How Is Trademark Registration Expense Recorded in Accounting?

When trademark registration is complete, you receive two kinds of documents: the registration certificate and the invoices. The first is a matter for your legal department; the second is a matter for accounting. This article looks at the accounting side of trademark registration expenses — which account they belong in, how amortization applies, and the VAT treatment. The information here is a general framework; because every business's situation differs, you should determine the final treatment together with your financial advisor.

What Asset Category Does a Trademark Fall Into?

A trademark right has no physical form, but it provides economic benefit to the business. In accounting terminology, this type of asset is called an intangible fixed asset.

Under the Turkish Uniform Chart of Accounts, intangible fixed assets are tracked in the 26 group. Trademarks, patents, licences and similar rights are generally recorded in the 260 Rights account.

This classification matters in practice: because an intangible fixed asset has no physical form to inspect, its value and its continued existence on the books depend entirely on the underlying legal registration remaining in force — one more reason accounting and legal recordkeeping need to stay aligned.

Expense Immediately, or Capitalize?

This is the most debated question in practice, and the answer depends on the nature of the expenditure.

Trademark registration provides a benefit to the business that spans more than one year: protection lasts ten years and can be renewed indefinitely. This characteristic is the core reason the expenditure should be capitalized. Recording it as a single year's expense does not match the period over which the benefit is realized.

That said, where the amount is immaterial, businesses may rely on the materiality principle and expense it directly. This choice should be consistent with the business's accounting policy and should not be changed from year to year.

Which Items Are Included in the Cost?

Typical items that can be included in the cost of the trademark right:

• TÜRKPATENT filing fee
• Registration certificate fee
• Additional class fees
• Trademark attorney's service fee
• Trademark search and report costs
• For foreign registrations, the relevant office fees and local attorney fees
• Translation, notary and apostille costs

Expenses not directly related to the registration process — for example, logo design or advertising campaign costs — are treated separately. Logo design is a service related to the brand's visual identity; it is not part of the registration cost of the trademark right. Advertising expenditure, in turn, is a periodic marketing cost and is not added to the capitalized cost of the trademark — this distinction is also the basic reason why the brand value you build yourself does not appear on the balance sheet.

Fees paid for an application that is ultimately refused are a separate matter again. Because these amounts do not give rise to a right, they do not create an asset to be capitalized; how to treat them should be clarified with your financial advisor.

Amortization

Once capitalized, the trademark right is amortized over the useful life prescribed for intangible rights. In practice, the useful life and amortization rate for intangible rights are set by the schedules in tax legislation.

Points to watch:

• The date amortization begins and the method used should be consistent with the business's general policy.
• If the trademark was purchased, the purchase price is the basis; if it was registered by the business itself, the registration costs are the basis.
• Tracking foreign registrations as separate asset items makes country-by-country monitoring easier.

Where a company holds several trademarks, it is common practice to amortize each registration separately rather than as a single pooled balance, since each mark may have a different acquisition date, cost basis and useful life. Because the current rate and periods depend on legislation, confirm them with your financial advisor before applying them.

The VAT Dimension: Two Separate Items

The cost of trademark registration is made up of two items of a different nature, and their VAT treatment differs:

This distinction directly affects how the invoice should be prepared. Combining official fees and the service fee into a single line creates problems both for VAT accounting and for grant applications. Ask for the two items to be shown separately on the invoice.

Two approaches are seen in practice. Some attorneys pay the fees on the client's behalf and pass them on as a disbursement; others have the fee paid directly by the business itself. The second method is cleaner from a documentation standpoint, because the payment receipt for the fee is issued directly in the business's name. Clarify which method will be used at the contract stage.

For current fee amounts, see our article Trademark Registration Fees in Turkey 2026.

Who Should the Invoice Be Made Out To?

This is the most critical detail from an accounting standpoint. The basic requirement for deducting an expense is that it be related to the business's activity and properly documented.

The practical rule that follows is this: whoever the trademark is registered in the name of, the invoice should be issued in that same name. If the trademark is registered in an individual's name but the invoice is issued to the company, the expense's connection to the business becomes questionable. The same problem arises within groups of companies: if the trademark is registered in the parent company's name but the invoice is issued to a subsidiary, the relationship between the two must be documented.

For this reason, the ownership decision should be made at the outset with the accounting dimension in mind. We covered the ownership options in our articles Registering a Trademark Without a Company and Trademark Registration for Sole Proprietors.

Renewal and Later-Period Expenses

Trademark registration is not a one-off expense. Other items that arise during the protection period:

• Renewal fee: A recurring expense, every ten years, related to maintaining protection.
• Watch service fee: A periodic, recurring service expense.
• Opposition and defence costs: Unpredictable items that arise as needed.
• Register update transactions: Address, name and assignment recordals.
• Renewals of foreign registrations: Require separate tracking by country.

Because these items differ in nature, the accounting entries differ too. A watch service, for example, is a periodic service expense, while renewal is an expenditure related to maintaining protection. The recording method is determined by your accounting policy and the size of the amounts involved; clarify the treatment with your financial advisor.

Accounting on Trademark Assignment

When you buy a trademark, the price paid is recorded as an intangible fixed asset and amortized. Points to watch on assignment:

• The assignment agreement must be in writing and recorded in the register.
• The assignment price should be reasonable — this matters particularly for transactions between related parties.
• For the assigning party, the transaction generates sale proceeds; the tax consequences should be assessed in advance.

We covered the legal side of assignment in our article Trademark Assignment and Inheritance.

Licence Income and Expenses

If you licence out your trademark, the fee you receive is intangible-right income. For the licensee, the fee paid is a business-related expense.

For licences granted to, or received from, abroad, withholding tax and double-taxation treaties come into play. The agreement should state clearly whether the fee is gross or net, and who bears the withholding tax. We covered licence structuring in our article Trademark Licence Agreement Guide.

Does a Brand You Built Yourself Appear on the Balance Sheet?

No. Under accounting standards, brand value that a business builds internally is not shown as an asset on the balance sheet. Only the costs incurred for the registration process are capitalized.

This produces an interesting picture: a business that has spent years growing its own brand shows only a very small trademark figure on its balance sheet, while a company that buys the same brand shows a far larger figure. Measuring the real value of a brand requires a separate exercise; we covered the methods in our article How Trademark Valuation Works.

Documentation for Grant Applications

If you plan to apply for a grant covering trademark registration costs, your accounting records need to be kept accordingly from the outset:

• The invoice must be issued in the name of the business applying for the grant.
• The invoice description must clearly identify the service.
• Payment records (bank receipts) must be retained.
• Official fee payments must be documented separately.
• The trademark registration certificate must be included in the file.

We covered grant programmes in detail in our article KOSGEB Grants for Trademark Registration.

Get Your Invoicing Right

The accounting side of trademark registration causes problems when it is only thought about at the very end of the process. When the ownership decision, invoicing arrangement and item breakdown are planned from the start, both the accounting and any grant application proceed smoothly.

At Webx, we structure trademark registration so that official fees and service fees are kept separate and the documentation is suitable for grant applications. Explore our trademark registration service or contact us.