ATF eForm's Tax Stamp Application Statuses Explained

The ATF eForm statuses on the left hand side screen can be used to filter and find your draft, pending approval and approved tax stamps.  There are other statuses that are soley used for FFL's.  Below we discuss the pertinent ATF eForm statuses. 

Approved:  The approved status window will show all of the user's approved tax stamps which include gun trusts and individual applicant tax stamps. 

Conditionally Approved: The conditionally approved status window will show all of the tax stamp applications that are approved with certain conditions. Some tax stamps are approved conditionnaly, meaning the tax stamp is approved as long as the conditions apply, in most cases we have seen conditionally tax stamps being approved as the long as the firearm model on the approved tax stamp is what is engraved on the firearm.  Other reasons can exist for a firearm to be conditionally approved as an NFA firearm.  An example is shown below.

Disapproved:  The disapproved status window will show all of your disapproved tax stamp applications.  Disapproved tax stamps, will have the reason for disapproval in red text at the end of the tax stamp.  Having this section to reference your diapproved tax stamps can be helpful if you have lost the email from the ATF regarding your disapproved tax stamp.  If you have lost your email with the disapproved tax stamp, you can visit the disapproved status window to find the disapproved tax stamp and reason for disapproval. 

Draft:  The draft status window will show all of your tax stamp applications that you started but never finished.  Be mindful that per the ATF, "All draft NFA forms (Forms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10) that remain in draft status will be deleted 90 days after creation."

Pending Research: The pending research status window will show all of your applications that were submitted, but still need to be researched by the ATF.  Typically, if you are using the ATF eForm 1 and the maufacturer, model, or caliber was not in the prepopulated list on the line item page, e.g. if you had to confirm an unknown manufacturer or clicked the "My item description is not in the list, create new item" radio button.  Other reasons may exist, but this is the most common reason. 

Returned for Correction:  The returned for correction status window will show any application that you have that requires a correction.  This can vary from uploading a different passport photo, ATF 5320.23, corrected firearm information, etc and is subject to the examiner if they choose to send a correction versus disapproving the application and making you reapply. 

Submitted/In Process:  The submitted/in process status window will show you all of your pending eForm applications. 

Withdrawn:  The withdranw status window will show any applications that you have withdrawn or had an examiner withdraw on your behalf. 

Other status windows exist on the left hand side of the screen, but are used for FFL's and not relevant to the tax stamp application process for non-FFL's.