ATF 24 Month Exception for NFA Gun Trust and Legal Entity Documentation Generator

24 Month Exception for NFA Gun Trust and Legal Entity Documentation when using the ATF Form 1, eForm 1, ATF eForm 4 ATF Form 4 or the ATF Form 5 

When applying with an ATF Form 1, eForm 1, ATF eForm 4, ATF Form 4 or the ATF Form 5 there is a 24 month exception for NFA gun trusts and legal entities to submit the NFA gun trust or legal entity paperwork with the ATF tax stamp application.  Meaning for the ATF Form 1, eForm 1, ATF eForm 4, ATF Form 4 or the ATF Form 5 applications you won’t be required to submit a copy of your notarized NFA gun trust or legal entity paperwork to the ATF when you apply for the aforementioned ATF applications for a tax stamp.  The 24 month exception can only be used if you have had a tax stamp approved by the ATF in the last 24 months with any of the four aforementioned ATF tax stamp applications. Note: the 24 month timeframe starts from your last approved tax stamp date, not from when your payment was cashed or when your application went pending. When you apply for your ATF Form 1, eForm 1, ATF eForm 4, ATF Form 4 or ATF Form 5 tax stamp instead of submitting a copy of your NFA gun trust or legal entity paperwork, you will submit a certification letter that your NFA gun trust or legal entity paperwork hasn’t changed since your last tax stamp was approved by the ATF in the last 24 months.  The potential benefits of submitting the 24 month exception include: the ATF examiner doesn’t have to review your trust or legal entity documents again and if you are applying with the eForm system you won’t have to worry about the size of your NFA gun trust or your legal entity documents.  The first benefit could save your application time during the approval process and the latter will cut out the 3mb upload size limit for documents that you upload during the eForm process.

Below is ATF 24 Month exception for NFA Gun Trust and Legal Entity Documentation Generator and the exact definition of the 24 month exception as defined by the ATF.


This information can be located on the ATF Form 1, ATF Form 4 and the ATF Form 5 paperwork under – 2. Preparation of Application – d. Completion of Form – (4)(b) Documentation of Entity Existence, and is shown below: 

(4) Documentation of entity existence: (a) If the transferee is other than an individual, the transferee must attach documentation evidencing the existence and validity of  the entity, which includes complete and unredacted copies of  partnership agreements, articles of incorporation, corporate registration, declarations of trust with any trust schedules, attachments, exhibits, and enclosures. (b) If the transferee entity has had an application approved as a maker or transferee within the preceding 24 months of the date of filing this applica tion, and there has been no change to the documentation evidencing the existence and validity of the entity previously provided, the entity may provide a certification that the information has not been changed since the prior approval and shall identify the application for which the documentation had been submitted by form number, serial number, and date approved.

Other NFA Gun Trust and ATF Related Blog Posts

  • ATF eForm Payment Options
    ATF eForm Payment Options

    When applying for a tax stamp using the ATF's eForm site you will be able to pay for the tax stamp on Screen 9: Certify.  The payment options for online applications vary from paper tax stamp appli...

  • ATF Approved eForm's Not Signed with Signature
    ATF Approved eForm's Not Signed with Signature

    The ATF is moving away from including the tax stamp examiner's digital signature on approved ATF eForm applications, e.g. ATF eForm 1 and ATF eForm 4.  They are now digitally signing the approved b...

  • Can you use FD-258 Fingerprint Card with Black Lines?
    Can you use FD-258 Fingerprint Card with Black Lines?

    FD-258 Fingerprint cards can come in two versions a version where there are black lines and one that has blue lines.  The version with black lines (shown below) can't be used for ATF tax stamp appl...