Hello all! I may have my very first customer! It is to help with a Deed that was not appropriately notarized the first time. It was stamped (not by me!) without the two witnesses’ signatures required.
I understand that the State of Florida sets the rate per stamp ($10) but allows notaries to add their travel and convenience fees. I will most likely use the IRS amount of $.67 for mileage. Unless anyone has a different idea about flat fees, I’d be interested in learning more.
My question is about after-hours and weekend fees. I thought a range of $20-$100, depending on the time of day, weekend, Saturday, or Sunday; my philosophy would be that when the appointment is the least convenient for me, the higher the fee for the customer. I’d love anyone’s thoughts on this. Thank you!
Different states have different fee rules. I would read the law and any official rules yourself, and not just rely on some summary you found on the internet.
One thing that’s been discussed a lot on the forum is, for fee purposes, what is a notarial act? It depends on what your law and rules say. Maybe it’s a signature. Maybe it’s a stamp. Maybe it’s something else.
What I would worry about if my fees were regulated is how do I prove that the “convenience” fee is not just a way of overcharging for notarial acts? If someone comes to my house on Thanksgiving Day for one notarial act and I decide to charge a $50 convenience fee because it’s a holiday, how do I prove in court that I’m not just charging $60 for one notarial act?
I also wouldn’t agree with the travel fee calculation, unless your state says that’s how you have to calculate it. Driving is the main point of being a mobile notary. It’s part of the service. You should charge enough so that you cover your expenses of owning and driving your car (that’s the $.67 per mile) AND enough more to earn something like $40 per hour. Think like a taxi driver.
When I worked as an engineer and had to drive to a meeting during the day, I was reimbursed at the then-current IRS rate. I also drew my salary as I was driving. So if I figured out the per-mile amount I was earning, it would have been way more than the IRS rate.
Thank you for your insight. In Florida, the only part of the fee structure that appears to be regulated is the “stamp” or specific notarial act fees, which are clearly defined. Since I typed this in the forum, I did some further research, and the costs for travel, convenience, after-hours, and even “no-show” fees are all over the place. One company charges $100 if the notarization is at the airport because they state it’s an emergency, so that’s an “emergency fee”. The same company has waiting fees, too! Very interesting!!
I’m not in FL but , So you create an invoice for your client , $x for notarial act, $for convenience fee $x for travel miles x .67 round trip $X for waiting time if the document isn’t filled in when you arrive and you have to wait , if you provide the witnesses you can charge for that as well as you’ll need to pay them
total = $x
I don’t know what payment system you use square etc but there are penalty of apps etc out there that allow you to create invoices if that is what makes you feel more comfortable in explaining fees so you don’t get audited or screwed over later . but I think a Florida notary would be able to better answer this than I can . You can also probably charge rush/emergency fees .
No, I don’t think “notarial act” vs. “stamp” is clearly defined.
If two people say to you that they their respective signatures are on a document, and each of them signed for the purposes stated in the document, that’s two acknowledgements. Is that two notarial acts in Florida?
You fill out one certificate with both names in it, and apply one stamp. Is that the one and only notarial act? Do you get to charge $10 or $20?
Sure, if I were in FL and charging the signer directly, I could create an invoice with notarial acts on one line and other stuff on other lines. But my invoice doesn’t change the law. If FL decides the only thing I did was a notarial act, and thus the entire amount I charged was the notarial fee, I’m in trouble.
That’s why good recordkeeping is crucial. And for GNW, giving an itemized receipt.
BTW, for the record…if not regulated by law, you can charge ANYTHING you want for travel as long as the signers agree to it … the $0.67 per mile is the IRS mileage rate you can deduct your tax return
Acknowledging the signature on a deed of trust is something notaries were created for. Easy stuff, but if it’s not notarized correctly it’s gonna be rejected like it already has been.
LindaH-FL has made this claim before but has not quoted any reliable source to support the claim. There is a related statement in the Florida Governor’s Reference Manual for Notaries Public:
The fee of a notary public may not exceed $10 for any one notarial act, except as provided s. 117.045 or s. 117.275." Fla. Stat § 117.05(2)(a)
But the manual does not give a definition of what a notarial act is.
In a fruitless effort to reduce the enormous population of commissioned notaries, the state tries to make it impossible to make a living wage. I put six signers on one acknowledgment, $90. Sadly for y’all, would that only be $10 in the Sunshine State.
jnewberry wrote “Be aware that if you charge the deduction rate of 67cents on an invoice, You are not able to deduct those miles on your tqx return”
Not true. But there are some extra calculations when you sell the vehicle. When you take the deduction, part of that is depreciation. If you sell the vehicle at a really good price and the depreciation isn’t as much as the 67 cents/mile allows for, you may have to make an adjustment which will result in a little extra tax. Tax software can handle this.
I found a document from the FL governor’s office that might bear on fees at
I found this at Florida Notary Service but could not find it by starting at http://www.flgov.com and navigating from there. So for all I know the governor’s office may have abandoned the document and forgot to remove it from their website.
It gives a definition of Notarial Act:
NOTARIAL ACT
The officials acts of a notary public administering an oath, taking an acknowledgment, attesting to a photocopy, or any other other act authorized by law.
That’s just not so. A business owner can incur an expense, and then charge the customer less than the amount of expense, as a way to encourage business. Or, just charge the amount of the expense. Or charge more, the way a plumber might charge the customer $1 for a fitting that cost the plumber $0.60. The plumber gets to deduct $0.60 as a business expense no matter what the customer was charged.
In PA that would be $15, $5 for the first signer and $2 for each additional signer for an acknowledgement. Verification of oath would be $5 if all six people were listed and only requiring one notary block.
