A dealer’s guide to every ATF NFA form — Form 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 20, the 5320.23 RPQ, and the 5630.7 SOT return. What each one does, who files it, and what it costs in 2026.

Federal firearms licensees (FFLs) can transition from a paper Acquisition and Disposition (A&D) bound book to an electronic version, adhering to ATF Ruling 2016-1. This change involves meticulous data migration, maintaining the original paper records unless permitted otherwise. Daily backups and compliance with regulations are essential for legality and integrity during the conversion process.

The venue WiFi dies at 10 a.m. Saturday. The buyer is standing at your table, ID out. Can you still run a legal, digital Form 4473? Yes — if your software was built offline-first. Here’s how it works and why it’s fully authorized. The legal foundation: two ATF rulings Electronic 4473s aren’t a gray area […]

Selling at a gun show doesn’t relax a single recordkeeping requirement — it just removes the infrastructure that makes compliance easy. Here’s what applies when your inventory leaves the licensed premises, and how disciplined dealers keep a clean trail. The baseline: where you can sell Federal law permits a licensee to conduct business at a […]

Working a gun show is a business trip, a pop-up store, and an ATF compliance exercise rolled into one weekend. This checklist is organized the way the weekend actually runs: before the show, at the table, and back at the shop. Before the show (Thursday–Friday) Licensing & paperwork Copy of your FFL — bring a […]

The $0 tax stamp didn’t shorten the wait — it multiplied the waiters. If your shop had six Form 4s in flight last year, you may have twenty now. The spreadsheet that survived six will not survive twenty. What “tracking” actually has to answer When a customer calls about their suppressor, you need four answers […]

Every suppressor that crosses your counter rides two forms: a Form 3 to get to you, and a Form 4 to leave. Customers mix them up constantly — you can’t afford to. Form 3: licensee to licensee, tax-free ATF Form 5320.3 covers transfers of NFA items between SOT-holding licensees — distributor to dealer, dealer to […]

Every SOT in America renews on the same clock: the federal special-tax year runs July 1 through June 30, and ATF Form 5630.7 with payment is due on or before July 1. If you’re reading this in early July wondering whether yours went in — this one’s for you. How SOT renewal works Your Special […]

ATF Inspection Preparation with Electronic Bound Books Monthly Compliance Routine Stay inspection-ready with these monthly tasks: Run Compliance Check – Review all records for completeness Reconcile Physical Inventory – Match system to physical count Review Audit Logs – Check for unusual activity Verify Backups – Confirm automatic backups are working Test Search Functions – Ensure […]