and one in İstanbul apply the same tariff to the same transaction. If prices are to be researched, that exercise is meaningful on the translation side, not on the notarial side.

Two separate items: the translation fee and the notary fee

The total paid for a notarised translation is made up of two independent items. Separating them is what allows you both to compare quotations correctly and to plan your budget correctly.

Item	Who sets it	What it varies with	Open to negotiation
Translation service fee	The translation agency	Volume, language pair, document type, urgency, scope of checking	Yes, through scope
Notarisation fee	The official tariff	Type of transaction and extent of the document	No
Taxes and duties	Legislation	By type of transaction	No
Apostille and legalisation steps	The authority concerned	Class of document and authority	No

Apart from the first row of the table, none of these items is within the agency’s control. When you assess a quotation, then, what you need to look at is what the translation item covers: is a second check included, how many copies are supplied, what is the delivery time, is there a right to corrections? We explain in detail how the translation item is calculated on the pricing page.

How is the fee calculated when a translation is notarised?

For the notarisation of a translation, the tariff works on a page basis. What decides the amount, in other words, is not the number of words but how many pages the translation submitted for notarisation runs to. This differs from the way a translation agency calculates, since an agency generally works from characters or words.

The concrete result of that difference is this: setting the translated text in a needlessly large font or with wide line spacing increases the page count and pushes the notarial item up. Compressing the text until it can no longer be read is not acceptable either. Sensible typesetting is what is right for both sides.

Why is the tariff the same throughout Türkiye?

A notary’s office is not a business competing in an open market; it carries out a service in the nature of a public duty. Fees are therefore tied to a central tariff rather than to free pricing. The tariff binds all notaries’ offices in the same way, and there is no question of an office charging above or below it.

For the consumer this has two consequences. The first is that researching prices on the notarial side is unnecessary. The second is that if a quotation promises a discount on the notarial item, what that quotation covers should be read carefully; in all likelihood the discount is being taken from another item, or the scope is being narrowed.

The same principle applies to the apostille and to the other official steps. These too are items set by the authority concerned, and they lie outside a translation agency’s pricing policy. What can be expected of an agency is that it shows them transparently and separately.

Comparing quotations correctly

To understand where the difference between two quotations comes from, what you need to look at is not the total but the scope. Of two quotations given for the same document, one may look high because the notarial item is shown as included and the other low because it has been left out. That is not a real difference in price.

The questions to ask are these: how many copies does the price cover, is a second check included, is there a right to corrections, what is the delivery time, are the notarial and apostille items shown separately, is postage included? Once those six questions have been answered, the two quotations really do become comparable.

Finally, it is worth noting that the lowest quotation does not always give the cheapest outcome. An error that comes to light after notarisation means running the process again from the beginning, and that costs many times more than the difference in the original quotation.

Where should you follow the tariff?

The tariff in force is published in the Official Gazette and begins to be applied on the date it enters into force. The official publication is therefore the only reliable source; figures passed on second-hand, or quoted without a date, can be misleading. When you read an amount, the first question to ask is which year and which commencement date it belongs to.

On our site we show the tariff value in force in a separate section, together with the publication it rests on. That way you can see the current amount and verify its source at the same time. This is why we keep the figure separate instead of leaving it frozen inside a piece of text: when the tariff changes it is updated in one place, and the page does not give wrong information.

One last reminder when you are planning a budget: alongside the tariff item, other official items specific to the transaction may arise. Whether they apply depends on the type of transaction, and the correct information should be obtained from the notary’s office at the time.

Because the two logics differ, the same document is measured in two different ways under the two items. A document that is short but runs to many pages may produce a higher amount than expected on the notarial side and a lower one than expected on the translation side. Knowing this distinction when you plan a budget prevents surprises.

The number of copies also has a direct effect. Every notarised copy is a separate transaction. If you are going to apply to three institutions you need three copies, and that multiplies the notarial item by three as well. Working out how many copies you need at the outset is both quicker and cheaper than having the transaction repeated later.

Budget planning checklist

• How many pages is the document? The notarial item is sensitive to that number.
• How many notarised copies are needed? Each copy is a separate transaction.
• Is a sworn translation on its own enough, or is notarisation genuinely being asked for?
• Is an apostille needed as well? That is a separate authority and a separate item.
• Does the translation quotation include a second check and a right to corrections?
• Is the delivery time standard or urgent?
• Does the document have to be recent? A transaction carried out too early may have to be repeated.

Points that come up often

Does the tariff change during the year? The tariff is published periodically and its commencement date is stated. The tariff in force on the date of the transaction is therefore the one that applies; bringing the transaction forward or putting it back may affect the amount.

Can the agency reduce the notary fee? No. The notarial item is not the agency’s income and is fixed by the tariff. If a quotation promises a discount on this item, the scope of that quotation should be read carefully.

Are corrections free after notarisation? Because notarisation is tied to a signature, once the text is touched the transaction is carried out again and the notarial item arises afresh. Checking must therefore be completed before notarisation. We set out the steps of the process in our document guide.

Does having the transaction done in a different city make any difference? Not as far as the tariff is concerned. The difference arises only in travel, in time and, where relevant, in postage. You can see which cities we work in on the provinces page.

If you would like to know in advance how many pages your document will count as and how many copies you will need, send the file through the quote form and we will draw up an itemised calculation for you.

The account below summarises typical practice; the practice of an individual institution may differ. The requirements in force on the date of the transaction should be taken as the basis.