Posted by tonya/AL on 10/8/09 9:33am
Msg #306612

Alabama Notary fees

When you are figuring your notary fees for each signing, do you charge the $.50 per person per signature for each document?
I guess to better ask: If you have two borrowers and both sign the mortgage, is your fee $.50 or would it be $1.00?

The statute is very gray…”for any oath, certificate and seal taken under subdivision (1) of Section 36-20-5”. Do you interpret this as one notarial act or two? I’m trying to make sure I fall within the legal guidelines, but I want to claim as much as I can for notary fees for tax purposes.

Reply by Barbara Taylor on 10/8/09 12:04pm
Msg #306658

Are you a Signing Agent that is licensed, then the fee would be what you charge for loan docs, but for regular notarization, you would follow state guidelines.

Reply by tonya/AL on 10/8/09 12:23pm
Msg #306668

Thank you, Barbara. I understand what you are saying. Yes, I am a signing agent.
Here, I have to keep a journal and enter the recording fees. Also, notary fees are not subject to SE taxes. So I want to make sure I am within the State's legal guidelines; yet, maximizing monies not subject to SE tax.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 10/8/09 12:45pm
Msg #306682

For the SE tax, only the notary fee part of the signing is exempt from SE tax.
If you charge $100 for the signing, but only have two notarizations, then only the fee for those two notarizations are exempt from SE tax.
Does your state allow you to charge notary fee per signature, or per notary act. I am not in AL but it looks to me that you can only charge per act and not per signature.
You could check with the SOS office's notary division to verify.

Reply by Art_MD on 10/8/09 1:13pm
Msg #306689

From the handbook...

for any oath, certificate and seal taken under subdivision (1) of Section 36-20-5, $.50; for giving copies from register, $.20 for each 100 words; for each certificate and seal to such copy, $.25; and for giving any other certificate and affixing seal of office, $.50.

The way I read it, "and seal" would limit you to $.50 per seal impression.

JMHO

Art

Reply by tonya/AL on 10/8/09 2:08pm
Msg #306712

Thanks, Art. That is the way I interpreted this statute.

Reply by Jim/AL on 10/8/09 2:09pm
Msg #306714

Re: Alabama Notary fees, grrrrrrrrr

Hopefully these will be increased soon, but they are also going to limit how many notaries we have in AL.

I asked the SOS in person at conference on 10-1-09 why we were the ONLY public officers in the State that have never received a raise and she stated that was a political question. I said I thought that I was talking to a politician, she then skirted around the issue and said to talk to our local representatives.

I asked that since they maintain the database of all the notaries in AL that they send out a survey or petition to get our opinions and to let our reps know what we are feeling, well of course that would not fit into the SOS budget. They can mail out to bring us all to a conference to listen to them tell us almost nothing solid or informative, but they cannot mail out to help us.

Done with my rant, thanks.

Reply by Jim/AL on 10/8/09 2:00pm
Msg #306707

Tonya, call the AL SOS office and speak to Judge Jean Brown

legal advisor to SOS.

Please let us know what the answer is.