ATF Form 5320.23: Filing, Fingerprints, and CLEO Notification

ATF Form 5320.23, the Responsible Person Questionnaire, is the form every individual with control over a trust or legal entity must complete when that entity applies to make or acquire a firearm regulated by the National Firearms Act. It travels with the entity’s primary application — a Form 1 to make, a Form 4 for a tax-paid transfer, or a Form 5 for a tax-exempt transfer — and each responsible person on the entity submits a separate, completed copy with a photograph and fingerprints.¹ The requirement dates from Final Rule 41F, which took effect July 13, 2016 and closed a gap that had let trusts and corporations obtain NFA items without background checks on the people behind them.²

If you’re filing as an individual rather than through a trust, LLC, or corporation, this form doesn’t apply to you. It exists only for entity applicants.

Who Has to File One

Federal regulations define a responsible person as anyone with the power to direct the management and policies of a trust or legal entity regarding the receipt, possession, or transfer of NFA firearms. The regulation lists examples: settlors, grantors, trustees, partners, members, officers, directors, board members, and owners.³ The test is current, active authority over the entity’s firearm decisions.

For a gun trust, that usually means the settlor who created the trust and any co-trustees holding legal title to the trust’s property. A beneficiary counts only if the trust instrument or state law gives that beneficiary the power to direct management of the trust’s firearms.² Someone who merely stands to inherit trust assets someday, without present authority, doesn’t file. For corporations and LLCs, the responsible persons are officers, directors, and members with executive authority over firearm operations.

Misidentifying the list is one of the fastest ways to derail an application. Leaving off someone who actually has control creates a compliance problem. Including someone who doesn’t — a regular employee, a contingent successor trustee — generates avoidable paperwork and delay. When in doubt, look at who has the legal authority right now to decide what happens with the entity’s NFA items.

Every person on that list files a complete packet. If your trust has three co-trustees, all three submit their own Form 5320.23 with photograph and fingerprints. The application waits until every packet is in, so one person dragging their feet stalls the whole entity. Build lead time into your schedule, especially if responsible persons live in different cities.

What Goes on the Form

Each responsible person completes Form 5320.23 in duplicate: one copy for the ATF and one for the local Chief Law Enforcement Officer.¹ Download the current version from the ATF website each time rather than reusing an old copy; outdated versions can trigger rejection.

Personal and Firearm Information

The form opens with your full legal name and current home address. Your Social Security Number is listed as optional, but providing it speeds up the background check considerably. Without it, the FBI works from name and date of birth alone, which raises the odds of a false match and a delay.

The firearm section asks for manufacturer, model, and serial number. These entries must match exactly what appears on the accompanying Form 1, Form 4, or Form 5. A single transposed digit will hold up the application. The form’s instructions warn that failing to fully respond to all questions may delay processing or result in denial.¹

On the CLEO copy, your Social Security Number and the firearm’s serial number are obscured for privacy.¹

Photograph

Attach a 2×2-inch front-view photograph to the ATF copy only. Not the CLEO copy. The photo must be taken within one year before filing.¹ Standard passport-style guidelines apply: clear image, plain background, no hats or dark glasses. Drugstores and shipping stores usually take these for around $15.

Fingerprints

Each responsible person submits two completed FBI Form FD-258 fingerprint cards with the ATF copy. No fingerprints go to the CLEO.¹ Local law enforcement agencies and private fingerprinting services can print you; some police departments do it free or cheap, private services charge more.

The cards need clear, distinct ridge impressions. Smudged or faint prints come back from the FBI as unclassifiable and add weeks to your timeline. Both the person being printed and the official taking the prints must sign each card.

How to Submit the Form

Submission depends on whether you’re filing on paper or through the ATF eForms portal.

Paper Filing

Mail the ATF copy of Form 5320.23, with the photograph and both fingerprint cards attached, along with your Form 1, 4, or 5, to the NFA Division at 244 Needy Road, Suite 1120, Martinsburg, WV 25405. Separately, send the second copy of Form 5320.23 to your local Chief Law Enforcement Officer. Certified mail for both gives you a delivery record proving you met the notification requirement.

eForms Filing

Through the ATF eForms portal, Form 5320.23 is uploaded as a digital attachment with the primary application. The physical fingerprint cards still have to be mailed. After a successful submission, you’ll receive a cover letter by email as a PDF. Mail that cover letter with two FD-258 cards for each responsible person to the NFA Division within 10 days of the electronic submission.⁴ Missing the 10-day window is a common eForms mistake; put it on your calendar the day you file.

CLEO Notification

Before Final Rule 41F, applicants needed CLEO sign-off. That approval requirement is gone. What remains is notification: you send a completed copy of the form and you’re done. No waiting, no permission.² Your CLEO is whichever of the following applies to your locality: the local chief of police, county sheriff, head of the state police, or the local district attorney or prosecutor.⁵

The Background Check and Who Fails It

Once the package arrives, the ATF runs a background check on each responsible person. Approval of the primary Form 1 or Form 4 depends on every responsible person clearing. One prohibited individual sinks the entire application.

Under federal law, the following categories cannot possess firearms or ammunition:⁶

Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison
Fugitives from justice
Current unlawful users of controlled substances or addicts
Anyone adjudicated as mentally defective or committed to a mental institution
People in the United States unlawfully
Anyone dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces
Anyone who has renounced U.S. citizenship
People subject to an active restraining order relating to harassment, stalking, or threats against an intimate partner or child
Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence

Because the check works from names and descriptors, false matches sometimes deny people who share a name or birthdate with a prohibited individual. If a denial looks wrong, you can request the specific reason through the FBI’s official challenge process and receive a response within 60 calendar days.⁷ Vet every responsible person’s eligibility before filing. Discovering a prohibition after submission wastes months.

If the ATF spots a lesser problem — an unclassifiable fingerprint, a missing signature, a mismatched serial number — the application stalls until the deficiency is corrected. You’ll get written notice through a deficiency letter.

When Responsible Persons Change

Trusts and entities evolve. A co-trustee resigns, a new officer joins the LLC, a board member steps down. How the ATF treats this depends on timing.

If the change happens after submission but before approval, contact the NFA Branch for direction. Don’t just file an amended form and hope. This one requires talking to the agency.

Once an application is approved and the tax stamp issued, the rules relax. No new documentation goes to the ATF when a responsible person is added to the entity. The new person will complete Form 5320.23 the next time the entity submits an NFA application, not retroactively for items already registered. That matters for trust design: adding co-trustees after approval doesn’t trigger immediate paperwork, but those new trustees will face the full background-check process on the entity’s next acquisition.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

NFA violations are federal felonies. The NFA’s penalty provision authorizes fines up to $10,000 and imprisonment up to ten years.⁸ Because these are felonies, the general federal sentencing statute raises the maximum fine to $250,000.⁹ Possessing an unregistered NFA firearm, transferring one without going through the proper application process, and making false statements on ATF forms all fall within this range. A federal felony conviction also permanently strips the right to possess any firearm.

1
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF Form 5320.23 – National Firearms Act (NFA) Responsible Person Questionnaire
2
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Background Checks for Responsible Persons (Final Rule 41F)
3
eCFR. 27 CFR 479.11 – Meaning of Terms
4
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. NFA Form 1 Submission External Guidance with Q&A
5
ATF eRegulations. 27 CFR 479.84
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
7
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Requesting Reason for and/or Challenging a NICS-Related Denial
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5871 – Penalties
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine