The federal tax stamp for a suppressor costs $0. Congress zeroed out the longstanding $200 fee in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, and the change took effect on January 1, 2026. You still have to register the suppressor with the ATF, pass a background check, and wait for approval before you can take it home, but the tax itself is gone.
What Changed on January 1, 2026
The National Firearms Act of 1934 imposed a $200 tax on every transfer or manufacture of an NFA firearm, and that number sat untouched for more than 90 years.1Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Firearms Act Section 70436 of the 2025 law amended 26 U.S.C. 5811(a) and 5821(a) to set both the transfer tax and the making tax at $0 for every NFA firearm except machine guns and destructive devices.2Federal Register. Changes to National Firearms Act Tax Remittance Provisions
The revised statute reads plainly: the transfer tax is “$200 for each firearm transferred, in the case of a machinegun or a destructive device” and “$0 for any firearm transferred which is not described in paragraph (1).”3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5811 – Transfer Tax Suppressors are neither machine guns nor destructive devices, so the tax on buying one or building one is now zero. The same $0 rate applies to short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and “any other weapons.” If you had an application pending with a $200 payment when the change took effect, the ATF has set up a process to credit that amount back.
A $0 Stamp Doesn’t Mean No Paperwork
The tax dropped. The registration process did not. Federal law still forbids transferring a suppressor unless the buyer has filed an application, cleared a background check, been approved by the ATF, and received the stamped registration document.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5812 – Transfers Until that approval comes back, the suppressor stays locked at the dealer’s shop. Possessing an unregistered suppressor is a federal felony, and the tax status has no bearing on that.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5861 – Prohibited Acts
The ATF keeps a national registry of every NFA firearm, and the registration and background check requirements exist independently of the fee. Payment for the $0 tax still processes through Pay.gov as part of the application; no money changes hands, but the transaction step remains.6Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Video Tutorial – eForm 4
What You’ll Actually Pay Out the Door
The stamp is free, but the suppressor is not, and there are a few other line items that come with the purchase. Retail prices vary by caliber and design. Rimfire suppressors for .22 LR start around $300. Multi-caliber rifle suppressors typically run $700 to $1,200. Dedicated large-bore models can reach $1,400 or more, and most buyers land in the $500 to $900 range.
Beyond the suppressor itself, expect the following:
- The dealer handling your transfer will charge an NFA transfer fee, commonly $75 to $150.
- Fingerprinting runs $15 to $50 if you use a service that generates a digital EFT file for electronic submission. Some law enforcement offices offer it for free.
- If you register through an NFA trust, setting up the trust document typically costs $50 to $130 through an online service, or more if you use an attorney.
Adding it up, the out-the-door cost for a mid-range suppressor in 2026 lands somewhere around $600 to $1,200 once dealer fees and incidentals are folded in. Removing the $200 tax cut a meaningful chunk off that total.
How You File and How Long It Takes
Buying from a dealer runs on ATF Form 4, the Application for Tax Paid Transfer. Building your own suppressor uses ATF Form 1, the Application to Make and Register a Firearm. Both forms ask for the manufacturer, model, serial number, caliber, and overall length of the suppressor, along with your identifying details and the address where the item will be stored.
Individual applicants must submit fingerprints and a photograph as part of the identification requirements.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5812 – Transfers In practice, that means two FD-258 fingerprint cards and two passport-style photos (2×2 inches, frontal view, taken within the past year), or the digital equivalent if you file electronically.7Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Firearms Act (NFA) Responsible Person Questionnaire You also have to send a copy of the completed form to the chief law enforcement officer in your area. You don’t need CLEO approval; notification is enough.
The ATF’s eForms portal is the standard way to submit. You create an account, complete the form online, upload documents and a digital photo, and submit fingerprints either digitally or by mailing physical cards.8Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. eForms Applications Paper applications are still accepted, but electronic filing is dramatically faster and catches errors before submission.
Current ATF processing times for electronic Form 4 applications run about 10 days for individual filings and roughly 26 days for trust filings.9Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Current Processing Times Those are medians. Some individual approvals come back in under a week; others stretch past a month. Paper submissions often take several months. The suppressor sits at the dealer’s shop the entire time.
Individual, Trust, or Corporation
You’ll have to pick a registration form before you file, and the choice affects both the paperwork and how the suppressor can be used later.
Filing as an individual is the simplest route. You are the only person legally allowed to possess or use the suppressor. There’s no setup cost and nothing to file beyond the application itself. The tradeoff is that nobody else can have the item in their possession, even a spouse, unless you’re physically present.
An NFA trust owns the suppressor as a legal entity. Multiple trustees can be authorized to possess and transport it, which solves the shared-access problem, and the trust keeps owning its assets without interruption if a trustee dies. The cost is paperwork: every trustee counts as a “responsible person” and must individually submit fingerprints, a photo, a CLEO notification, and ATF Form 5320.23.7Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Firearms Act (NFA) Responsible Person Questionnaire Four trustees means four full sets of that material.
A corporation or LLC works much like a trust for access purposes, but requires maintaining a business entity, and each person with authority over the company’s firearms goes through the same responsible-person vetting. For most buyers, the real choice is between individual and trust: if anyone else will ever handle the suppressor without you present, a trust is the practical answer.
States That Ban Suppressors Anyway
Federal approval doesn’t override state law. Eight states and the District of Columbia prohibit civilian suppressor ownership entirely: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. A $0 federal tax stamp will not make possession legal in any of them. The other 42 states permit civilian ownership, though some attach conditions like hunting restrictions or additional registration. Check your state’s rules before you buy.
Penalties for Skipping Registration
Possessing a suppressor that isn’t registered to you in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record is a federal felony.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5861 – Prohibited Acts The maximum penalty is a fine of up to $10,000, up to ten years in prison, or both.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5871 – Penalties The same range applies to transferring a suppressor outside the application process, making one without approval, or tampering with a serial number. With the tax at $0, there’s no money left to save by cutting corners. The only thing between you and legal ownership is paperwork and a wait.