ATF eForm 4 NFA Tax Stamp Walk-Through Guide
How to guide and walk-through guide for the ATF eForm 4 NFA Tax Stamp Application - ATF e5320.4 Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of Firearm
In the middle of the screen, you will see the available forms that you can be used using the ATF’s eForm website. Double click the first green icon ATF Form 4 and your form will start to load.
Screen 1: Form 5320.4 - View Image
Intended Use of Form
FILING AS AN INDIVIDUAL
The Transferee must attach a digital photo in the Photo function on the Responsible Person tab. The Transferee must also provide his or her fingerprints on Form FD-258. You will be given an opportunity to attach electronic copies of your FD-258 while executing your application. If you chose to submit paper copies of the FD-258, the fingerprints will be submitted separately from the application. Upon submission of the application, the eForms system will email a cover sheet to the Transferee. The cover sheet is to be printed as it will provide the control number of the transaction and the address where to send the fingerprint cards. The cover sheet and fingerprint cards MUST be mailed to the NFA Division within 10 business days of filing the application. The attachments are sometimes only seen when opening the email with a computer as opposed to a personal phone or iPad.
FILING AS A TRUST OR OTHER LEGAL ENTITY
In addition to providing the documentation of the existing trust or corporation/other legal entity within the Electronic Document train-stop, the Transferee must electronically provide a photograph and completed ATF Form 5320.23, NFA Responsible Person Questionnaire (RPQ), for each responsible person (see definition 1.e on the instruction page) of the trust or corporation/other legal entity. The Transferee will identify each responsible person and attach the photograph and a scanned, hand-signed, RPQ from that person. All photographs and RPQ forms must be attached to the application prior to submission.
Additionally, the responsible person must also provide his or her fingerprints on Form FD-258. You will be given an opportunity to attach electronic copies of your FD-258 while executing the application. If you chose to submit paper copies of the FD-258, the fingerprints will be submitted separately from the application. Upon submission of the application, the eForms system will email a cover sheet to the Transferee listing the names of the responsible persons. The printed cover sheet and the fingerprint cards for all RP’s MUST be mailed in one batch to the NFA Division within 10 days of filing the application. The attachments are sometimes only seen when opening the email with a computer as opposed to a personal phone or iPad.
Please note that the Form 5320.23, NFA RPQ, form is available in a fillable version on the ATF website (www.atf.gov). The form can be completed then printed for hand-signature and scanning.
Select Next to agree to the guidelines.
Screen 2 – Transferor - View Image
The transferor page is completed by the FFL. In order to see your FFL license in the FFL dropdown, you will first need to request FFL access from the ATF. This is done by clicking the my profile tax, then the FFL / AECA / EIN Access tab. You will need to request FFL Access first and after your FFL access is approved you will need to request EIN access. Once you have completed those two steps, your FFL license will be available from the FFL dropdown. Once you select your FFL all of the boxes will be populated with your FFL information and can’t be changed. Once you have selected your FFL from the dropdown, you can click next.
Screen 3: Alternate Address - View Image
If the firearm is located at a different address than the previous screen, the transferor can indicate that here. This is similar to box 3e of the paper ATF Form 4. If the firearm is located at the address from the previous screen then no address needs to be entered on this page. You can click next to proceed to the next screen.
Screen 4: Transferee - View Image - Individual - Gun Trust
Once loaded the transferor will be able to check the appropriate applicant type and start the application.
If the transferee is filing with a trust you will see the below form and options.
Transferee Name: Enter the name of your trust here. Make sure you write the exact name of your trust from your trust document.
Country, Address Line 1/Address Line 2, Zip Code +4, City, County, State, Telephone, Email: Enter in the transferee's mailing information here. You will lastly write in the transferee’s ATF eForms account username. This must match their account if it doesn’t, then you won’t be able to certify your application on the certify page.
If the transferee is filing as an individual you will see the below form and options.
First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Cadence: This is the first name, middle name or middle initial (if any), last name and cadence of the transferee.
Country, Address Line 1/Address Line 2, Zip Code +4, City, County, State, Telephone, Email: Enter in the transferee's mailing information here. You will lastly write in the transferee’s ATF eForms account username. This must match their account if it doesn’t, then you won’t be able to certify your application on the certify page.
Transferee's Questions (For any ‘Yes’ answer, provide the details in an attachment via the electronic documents function): You will need to answer "Yes" or "No" to the below questions.
14.A. Are you under indictment or information in any court for a felony, or any other crime, for which the judge could imprison you for more than one year?
14.B. Have you ever been convicted in any court for a felony, or any other crime, for which the judge could have imprisoned you for more than one year, even if you received a shorter sentence including probation?
14.C. Are you a fugitive from justice?
14.D. Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?
14.E. Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?
14.F. Have you been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions?
14.G. Are you subject to a court order restraining you from harassing, stalking, or threatening your child or an intimate partner or child of such partner?
14.H. Have you ever been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence?
18.A. Country of Citizenship: if US, check the box on this line. If not US or if the applicant is a citizen of more than one country, list the country or countries in an attachment.
18.D. Have you ever renounced United States citizenship?
18.E. Are you an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States?
18.F.1. Are you an alien who has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa?
18.F.2. If "yes", do you fall within any of the exceptions stated in the instructions? Attach the documentation to the application
19. If you are an alien, record your U.S.-Issued Alien or Admission number(AR#, USCIS#, or 194#)
20. Have you been issued a Unique Personal Identification Number (UPIN)? (See instruction 2h) If yes please list
You can click next to proceed to the next screen.
Screen 5: Responsible Persons - View Image - Individual - Gun Trust
This is the page where you will enter the information for all of the responsible persons in the NFA Gun trust or the transferee's information as a responsible person. For a gun trust applicant this will be the settlor/grantor and co-trustees that the transferee has in their NFA Gun Trust. If they have added a co-trustees with amendments to their NFA Gun trust, you will then have to add their information here too. To start you will need to click the paper and pencil icon that is located under the Actions column of the table. If you need to add an additional responsible person, you can click the add responsible person button located above the Status/Title column too.
For Individual Applicants many of these boxes are completed with the information provided on Screen 3: Transferee. If you need to make a change to one of the automatically completed boxes you will need to go back to Screen 3: Transferee to do so.
Citizenship: Select your citizenship.
Cadence: Select any cadence options that apply to your name. You can leave this blank if you have no cadence associated with your name.
Title: Write the title of the responsible person you are entering in: Settlor/Grantor, Trustee, etc.
First Name: Enter in the first name of the responsible person.
Middle Name: Enter in the middle name of the responsible person.
Last Name: Enter in the last name of the responsible person.
Email: Enter in the email address of the responsible person. The responsible persons email address should match their ATF eForm’s account email address.
Form 5320.23: You will need to upload the responsible persons ATF 5320.23 form. You can complete the ATF 5320.23 using the fillable .PDF. But it will need to be signed and scanned back into your computer for the ATF 5320.23 to be valid. The applicant must attach a scanned, completed copy the ATF 5320.23 Responsible Persons Questionnaire for each listed responsible persons in the trust and listed on this screen. The accepted format for your ATF 5320.23 Form is “PDF (Portable Document Format). Maximum Allowed File Size is 3MB. NOTE: This is only available/required for applicants who are applying using a gun trust or as a legal entity. If you are applying as an individual, the "Choose File" box will be greyed out.
Photo: Upload the responsible person's passport style photo here. The accepted formats for your passport photo are” Photo: JPG and JPEG (Joint Photographics Expert Group), GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)”. Other formats aren’t accepted. Maximum Allowed File Size is 3MB.
Electronic Fingerprints: If the responsible person has their digital fingerprints in a .EFT file, you can upload them here. If they don’t, you can still send the ATF the fingerprint cards by mail. Once uploaded an information box will load indicating the responsible person’s name, date of birth and indicate a validation status. You should ensure that this information matches the responsible person that you are adding at this time. If the validation status isn’t valid the FBI won’t accept the .EFT file and you will get an error message indicating to retry or to submit fingerprint cards by mail.
SSN: Enter in the social security number of the responsible person. Note: Not Required, “Failure to provide this information may delay processing.”
Zip Code: Enter in the zip code of the responsible person.
State: Select the current state of residence for the responsible person from the drop down menu.
City: Enter in the current city of residence for the responsible person.
Street: Enter in the current street address for the responsible person.
Date of Birth: Enter in the date of birth of the responsible person. Format is 11/29/1998
Birth Country: Select the responsible persons birth country from the drop down list.
Birth State: The state drop down menu will become active once the birth country of the responsible person is selected.
State of Residence: This is current state that the responsible person resides in.
Sex: Sex of the responsible person.
Race: Race of the responsible person.
AR # or I94 #: AR number or I 94 number are used if you have an alien registration number or your USCIS I 94 non-citizen number. This box can be left blank if neither of those two situations apply to the responsible person.
UPIN: Enter in your UPIN only if you have one. If you don’t have a UPIN, then leave this box blank.
If you want to add or remove responsible persons you can select the “Action” button that is located directly above the Citizenship drop down menu.
Screen 6: CLEO (Chief Law Enforcement Officer) - View Image
Agency or Department Name: The name of the agency or law enforcement department that you are sending the CLEO notification to.
Name of Agency Official: This is the name of transferee's CLEO.
Title of Agency Official: This is the title/position of transferee's CLEO, e.g. Sheriff, etc.
Country: The country where the transferee's CLEO is located at.
Address 1/Address 2: This is the mailing address of the transferee's CLEO.
Zip Code: The zip code of the transferee's CLEO’s address.
+4: This is the 4 extra digits of the the CLEO’s mailing address zip code. You can use the USPS address lookup to get those numbers - USPS +4 Zip Code Lookup Tool
State: The state dropdown is populated by system, but you can manually select the state if you would like to.
City: City options based off of the CLEO's zip code are displayed here.
County: County options based off of CLEO's zip code are displayed here.
Screen 7: Firearm - View Image
The firearm page is you will add the firearm that the transferor will be transferring to the transferee.
You will start by clicking the add firearm button located above the table and to the left. This will load a new window where the FFL’s approved ATF Form 3 firearms will be displayed. If you have a large inventory, you can search faster by typing in firearm specific information in to the white boxs above the columns in the table. You can search by serial number, manufacturer, product type, caliber, model, barrel length or overall length. On you have found the correct firearm, you can select the firearm and click okay. You will then see the firearm in the table. Note that for silencers the transferee necessity statement box will be greyed out, as shown. Other firearms, e.g. short barreled rifle will require this box to be completed. The most common examples are, “Investment and all other lawful purposes” or “all lawful purposes”, other reasons maybe be valid, but those two are the most common.
Screen 8: Electronic Documents - View Image - Individual - Gun Trust
The electronic documents page is where you can upload additional documents that are relevant to the application. This is most commonly used for corporations, trusts and other legal entities. As an individual applicant the transferee isn’t required to upload any additional documents here, unless they need to upload any required state or local permits, non-immigrant exception documents, etc.
To upload a required document, you will select the choose file or browse button, to navigate to your scanned copy of your document. You will select the appropriate document type from the dropdown. In the description box you will write in documents title. Then click add document.
If the transferee is applying with a NFA Gun Trust, then you will need to upload a copy of the notarized, dated, signed NFA Gun Trust or 24 Month Exception, any required state or local permits, non-immigrant exception documents, etc. The upload limit is 30MB. If the NFA Gun trust is over 30mb, we can help you with our NFA Gun Trust compression service here.
If you want to use the 24 Month Exception you can use our ATF 24 Month Exception for NFA Gun Trust and Legal Entity Documentation Generator here.
Screen 8: Verify
You will have to review your entered in information and certify that the information is correct before you can proceed to the next page. If you need to make any changes, you can go back to the appropriate section and make the changes.
Screen 9: Certify - View Image - Green Check Mark - Red "X"
Application: The type of transfer of, $5 for any of weapon or AOW or $200 for all other manufactured NFA firearms will be selected automatically based on the firearm selected on screen 7 – firearm page. The internal control number can be used by the transferor to help find applications. This field will not show up on the completed ATF eForm 4. The ATF suggests using the customer’s name, phone number, or a unique identifier here to help you find a form within your eForm account but can also be left blank.
Certification:
Transferee Certify: The transferee can select the certify button to certify their information.
Transferor Certify: The transferor can select the certify button to certify their information.
Pay: Click the “Pay” button to pay the ATF for your application. A pop-up will open that will allow you to submit your payment. Once you have entered in your payment information, you will be able to close that window. If no window pops-up then you might need to check your pop-up blocker settings or other browser settings to allow for pop-up windows.
reCAPTCHA: Complete the I'm not a robot verification by selecting the required photos.
Sign & Submit: Click the “Sign & Submit” button to submit your ATF 5320.4 eForm. You will need to validate the user id and the user pin. To begin, the transferee will read through the statement and enter in their ATF eForm’s username and pin. Once that has been entered, you can click validate pin. This process is repeated for the transferor. The transferor will enter in their pin number and click submit.
Mailing Documentation for your CLEO (Chief Law Enforcement Officer):
Print the CLEO copy from the email that the ATF sent to the registered email address of the transferor or transferee. You will need to send the CLEO copy of your ATF 5320.4 and the CLEO copy of your ATF 5320.23 (for each responsible person) to the CLEO that you entered in on screen 6. This can be mailed or dropped of to the CLEO that was entered in on screen 6.
Mailing Documentation for the BATFE:
Print out the cover letter/control sheet that the ATF emailed to your registered email address. You will need to complete two FD-258 fingerprint cards for each responsible persons that you have indicated in your application. The completed fingerprint cards for each responsible person in the application will be mailed to the address that is located on the cover letter/control sheet. Fingerprint specifications are below. If all of the responsible persons uploaded a digital fingerprint file (.EFT) file then no further paperwork needs to be mailed to the ATF.
- (2) Original FBI Form FD-258's (Fingerprint Card) from all Responsible Persons. Fingerprints must be submitted on Fingerprint Identification Cards, FD–258 that have been issued by ATF. The fingerprint cards must contain the following ORI information: WVATF0900; ATF–NATL EXPL LIC, MARTINSBURG WV or WVATF0800 ATF-NATL TRA CTR MARTINSBURG, WV. You can buy the FBI Form FD-258's Paper Fingerprinting Packet Here or use our .EFT File Creation Service to make a digital fingerprint file. The fingerprint cards must be completed by your local law enforcement authority or completed by the applicant(s). Source ATF, "How do I get my fingerprints taken?". Or by any authorized fingerprint service.
Information located within this article is current as of March, 2022. Information located within this article is an original guide created by National Gun Trusts and not to be cited or used without the written permission of National Gun Trusts.
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