Rule Text
(a) General Rule. A person upon filing any paper shall pay any fee therefor prescribed by law.
(b) Appeals by Allowance or Permission and Petitions for Review. The fee for filing a petition for allowance of appeal, a petition for permission to appeal or a petition for review shall, except as otherwise required by statute, be the same as the fee payable under Pa.R.A.P. 907 (docketing of appeal). Where a petition for allowance of appeal or a petition for permission to appeal has been filed under these rules and is granted, no additional fee, except as otherwise required by statute, shall be payable upon docketing the appeal in the appellate court.
(c) Temporary Fee for Filing Notice of Appeal. Until otherwise provided by law, the clerk upon filing a notice of appeal under Pa.R.A.P. 905 (filing of notice of appeal) shall be entitled to receive an amount equal to the fee otherwise payable, if any, upon the filing of a writ issued out of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania evidencing the fact that an appeal has been taken to the Supreme Court.
Amendment history: The provisions of this Rule 2701 amended December 11, 1978, effective December 30, 1978, 8 Pa.B. 3802; amended May 16, 1979, effective September 30, 1979, 9 Pa.B. 1740; amended April 21, 2026, effective November 1, 2026, 56 Pa.B. 2515. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (417053) to (417054).
Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)
This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
When you file paperwork with the court, you have to pay whatever fee the law requires for that document. This applies across the board, whether you're filing a routine paper or starting an appeal.
If you're asking a higher court for permission to appeal, such as filing a petition for allowance of appeal or a petition for review, you pay the same fee that applies to docketing a regular appeal. If your petition gets granted, you don't have to pay a second fee when the appeal actually gets docketed. You only pay once.
When you file a notice of appeal, the court clerk collects a fee equal to what you'd normally pay for a Supreme Court appeal writ. This fee applies until the law changes and sets a different amount. Basically, this rule makes sure the court collects the right filing fees at the right stage of your case, without charging you twice for the same appeal.
Committee Notes
Former Supreme Court Rule 70 (first sentence), former Superior Court Rule 61 and former Commonwealth Court Rule 117 (first sentence) required the payment of the fee in advance of filing. In view of the filing by mail procedures instituted by these rules, a limited opportunity is afforded to permit the prompt correction of the failure to include a check with the letter of transmittal or the failure to draw the check in the proper amount.
A party who intends to seek a waiver of fees and costs should transmit a copy of the application filed under Pa.R.A.P. 552 (new waiver of fees and costs for purposes of appeal) to the appellate prothonotary so that Pa.R.A.P. 1614(d)(3) will operate to defer the requirement for fees in the appellate court. See also Pa.R.A.P. 551(a) (continuation of waiver).
The fees in appellate courts are temporarily continued by Section 24(a) of the Judiciary Act of 1976, act of July 9, 1976 (P.L. 586, No. 142), by reference to the former provisions of law, which were as follows: The fees of the Commonwealth Court were prescribed by 204 Pa. Code § 155.203. The docketing fee in the Supreme and Superior Court was fixed at $12 by the act of May 19, 1897 (P.L. 67, No. 53), § 3 (former 12 P.S. § 1135), and the fee for issuing writs for the enforcement of the duty to file the records in such courts and the fee for filing a petition for allowance of appeal from the Superior Court was fixed by § 18 (second and third sentences) of the act (former 12 P.S. § 1156) at $3.
Historical Commentary
The following commentary is historical in nature and represents statements of the Committee at the time of rulemaking:
Explanatory Comment—1979
Language implying that the clerk or prothonotary of a court as a matter of course may extend credit for a filing fee is deleted. Such credit may be extended in extraordinary circumstances, however, as was the practice prior to 1976.
