09/11/2025
Commission Number? Notary I.D. Number? Serial Number?
Section 695.25, Florida Statutes, sets forth the current "Statutory Short Forms of Acknowledgment." These forms instruct the officer taking the acknowledgment to place his or her name, title or rank, and “serial number, if any,” beneath his or her signature. Florida notaries are not issued a statutory "serial number," but two identifying numbers are associated with every notary: the commission number and the "Notary I.D." number.
The commission number is actually an audit control number tied to the commission certificate itself. Each time a notary renews his or her commission, or amends it because of a name change, a new certificate and therefore a new commission number is issued. Florida law requires the commission number to appear on the notary’s official seal.
The Department of State also assigns every notary a permanent Notary I.D. number. This identifier stays with the notary through every commission and is used by the state to track notaries in the state database. Unlike the commission number, the Notary I.D. is attached to the person, not the paper commission, and it is not required to appear on the seal.
While the completion of the "serial number" is not mandatory under Section 695.25, some notaries have inquired what number, if any, should be written in that space. The question of what constitutes a notary's "serial number" for the purposes of the Statutory Short Forms of Acknowledgment has not been clarified by the Executive Office of the Governor. Many notaries list their commission number. However, that number is already shown on the seal and changes with every renewal, which does little to identify the individual notary. On the other hand, the Notary I.D. number identifies the individual holding the notarial commission, and remains the same for life, making it the more practical choice. It is therefore the opinion of Florida Notary Academy, as a state-approved notary education provider, that the Notary I.D. number, being the number which identifies the actual notary, should be used as a "serial number" where required.
