Filing Form 1 electronically- Update with ATF Bulletin

Has anyone filed NFA forms online yet?

The ATF recently put online services up for submitting many FFL/Firearm related forms online, including filing a Form 1, which is all I care about at the moment. I'd been putting off my Form 1 but now that it's as easy as doing it on my lunch break with a credit card, all at my desk, I fired it off just now.

Create account at atfonline.gov
Log in
Pick the Form to fill out
Enter all the information like you would a Form 1, with much fewer questions, surprisingly enough.

I'd have appreciated a guide more detailed than the GunTrustLawyer.com I referenced (linked below) but I got my way through it just fine. It's a little misleading at times, I found.

Relevant links:

https://www.atfonline.gov/

UPDATED 9/17/13 to add eFile bulletin for those of you not on the mailing list but curious about the eFile system.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0OyBQkA7VaddV85dmdxZTJ6bzg/edit?usp=sharing


GunTrustLawyer.com : Gun Trust and Submitting ATF Forms online http://www.guntrustlawyer.com/2013/08/gun-trust-and-submitting-atf-f.html

I ended up mailing my form 1 in. I didn't know how to register online with a trust and ATF said only time saved was in the mailing. Plus I'm not into computers enough to scan my trust in and send it electronically.

Yea, I mainly did it to save the time in mailing, as well as not having to bother with getting a money order as I previously planned.

I'm setup electronically and according to the guy that responded to the ask an expert portion of the website it should speed up times. Here was his response to if it would speed up wait times.

Eventually, yes. For now, it gets them into the system right away for processing without having the lag time that exists for our data entry people to get the hard copy form entered.

So I believe by entering it electronically you are skipping the 2 or so months it takes to go pending.

Jnieman if you submitted it electronically try giving them a call in a few days and see if it is pending already. If it is that is a big time saver and definitely worth submitting electronically.

Yea, I'm going to keep up on it. I don't mind being a guinea pig and seeing how things go, and supplying another data point for people to measure from.

One thing that makes me go "hmm" is that my bank account is already pegged for the $200.

I know that when you mail it in, they don't even look at things until they've cashed the check/m.o. so maybe that's the length of time I "jump ahead" in line.

I will go ahead and pretend I cut in front of everyone who sent their physical form in, but hasn't seen their money cashed yet, because it makes me feel like I got away with something.

Yeah right now if you mail it in they cash your check almost immediately then I believe your form sits in a pile to be entered into a system by data entry people. Once it is entered into their system you are pending. This is currently taking 2-3 months from the date your check is cashed to go pending. This would explain why they will have no record of your form until you are actually pending. If you go pending within the next few days or you are already pending you just skipped in front of everyone waiting to be entered into the system. So it would save you 2-3 months.

Lafsnguy said:

Yeah right now if you mail it in they cash your check almost immediately then I believe your form sits in a pile to be entered into a system by data entry people. Once it is entered into their system you are pending. This is currently taking 2-3 months from the date your check is cashed to go pending. This would explain why they will have no record of your form until you are actually pending. If you go pending within the next few days or you are already pending you just skipped in front of everyone waiting to be entered into the system. So it would save you 2-3 months.

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Awesome!

Hopefully once news of this setup spreads out it becomes common place, and labor required on their part is drastically diminished and maybe we can see faster approval times by a significant amount. It's 2013, this is long overdue. I hope the employee you talked to is right about reduced wait times.

So once my snail mailed check is cashed, I'm "pending" right?

Nope. Try calling and asking what your status is right after your check is cashed. They won't have it in their system. Jnieman when you log into the eforms website and click on submitted forms what does it say for the created date? Because with my non E form 3's this created date is the pending date when you call. So if it is the date you entered it into the eforms website then that is your pending date and you just theoretically saved 2-3 months waiting to go pending.

Lafsnguy said:

Nope. Try calling and asking what your status is right after your check is cashed. They won't have it in their system. Jnieman when you log into the eforms website and click on submitted forms what does it say for the created date? Because with my non E form 3's this created date is the pending date when you call. So if it is the date you entered it into the eforms website then that is your pending date and you just theoretically saved 2-3 months waiting to go pending.

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This is to advise you that the status of your eForms submission with the subject Permit/Control number has changed to PENDING RESEARCH

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^That's the last thing I got, and it was sent to me via email within 5 minutes of submitting the form. On the web site it was "pending research" immediately.

I expected the research because of 2 'flags/warnings' it gave me right off the bat.

1) First warning was that it said "unknown type" or some such thing, in regards to the type of firearm, which is hilarious. "Short Barrel Rifle" was the unknown type, and it was selected from a DROP DOWN BOX to fill in the field, so it's kind of funny - but maybe it's simply an internal tool for them to verify type, and that all the associated details (barrel length, overall length, caliber, etc) are all accurate/logical.

2) This one is understandable and obvious. When filling in "Manufacturer" you type in the name, and it will apparently recognize "known" manufacturers (Colt, LWRC, S&W, etc) and it'll be a "known" mfr. Since in my case, the name of my trust is the manufacturer, it is an UNRECOGNIZED MANUFACTURER, I had to confirm that the information was accurate, and it told me at the end that they would cause it to be 'pending research'. This is logical since they will have to verify that my trust is a legal entity and actually exists to be a manufacturer. So it does require legwork on their part.

In the end, it allows you to upload electronic documents, .doc/docx, .pdf, .jpg/jpeg - which is where I uploaded the scanned copy of my notarized trust.

I'll see if there's any hiccups. Status at the moment is 'Pending Research' though I do not see that on the website - only in the latest email update. However, there /is/ an ID# assigned to my form which may mean it's "already in the system" and therefore "in line"... seems to indicate that, anyhow.

If a good 'guide' doesn't exist by the time I get approved, I'll make one. I don't want to go taking screenshots and commenting on the process until I've gotten approved, to avoid spreading false information in the case I made an error or incorrect assumption. It'll be a handy thing to have stickied around for reference.

I was just contacted by Gary Schaible regarding another bit of information they required (original manufacturer of the firearm I'm SBR'ing)

That must be a good sign.

Good deal that's the guy that I had spoken with. Crossing my fingers this actually speeds things up.

Lafsnguy said:

Good deal that's the guy that I had spoken with. Crossing my fingers this actually speeds things up.

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I'm a skeptic and I like preparing for disappointment, I'll admit that. His question may mean they still take my form and enter it manually into their own database/software for processing. He may just be taking the web submitted form and copying it over... or maybe he's processing it to go to the examiner or something, I dunno.

Not trying to get my hopes up to much but that's pretty cool to get attention so quickly.

I responded to his email within a few minutes.

He responded to mine equally as fast:

Thank you for the information – I will add this record to the table and it will go into processing by the NFA Branch

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/edit to add/

And a couple minutes letter I get the automated email update:

This is to advise you that the status of your eForms submission with the subject Permit/Control number has changed to SUBMITTED/IN PROCESS

Permit/Control No: numbersnumbersnumbers
Your Reference No:
Submission Date: 2013-08-23-04:00
Form ID: ATF Form 1 (5320.1) - Application to Make and Register a Firearm

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submitted/in process is pending. So you just skipped ahead of everyone waiting to go pending. Definitely worth submitting electronically.

Well, this is good news! I need to get off my ass and submit a form 1 for one of my corporations.

Does anyone know the current estimated wait time after going pending?

Has anyone tried it for a gun trust yet?

cajunranger said:

Has anyone tried it for a gun trust yet?

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My submission was on behalf of my trust.

When you signed up to access the online form, did you use your info or the trusts info.