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Possibly focusing on the wrong question?
Posted by  JanetK_CA of CA on 2/4/19 2:56am Msg #602822
Either that, or you may be conflating two different, but related things. I believe the question everyone's addressing (which IS state specific) is what are you allowed to charge for your services. Once you get that straight, you have your answer about how much you can deduct for SE tax, which cannot exceed what you've been paid in any given transaction.

I'd be curious to know the source of the response that was quoted below, because it doesn't make much sense to me. I've always considered a "notarial act" to refer to any time I apply my stamp, sign my name and complete a certificate. But then, every state is free to interpret those details however they wish. Fortunately for those of us in CA, our law very clearly states that we're allowed to charge 'per signature'.

It seems like every year or so questions come up about what can be excluded from SE taxes. This may become more important as fees drop, to avoid issues in case of audit, since we're not allowed to average out NSA fees over several assignments, as I understand the federal law on this.

For example, if one loan signing has lots of signatures to the point where the fees you'd be able to charge (either per act or per signature, as your state allows), you can only deduct up to what you were actually paid on that assignment. For example (to keep the numbers simple), assuming your state allows you to charge $10/sig or act, if you were paid $100 for an assignment with 1 signer and 10 notarizations, you break even and can deduct your entire fee. However, if you only get paid $80 for that same assignment, you could only deduct the $80 you actually earned on that assignment. If the next assignment you do has 2 notarizations for the same fee, you could only deduct $20. So just counting the total number of notarizations (unless your state only allows extremely low fees) could have you deducting too much.

This could also be an issue for NSAs in state that have had recent increases in allowable fees. Just a heads up for anyone dealing with this for the first time...
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Messages in this Thread
 Colorado Notary Question-SE Tax - Brandi Solano on 2/3/19 10:13am
 Good question. No authoritative answer. - Lee/AR on 2/3/19 12:08pm
 Do you complete and stamp one jurat or two? - Linda_H/FL on 2/3/19 12:21pm
 wow, Linda, not so in Oregon! Its the number of people. -  sigtogo/OR on 2/3/19 1:19pm
 Not sure if we'd get away with that here in FL - Linda_H/FL on 2/3/19 1:59pm
 Re: wow, Linda, not so in Oregon! Its the number of people. - Brandi Solano on 2/3/19 2:19pm
 Ack/jurat certs are PROOF of the notarial act - LisaKT/CA on 2/3/19 4:29pm
 Re: Do you complete and stamp one jurat or two? - LisaKT/CA on 2/3/19 2:06pm
 Re: I’ve always done as Linda since early 1990 - Carolyn Bodley on 2/3/19 6:37pm
 think of all the taxes you may have unnecessarily paid :) -  sigtogo/OR on 2/4/19 3:51pm
 Re: How so? - Carolyn Bodley on 2/4/19 8:43pm
 Re: Correction — one certificate /one act // not one doc n/m - Carolyn Bodley on 2/4/19 8:45pm
 If you could earn more and pay less SE tax would you? -  sigtogo/OR on 2/5/19 12:42am
 Re: If you could earn more and pay less SE tax would you? -  VT_Syrup on 2/5/19 6:47am
 Re: If you could earn more and pay less SE tax would you? - LisaKT/CA on 2/5/19 6:58pm
 Re: If you could earn more and pay less SE tax would you? -  VT_Syrup on 2/5/19 8:08pm
 Colorado Notary Fee CRS 24-21-529(1) - ABC Legal Docs, LLC - Jerry Lucas on 2/3/19 6:09pm
 Found this interesting - Luckydog on 2/3/19 8:25pm
 #2 page 5 IRS sorry n/m - Luckydog on 2/3/19 8:26pm
 I'm confused by your post. The deduction for SE tax is a -  MW/VA on 2/4/19 10:21am
 Possibly focusing on the wrong question? -  JanetK_CA on 2/4/19 2:56am
 Re: Colorado Notary Question-SE Tax -  Doris_CO on 2/4/19 11:04am
 Colorado Notarial Acts CRS 24-21-502(6) - ABC Legal Docs, LLC - Jerry Lucas on 2/4/19 12:38pm
 While I reach same conclusions as you Jerry, it seems... -  sigtogo/OR on 2/4/19 3:35pm
 Colorado Notarial Acts - ABC Legal Docs, LLC - Jerry Lucas on 2/4/19 4:00pm
 Re: ABC - Carolyn Bodley on 2/4/19 5:02pm
 Colorado Notarial Acts CRS 24-21-502(6) - ABC Legal Docs, LLC - Jerry Lucas on 2/4/19 10:48pm
 Re: Colorado Notary Question-SE Tax - Carolyn Bodley on 2/4/19 4:52pm
 Re: Colorado Notary Question-SE Tax - LJCA on 2/4/19 7:57pm
 My last .02 FWIW...about the suggestion to - Linda_H/FL on 2/5/19 6:18am
 Re: My last .02 FWIW...about the suggestion to -  JanetK_CA on 2/5/19 2:03pm
 We’ll agree to disagree - LisaKT/CA on 2/5/19 6:37pm
 CA Handbook & Newsletter defines notarial act - LisaKT/CA on 2/4/19 11:46am
 Colorado State Archives Charges $10 for Notary Services - ABC Legal Docs, LLC - Jerry Lucas on 2/5/19 12:32pm



 
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