After your tax stamp is approved (2024)

Waiting for your first tax stamp to be approved is an exciting, and sometimes frustrating, time. When your tax stamp is finally approved, you may be wondering: what now?

The Stamp

If you submitted a Form 1 using the paper form, you will receive one copy of your Form 1 in the mail from the ATF with a cancelled stamp attached. Now you can legally build your short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun.

If you submitted a Form 1 online using eForms, you will receive an e-mail with an electronic copy of your Form 1 and an “electronic” stamp. You should print this out and treat it like a paper Form 1. Again, now you can legally build your short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun.

If you submitted a Form 4 through a dealer, the dealer will receive the approved Form 4 with the stamp affixed. Your dealer will then call you to come pick up your NFA item. The trustee who picks up the NFA item will have to fill out a 4473 (the same ATF form used for buying a regular firearm). However, a background check is not necessary. The form has a checkbox for picking up an NFA item. The dealer will give you the approved Form 4 and your NFA item.

No matter what form you submitted or whether it was paper or electronic, keep the approved Form and stamp in a safe place. An inexpensive fireproof document safe is an excellent idea. Make extra copies of the form to take with you to the shooting range, so that if you run into a range owner or law enforcement officer that doesn’t understand NFA firearms, you can show them your approved form.

Stamp in Hand

Once you have the stamp in hand, you can enjoy your NFA items to your heart’s content. Go shoot that SBR or suppressor, and let as many other people as you can share in your joy. Part of the fun of owning NFA items is showing them off to others. Just remember that you can let other people use your NFA items, but you must be present at the time. No loaning them out. If you are away from your NFA item, it should be stored securely so that no one who is not listed as a trustee of your trust can “possess” it outside of your presence. A good secure gun safe is probably not a bad idea. Only trustees of the trust may possess the trust’s NFA items unsupervised.

An Important Note about SBRs and SBSs – Engraving

When you make an SBR or SBS on a Form 1, you must engrave (or stamp) the receiver (or optionally the barrel, but the receiver is a better choice) with the maker’s name and city/state. When the maker is a trust, the name of the trust is the maker’s name, and your current city and state are used. There are standards for how the engraving must be done. The letters must be at least .003” deep and no smaller than 1/16” in height. There are gun shops that specialize in NFA engraving and they are generally pretty reasonable in price. If you are going to have to mail your receiver to one of these shops for engraving, you should do it BEFORE the ATF approves your tax stamp application. That way you are only mailing a regular firearm, which doesn’t require as many legal hurdles as sending an NFA item to an out-of-state FFL.

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