How to Get an NFA Tax Stamp: Forms, Costs, and Processing

To get an NFA tax stamp, you file a registration application with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for the specific item you want to make or receive, pass an FBI background check, and pay the federal tax if one applies. The tax is $200 per item for machine guns and destructive devices and $0 for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and any-other-weapons.¹ The approved stamp is your proof that the item is lawfully registered to you in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Possessing an unregistered NFA item is a federal felony punishable by up to ten years in prison.²

Items That Require a Stamp

Each of these categories needs its own separate registration and stamp.³

Short-barreled rifles: rifles with a barrel under 16 inches, or weapons made from a rifle with an overall length under 26 inches or a barrel under 16 inches.
Short-barreled shotguns: shotguns with a barrel under 18 inches, or weapons made from a shotgun with an overall length under 26 inches or a barrel under 18 inches.
Suppressors: any device designed to reduce the sound of a gunshot.
Machine guns: weapons that fire more than one round per trigger pull, plus the frame or receiver of such a weapon and conversion parts.
Destructive devices: grenades, bombs, mines, rockets with more than four ounces of propellant, and firearms with a bore over half an inch (excluding shotguns the ATF has found to be sporting).
Any other weapons (AOWs): concealable devices that fire a shot but don’t fit the other definitions, like pen guns and smooth-bore pistols made for shotgun shells.

One boundary before you go further. New civilian machine guns are effectively off the table: federal law bars any private person from transferring or possessing a machine gun unless it was lawfully possessed before May 19, 1986.⁴ You can still get a stamp to transfer one from the pre-1986 registered inventory, but you cannot make a new one as a civilian.

Check Your State’s Law First

Federal registration doesn’t override state law. Several states ban certain NFA items outright, and others layer on permits, waiting periods, or local restrictions. Suppressors remain illegal for civilian ownership in roughly eight states and the District of Columbia, and short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and machine guns face their own patchwork of state rules.

If your state bans the item, the ATF will deny your application regardless of your federal background check. Confirm with your local ATF field office or state police that the specific item is legal where you live before spending money on paperwork, engraving, or the item itself.

What You Actually Pay

The federal tax is now two-tier and applies the same way to making an item under Form 1 and transferring an existing one under Form 4:

Machine guns and destructive devices: $200 per item.¹
Suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs: $0.¹

A $0 tax doesn’t skip the application. You still need ATF approval, a background check, and a completed registration before you can take possession or begin building. The stamp stays tied to a specific item and a specific owner, so when the item later changes hands, the new recipient files a fresh transfer application and pays the tax again if it’s a machine gun or destructive device.⁵

Plan on some costs the tax doesn’t cover. Fingerprinting for the two FD-258 cards typically runs about $20 per set. If you’re making an item under Form 1, professional engraving to meet ATF marking rules generally costs $20 to $125. If you set up an NFA trust, attorney fees range from roughly $60 to $600.

Form 1 or Form 4

Pick the wrong form and your paperwork comes back.

Use Form 1 (Application to Make and Register a Firearm) to build or convert an NFA item yourself. Shortening a rifle barrel below 16 inches, assembling a suppressor from a kit, or converting a pistol into an SBR all require Form 1 approval before you touch the firearm.⁶ Cutting the barrel before the stamp arrives puts you in possession of an unregistered NFA item.

Use Form 4 (Application to Transfer and Register a Firearm) when you’re buying or otherwise receiving an existing NFA item from a dealer or another person. The seller starts the form, and you cannot take possession until the ATF approves the transfer.⁷

Individual or Trust

You can register as an individual or through a legal entity, usually a gun trust. A trust lets multiple people, called responsible persons, legally possess the registered items. That solves the awkward problem of only one named person being allowed to handle a suppressor or SBR in a household.

The cost is more paperwork. Every responsible person must complete ATF Form 5320.23, submit two fingerprint cards, provide a photograph, and pass a background check.⁸ A responsible person is anyone with authority to direct the trust or possess firearms on its behalf, typically the grantor, trustees, and any beneficiary with the power to handle the items.⁹ Each responsible person also sends a copy of their 5320.23 to the chief law enforcement officer where they live, and the trust application must include a complete, unredacted copy of the trust document with every schedule and attachment.⁶

Adding a new responsible person to an existing trust doesn’t trigger new checks for items already registered, but on the next Form 1 or Form 4 filed through the trust, every current responsible person submits fresh paperwork.

What Goes in the Application

Missing or sloppy documentation is one of the most common reasons applications are returned without action.

Photograph and Fingerprints

Individual applicants include a 2-by-2-inch color photograph, front view, taken within six months of the application date.⁶ Two FD-258 fingerprint cards must accompany the application, clear and legible. Local police and professional fingerprinting services using livescan digital equipment both produce acceptable cards.

Firearm Details

Describe the firearm precisely: manufacturer, serial number, caliber or gauge, barrel length, and overall length. On a Form 1, list the specifications the item will have after you finish making it. Every detail must match the physical item, because discrepancies between the paperwork and the firearm create legal problems later.

Chief Law Enforcement Officer Notification

Before you submit to the ATF, each individual applicant and each responsible person sends a completed copy of their form to their chief law enforcement officer, meaning the local police chief, county sheriff, head of the state police, or local district attorney.¹⁰ This is notification only. The CLEO does not approve or sign anything, and silence from their office does not hold up your application.

Engraving Rules if You’re Making the Item

If you’re building under a Form 1, you must permanently mark the frame or receiver with your name (or the trust’s name), the city and state where the item was made, a unique serial number, and the caliber or gauge. All markings must be engraved, cast, or stamped to a minimum depth of .003 inches, measured from the flat surface of the metal, and the serial number must be at least 1/16 inch in print size.¹¹ Most builders use a professional laser engraver rather than trying to meet these standards at home. Improper marking is itself a federal violation.

Submitting the Paperwork

You can file through the ATF’s eForms online portal or by mailing a paper application. eForms is faster in almost every respect: it accepts card payments, digital photograph uploads, and moves through processing more quickly than paper.

Paper Form 1 and Form 4 applications go to the NFA Division at P.O. Box 5015, Portland, OR 97208-5015, with a check or money order for any applicable tax.¹² Mail sent to the old Martinsburg, West Virginia address will delay you.

Processing Times and the Background Check

Once the ATF has your application, it runs your information through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System to confirm you’re not federally prohibited from possessing firearms. NICS looks for felony convictions, domestic violence misdemeanors, active restraining orders, and similar disqualifiers.

Processing times move around, but the ATF publishes current averages monthly. As of March 2026:¹³

Form 4, individual, eForms: 6 days average
Form 4, trust, eForms: 25 days average
Form 4, individual, paper: 30 days average
Form 1, eForms: 49 days average
Form 1, paper: 64 days average

These are averages for finalized applications. Individual cases run longer if the background check hits a problem or the ATF needs more research. Trust applications take longer than individual ones because each responsible person runs through NICS separately. When approval comes through, eForms filers get a digital stamp by email and paper filers receive a physical stamp on their original paperwork. Keep a copy accessible whenever you transport the item.

If the Application Is Denied or Stuck

A denial isn’t always the end. If the FBI background check triggered it, the ATF’s NFA Division sends a letter with a NICS Transaction Number and instructions for filing a Firearm Related Challenge through the FBI’s appeals process.¹⁴ The challenge lets you dispute the underlying record, whether it’s a mistaken identity, an expunged conviction, or an error in the criminal history database. You may need to submit another set of fingerprints as part of it.

If your application is delayed rather than denied, you can enroll in the FBI’s Voluntary Appeal File once the ATF notifies you of the delay.¹⁴ The VAF stores your identifying information so future background checks resolve more quickly. Neither the challenge nor the VAF appeals the NFA application itself; they address the background check only.

After You Have the Stamp

Traveling Across State Lines

The stamp doesn’t automatically let you carry the item anywhere. For machine guns, SBRs, SBSs, and destructive devices, you need advance written permission from the ATF on Form 5320.20 before transporting the item into another state, and you must keep the approved form with you the entire trip.¹⁵ Approval covers only the dates you list.

Suppressors and AOWs are exempt from that notification. You can travel across state lines with a registered suppressor without filing 5320.20, but you still have to comply with the laws of every state you enter. A suppressor that’s legal at home may be banned in the state you’re driving through.

Inheritance

When the registered owner dies, the executor takes custody and arranges the legal transfer. The ATF expects the process finished before probate closes.¹⁶ Transfers to an heir or beneficiary go on ATF Form 5 and are tax-exempt, but the heir still has to pass a background check and be legally allowed to possess the item in their state.¹⁷ If the heir lives in a state that bans the item, the transfer will be denied.

Two traps for executors. Handing NFA items to a firearms dealer for safekeeping or consignment during probate counts as a transfer that requires its own registration, so the executor must keep physical custody while a dealer helps find a buyer.¹⁶ And unregistered NFA items in the estate are contraband that cannot be retroactively registered; the executor should contact the local ATF field office to surrender them.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5811 – Transfer Tax
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5871 – Penalties
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5845 – Definitions
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922(o) – Unlawful Acts
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5812 – Transfers
6
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application to Make and Register NFA Firearm – ATF Form 5320.1
7
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm – ATF Form 5320.4
8
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Background Checks for Responsible Persons – Final Rule 41F
9
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Firearms Act Responsible Person Questionnaire – ATF Form 5320.23
10
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Firearms Questions and Answers
11
eCFR. 27 CFR 479.102 – Identification of Firearms by Makers
12
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. New Mailing Addresses for Many ATF Registration Forms
13
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Current Processing Times
14
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF and FBI Formalize Appeals Process for Certain National Firearms Act Applicants
15
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application to Transport Interstate or to Temporarily Export Certain NFA Firearms – ATF Form 5320.20
16
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Transfers of National Firearms Act Firearms in Decedents’ Estates
17
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application for Tax Exempt Transfer and Registration of Firearm – ATF Form 5