Ok, so I’ve been doing a lot of signings since I’ve moved to the Houston area this June. My business has really taken off and it’s hard to keep up with my payments, because I don’t have a separate bank account. I know…shame on me! I’m about to change that since it’s no longer once-twosie signings.
But currently, unless I go back through my current bank account ledger and bump it against the jobs I’ve completed in Snapdocs, it’s hard to keep up with whether or not I’ve gotten paid yet. How do you all keep up with that, if you don’t have a separate bank account? I know some pay via Vendorpay and it will say “paid” and I have easily verified those. Also, the Deluxe eChecks, I love those, they are very easy for me to keep up with, since they are printed checks.
I appreciate the advice, in advance and all that my fellow Notaries do.
and went to Hi i recently went on
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I used Quicken, every job got a paper invoice, and I recorded all payments as they came in.
Unfortunately, for tax year 2024, I don’t think you have much choice but to go back and review your checking account and figure out your income. Going forward, use a program or do paper ledgers. Many people like Notary Assist
Accurate records are critical to avoid audits…believe me.
@NotaryLadyBre : You have to have a bookkeeping system in place - something you can control. I initially used QuickBooks. However, years ago, my computer crashed and I lost everything in it including my QuickBooks. I ended up having to recreate and went with an online free program from WaveApps (they also have a paid subscription plan). Their basic plan is all I need. The program allows me to generate an invoice for every assignment, produce most reports I may need for comparison, accounting and tax purposes.
You’re a business now. It’s time to act like one and accept the responsibility of keeping your records (or hire someone who will do it for you).
Congratulations on having and keeping a busy business! 
I don’t do mobile notary anymore. For a while, when I was busiest, I used Quickbooks online. It was great day-to-day, except I had to account for mileage separately. But I had trouble understanding the end-of-year closing of the books.
When business declined, I switched to Dome Simplified Monthly Bookkeeping Record. For each month there is a page to write down each payment you receive, and each expense you pay for. Then there is another page for each month to summarize what happened. There is also a year-end page you can complete if you want to. I found I didn’t always get the monthly summary right on the first try, so I made an Excel version of it to play with until everything balanced, then I copied it to the paper.
This paper book doesn’t help with keeping track of whether companies have paid, so I made an Excel spreadsheet with one tab for each company. Twice a month or so I would glance at each tab to see if they still owed me money.
Thank you so much. Just opened the new account! Will I still have to check my bank account to see when those payments roll in, or is there a way Snapdocs can be tied to my bank account and provide easy visibility of assignments that have been paid?
Love the Excel idea with each company! 
Thanks a bunch!!!
No idea…hopefully someone chimes in on this. I don’t do loan signings any more so am not familiar with SD
Hi,
I created a spreadsheet from Google
And have a 12 manila folders, so every time I get a check, I put it in the folder and keep track that way.
Hope this helps : )
@NotaryLadyBre Here’s a great thread that you’ll find quite helpful:
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For nearly two decades I’ve relied upon Notary Assist program/application. I find it to be AWESOME!
The Notary Assist software is:
- User friendly
- Easy to sort the data with column sort priorities
- Perfect for maintaining the schedule of engagements
- Simple to monitor accounts payable
- Easy to create new Clients and support team members in my database
- Creates invoices
- One-step backup process
- Data entry in overview mode or within each engagement popup screen
- Great to ease of accessing data at Tax Time
- Excellent report creation tools
- Easy to alter previously created engagement data
- Outstanding mileage monitoring reports
- Software is designed to report income correctly [exclusion of notarial fees from income reports]
Thank you for sharing. I really like that. I’m going to make one today.
Yes, I have folders for the ones that send paper checks. It’s just the companies that deposit payments into my account, I wasn’t keeping track of those, even though they’d send me automated emails when the payment was “on the way”.
I just separated from my personal account, since business has picked up significantly. I’m over $2k for October, so I know I don’t need to commingle funds like that with my personal bank acct. ($400+=1099 filing)
Thank you so much for your help!
Good stuff! Thank you so much for sharing. It definitely checks the boxes I’m looking for, plus so much more. I appreciate this. Just registered 
You wrote “$400+=1099 filing”. I believe that’s the threshold when the vendor MUST send you a 1099. Back when I was doing this I some vendors sent 1099s to everyone, no matter how small the payment total.
In addition to keeping track of what notarization goes with which deposit in your checking account, you will want to have a system of what withdrawals from your account are for. Some will be business expenses that you have a receipt for. Others will be business expenses that you can’t link to one single receipt, such as business mileage. Since you have a mix of personal and business mileage on your car, you can’t just say that a certain gas fill-up receipt is a business expense.
Finally, there is taking out your profit. In the bookkeeping world for a sole proprietorship, this is called an “owner’s drawing” or just “drawing” for short. You could take cash, but most of us don’t pay for much in cash. You could transfer to your personal account. Or you could buy something of a personal nature, such as groceries, just so long as your records clearly identify it as a drawing.
I believe the threshhold is $600 where they’re required to file a 1099
Unless things have changed the magic number is $600. I suspect that some companies will only give you jobs up to that amount in order to avoid having to file the 1099.
I have made up an Excel sheet with Company, Date, Time, Signer, confirmation, Address, Comments, Type of Assignment, Fee, Mileage and Notarizations.
When the payment comes in the confirmation box will be converted to either the time of the ACH or the check number. I also use color to show which assignments have been paid by changing the color in the first column. This makes it easier to keep track of payments. If a company needs to be invoiced, that date I have invoiced will go into the comments field and highlighted in orange. If a company is delinquent, I will highlight the company name in red until I am paid.
I have to email myself a copy of the Excel sheet from time to time in case my computer crashes. I have lost my Excel sheet in the past and it is enough to weep over. I know that I should be on a web-based program to keep track of everything but it’s hard to find the time to master the skills of a new program when constantly on the hamster wheel. One of the best things to do is make sure that your payments from companies are going into one bank account. This will simplify your tax prep and give you a more accurate understanding of your earnings. I need to migrate some payments from my one bank account to the other in order to follow my own advice but in the past my business account was at a bank that changed ownership. I lost access to the statements and have since not been able to completely trust any one bank.
I highly recommend Notary Gadget and they just added a feature to keep
up with number of days till payment is due!
In order to print the documents to my multi- tray printer, i have to save them as an adobe file. I have a folder labled notory signings and then sub folders for the month. IE: notary signings, november, smith- johnsin road. Once paid, i put a p at the end. Also, with one account, make sure you keep a copy of the check or email for taxes.
I use an Excel. Included is a column for pay date. I just mark paid as I go. My workbook usually stays open while I am working. The emails from Snapdocs help me identify which deposits are for which jobs. No issues.
I just need to learn how to get signing request 