5.1 Maximum Allowable Notary Fees

The Fee Ceiling Under Statute 33-133

Nebraska is a fee-cap state: the legislature, not the market, fixes the maximum a notary public may charge for each act. The controlling law is Nebraska Revised Statute Section 33-133, found in Chapter 33 ("Fees and Salaries"). These are maximums — a notary may always charge less, or waive the fee entirely. Charging more than the statutory ceiling is a violation that can support discipline or revocation by the Secretary of State.

Reading the statute correctly

The two numbers tested most are $5.00 for an acknowledgment and $2.00 for an oath or affirmation. Notice that a jurat combines an oath ($2.00) with a certificate and seal ($5.00), so a jurat may lawfully run $7.00. Each instrument carries its own fee, so notarizing two separate deeds in one visit supports $5.00 + $5.00 = $10.00.

A frequent point of confusion is the difference between the act and the certificate. Taking an acknowledgment of a deed and affixing the certificate and seal is the single $5.00 service in everyday practice — the statute lists the certificate-and-seal line separately as a drafting matter, but for a routine acknowledgment you do not stack two $5.00 charges. Treat the cap as $5.00 total, not $5.00 plus another $5.00 for the seal. Protests, which apply to negotiable instruments and are rare for general notaries, carry their own small fees ($1.00 to protest, $2.00 to record, $2.00 for the notice).

Because the fees are permissive, a notary is never obligated to collect. Many employers, banks, and government offices provide free notarizations as a courtesy; a notary working for tips at a UPS Store may charge the full statutory amount. What a notary may never do is exceed the cap, advertise a higher 'notary fee,' or invent a fee category the statute does not list.

Mileage — The Only Lawful Add-On

The single charge a notary may add to the act fee is mileage, pegged to the state employee travel rate in Section 81-1176. That statute ties the rate to the IRS standard mileage rate, so the exact figure is reset each year — in 2026 it is about 72.5 cents per mile. Always use the current published rate rather than a memorized number. There is no separate "travel call," "convenience," "after-hours," or "administrative" fee in Nebraska law. If it is not in the table, it is not authorized.

Worked example (using the 2026 rate of $0.725/mile). A mobile notary drives 20 miles to a client's home to take one acknowledgment:

• Acknowledgment with certificate and seal: $5.00
• Mileage: 20 miles × $0.725 = $14.50
• Lawful total: $19.50

Compare that to a 40-mile round trip for two acknowledgments: $5.00 + $5.00 + (40 × $0.725 = $29.00) = $39.00. The mileage, not the act fee, is what scales with distance — and because the per-mile rate changes annually, recompute it with the current figure.

The 'Signing Agent' Trap

The Nebraska Secretary of State publishes an explicit mobile notary / signing agent warning. Online ads and out-of-state course promoters claim a notary can pocket $125–$175 per signing. In Nebraska that is false for the notarial portion. The notary act itself is capped at $5.00 per instrument plus mileage. A loan-signing package may bill the title company a courier or document-handling fee, but that is a contract-services charge, not a notary fee, and confusing the two is how new notaries get reported.

Government-Employee Restriction

A critical, frequently tested rule: an employee of the State of Nebraska or any of its political subdivisions (county, city, school district) may not charge a fee for a notarization when the governmental employer paid the notary's commission and bond costs. The logic is that the public already paid for the seal, so the public should not pay again. If the employee paid for their own commission and bond out of pocket, the restriction does not apply and the standard maximums are available.

This rule turns on who paid, not where the act happens. A county-paid notary who notarizes a coworker's personal mortgage at the courthouse still cannot charge, because the county funded the commission. The same person, after hours and across town, also cannot charge while that commission lasts — the bar attaches to the commission, not the location. The only way the restriction lifts is if the notary reimburses the employer or holds a separate self-funded commission, which is uncommon. On the exam, the trigger phrase is 'the governmental employer paid the commission and bond.'

Exam focus

• Acknowledgment ceiling: $5.00 per instrument; oath/affirmation: $2.00.
• Mileage at the current 81-1176 rate (≈72.5¢/mile in 2026, reset annually) is the only permissible add-on.
• Fees are maximums, and charging is optional — a notary may waive them.
• A government employee whose employer funded the commission and bond charges nothing.