Hello! First of all…I’m sorry if this has been asked before but I had my taxes done for the first time this year as I started my notary signing business in May of 2020. I am really thinking that my tax preparer didn’t know what he was doing. I took him a very detailed list of what I had made total for all my signings, my expenses, and I took the time to break out the number of acknowledgements and jurats I had performed per signing, due to me understanding that you could count $5 for each notarial act off of self employment taxes (I live in Colorado). Well he told me he didn’t need that number and didn’t even use the number of notarial acts. Now I’m thinking did I get yanked around by this preparer and lose out on valuable tax savings or should I have paid more in? I am just not sure how to go about this, and I live in a small town and finding a tax preparer that knows notary laws for filing is not even possible. I’ve heard others say they also pay their taxes quarterly. I really would just like opinions. Thank you all.
Have you heard of 1800accountant?
I use Notary Gadget and it does ask for the number of notarial acts per signing because it computes profit and loss per signing. For example, in California it’s typically $15 per notarial act. If you completed 20 notarial acts for a signing which is $300, but only received $100 then that loss is recorded. However, for tax purposes it quickly generates a 1099 profit and loss report including a detailed breakdown of mileage and expenses. If you are living a small town and not using accounting software to help your tax preparer then you may want to reconsider for next season.
i use and understand notary gadget. You can request for 1800accountant to give you a CPA who has experience helping people in your field.
Bwnrolando
I just spoke to my tax guy, your cannot use the Ca. Notary maximum fee is $15. as your cost basis. You agreed to $100. as your total fee for the loan signing. So this that make your fee $5. per notary, that your cost basis. This is not a loss of $10. per notary on your P/L.
I’ve been a notary for 20 year in Orange County, Ca.
Thanks for the clarification. I was assuming that Notary Gadget calculated the fee as a loss for tax purposes, but I was incorrect in my previous post. I just watched a video on Notary Gadget and it said the software automatically caps the notarial fee at the same cost of the loan signing fee. So the good news is Notary Gadget does the work for me per loan signing without me having to divide that notarial act cost per loan signing.
the irs wont bother you have a couple hundred over
I printed out the instructions for the Self Employment tax form & highlighted the section regarding the Notary Public fees for our accountant. He was totally unaware that the fees can be excluded from the total net income for that form. Now, if you’re not on Social Security now, you might consider continuing to pay into your account & not take the Notary fee discount on your taxes, so that you can build up your account. It seems like a nice idea to reduce your taxes by taking the discount but it could hurt you in the long run by not contributing to your SS account. By the way, you can file an amended tax return if you discover that your taxes were not completed correctly by your tax preparer.