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Vekilaw logo: Hukuk Bilgi İletişim Sistemi (legal information and communication system)

By Vekilaw Editorial Team

Updated:

9 min read

0.25–24

hours · up to 2 decimals

Record time; prepare the invoice separately.

The right fee model, steady time entries, the right document, a clear due date and an easy way to pay fit together. Each step comes with a worked example.

Time tracking and billing for lawyers

Lawyer reviewing time entries and a draft invoice on a laptop at the end of the working day; editorial photograph for the time tracking and billing guide

01/10

How does a day of time entries reach payment?

Fictional records and worksheet: time entry, manual client invoice, selected sample taxes and conditional payment are separate steps. This illustration is no real form/provider acceptance or current-rate verification.

  1. 01/05

    Three sample entries total 3.5 hours. Actual entries accept 0.25–24 hours with two decimals; this is not a quarter-hour multiple rule.

  2. 02/05

    An authorized user enters three lines separately on a client invoice. 3.5 × 3,000 = ₺10,500 is guide arithmetic; time entries are not copied or marked billed automatically.

  3. 03/05

    Selected example 20% VAT and 20% income-tax withholding give ₺10,500 payable; no VAT withholding applies in this example. This approves no current rate or fiscal suitability.

  4. 04/05

    Check the company connection, document kind and grants separately. e-SMM needs provider-kind support; the example 14-day due term is user-selected. Queuing proves no GİB or customer acceptance.

  5. 05/05

    An eligible verified result from the saved tenant provider is applied: payment Succeeded, invoice Paid. Notification delivery and list refresh are separate and conditional.

Record time in case context

02/10

A time record and a separate fee worksheet

Case/hours/description belong to the time entry. Hourly price and tax rows below are a separate guide worksheet, not time-form price/tax fields.

Date
6 Oct 2026
The entry is made while the work is done.
Case
2026/142 E.
The entry is tied to a case, so hours per matter are visible in minutes.
Description
Review of the termination clause of the lease and draft notice
Enter invoice descriptions separately by hand.
Duration
0.75 hour
0.25–24 hours, up to two decimals; no quarter-hour multiple required.
Hourly rate
TRY 3,000
The rate in the fee agreement.
Fee (excluding KDV)
TRY 2,250
0.75 × TRY 3,000
VAT 20% (example)
TRY 450
Example rate, not current fiscal applicability approval.
Total
TRY 2,700
If the client withholds tax, the net amount paid changes; see the KDV and documents step.

03/10

Record time against a case and responsible user

A time entry carries case, responsible account, date, hours, description and billable flag. Access to the case/branch, account membership and operation grants are checked.

Vekilaw time entries accept 0.25–24 hours with up to two decimal places. 0.25 is the minimum; values such as 0.30 are also eligible. There is no mandatory quarter-hour multiple or automatic duration-rounding rule.

You record description and hours; hourly price, VAT and calculated fees are not time-entry contract fields. Hours × price in this guide is a separate worksheet example.

Worked example

One day of entries

Client meeting
0.75 hour
Contract draft
2.5 hours
Phone call
0.25 hour
Total
3.5 hours × TRY 3,000 = TRY 10,500

The hourly rate is an illustration.

04/10

Separate billable work, expenses and advances

Billable is a time-entry flag; it does not create an invoice, copy lines or mark the entry billed. Assess charging the client separately.

An invoice links a client and manually entered lines; the case relationship belongs to the time entry and is not copied automatically. Time and expense records do not become invoice lines on their own.

Distinguish expense, advance and fee treatment through qualified contractual/fiscal review. A reference to professional rules (opens in a new tab) is not legal applicability approval.

Worked example

Before invoicing

Billable time (3.5 hours)
TRY 10,500
Not billed: first meeting on a new matter (1 hour)
TRY 0
Expenses: court fee and postage (documented)
TRY 1,250
Fees and expenses together
TRY 11,750

Tax is worked out in the next step; the tax treatment of an expense is assessed separately on its documents.

05/10

Get KDV and the tax documents right

Assess document kind and tax applicability separately from arithmetic. Review current tax procedure (opens in a new tab), VAT (opens in a new tab) and income-tax (opens in a new tab) texts with qualified accounting support.

The example chooses 20% VAT and 20% income-tax withholding; it asserts no current general rate. Actual arithmetic may include line VAT, VAT withholding, income-tax withholding and currency rounding; an older tax-model invoice’s tax breakdown may be unknown.

Invoice calculations are validated on the server. E-document submission is queued separately under the firm’s connection/data/grants, requiring provider-kind support and actual acceptance. Queuing or Sent proves no GİB/client acceptance.

Worked example

The tax sum

Fee (excluding KDV)
TRY 10,500
KDV 20%
TRY 2,100
Total
TRY 12,600
If the client withholds: income tax withholding 20%
− TRY 2,100
Net amount the client pays the lawyer
TRY 10,500

Fictional single-rate example without VAT withholding; no rate or tax applicability approval.

06/10

Write the due date, watch for lateness

The user chooses the due date; 14 days is illustrative, not a mandatory default. Manage document delivery and client communication separately.

Eligible Sent invoices may become Overdue when the worker processes them; an exact boundary transition is not promised. Paid requires an eligible verified payment result.

Paid/cancelled invoices are final; pending payment or in-flight/issued e-documents may also block edits. This guide grants no blanket refund, cancellation or penalty permission.

Worked example

The life of an invoice

Day 0 · Sent
TRY 12,600 · due in 14 days
Day 14 · due date
Waiting for payment
After due date · eligible invoice
May become Overdue when processed
On verified payment · Paid
The invoice is locked

The due period is an illustration; set it in your agreement.

07/10

Make payment easy with online collection

New online collection uses the tenant’s active/default iyzico connection for an eligible Sent/Overdue TRY invoice’s full total. There is no platform-subscription fallback; see the collection guide.

Opening checkout or receiving a callback token is not success. A verified saved-tenant-provider result and invoice/amount/currency matching are required; uncertain or active attempts may block another collection.

Payment completion may queue a notification for the company user; automatic client confirmation or every-channel delivery is not guaranteed. Refreshing lists/dashboards, checking provider/bank records and client communication are separate.

Worked example

The payment flow

1 · Prepare an eligible invoice
Sent
2 · The client opens the payment page
Pending
3 · The payment is verified
Successful
4 · The invoice closes
Paid · notifications conditional

Illustrative flow; no actual merchant/card/database acceptance or bank reconciliation.

08/10

Track the collection rate with reports

The sample ratio is 180,000 ÷ 240,000 = 75% for one period and amount basis. It is not automatically the application report’s filter/metric definition.

Reports and dashboards depend on current grants/branch scope and refresh state. Totals prove neither bank reconciliation, profitability nor conversion of every time entry to billing.

Time entries, client invoices and payments are separate record flows. They do not imply an automatic hourly-price/billed linkage or a single page matching every client hour, charge and balance.

Worked example

Collection rate

Invoiced
TRY 240,000
Collected
TRY 180,000
Collection rate
180,000 ÷ 240,000 = 75%

The amounts are illustrations.

09/10

Choose a fee model: hourly, fixed or mixed

Hourly, fixed or mixed fees are contractual models; a Vekilaw time entry does not configure them automatically. Assess the Attorneyship Law (opens in a new tab) and tariff (opens in a new tab) for the actual work using current texts and qualified advice.

The amounts below are arithmetic examples of different models. Calculating a fee establishes neither legal/fiscal suitability nor compliance with tariff limits.

Clarify scope, fee/documentation and payment terms separately. This guide provides no automatic contract, staged-invoice workflow or fiscal approval.

The same job under three fee models

  1. 01/03

    Hourly: 20 hours × TRY 3,000

    TRY 60,000
  2. 02/03

    Fixed: scope set out in the agreement

    TRY 55,000
  3. 03/03

    Mixed: TRY 20,000 up front + 20 hours × TRY 1,500

    TRY 50,000

Fictional amounts; no fee/tariff or fiscal suitability approval.

10/10

Frequently asked questions

  1. 01

    How is a lawyer's hourly rate set in Turkey?

    Hourly price and fee models are not fields of the time-entry contract. Example multiplication is no legal/tariff approval; assess the actual fee and documentation against current sources with qualified advice.

  2. 02

    Must entries be quarter-hour multiples?

    No. Entries accept 0.25–24 hours with up to two decimal places, including 0.30. There is no automatic duration rounding or invoice conversion.

  3. 03

    Do Turkish lawyers issue an invoice or a professional receipt?

    Determine document kind and tax applicability with qualified accounting support. Selecting a kind, provider support and a separate queue establish neither fiscal/legal suitability nor GİB acceptance.

  4. 04

    How is online payment offered to the client?

    Opening checkout or receiving a callback token is not success. A verified saved-tenant-provider result and invoice/amount/currency matching are required; uncertain or active attempts may block another collection.

Official sources

Reference links to relevant official sources. Verify current texts, tariff/rates and actual applicability separately; this guide includes no complete legal or fiscal review approval.

  1. 01Attorneys' Law No. 1136 (opens in a new tab): arts. 163 and 164
  2. 02Attorneyship Minimum Fee Tariff (opens in a new tab): reference link; current applicability must be checked
  3. 03Turkish Bar Association Professional Rules (opens in a new tab): arts. 42 and 43
  4. 04Tax Procedure Law No. 213 (opens in a new tab): art. 236
  5. 05Value Added Tax Law No. 3065 (opens in a new tab): art. 28
  6. 06Income Tax Law No. 193 (opens in a new tab): art. 94

Record case time; prepare the client invoice separately.

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