They've taken the system down until further notice. They are directing people to submit via paper. I bet this could be a while.
Suppressors Eforms system taken down
- Thread starter geargrinder
- Start date
Son of a... I was supposed to have my first suppressor form submitted through e file tomorrow. My luck has been shit lately so I'm not surprised. I hope things change but I don't see it happening soon either. Maybe someone will surprise us with some new info but damn sure not holding my breath
I'm amazed it lasted as long as it did. What a total shit program that was, constant problems. Hopefully they will straighten it out and snap too a bit more on return times. Clearly all those transfer fees were not being funneled into making a more efficient NFA processing system.
Id bet the same people that did the obamy care sites worked on the Eform site, more taxpayer $$$ down the drain.
I wonder how this will effect all the in-process stamps?
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No way to know for sure, but they say that submitted forms will be processed as normal.
So as I'm reading this E-forms that were submitted and pending already will be processed and not have to be refiled? Also if I recall correctly on a form 1 they notify you by email with a picture of you stamped form?
Going to be super bummed if this isn't how it works tomorrow would be 3 months for my form 1 I submitted and I've got 2 cans that were submitted within the last two weeks.
Going to be super bummed if this isn't how it works tomorrow would be 3 months for my form 1 I submitted and I've got 2 cans that were submitted within the last two weeks.
Damn, I've had to wait until I return from deployment to file for 2 cans. Now I'm not sure if I should wait until they bring the site back or to just file with paper when I get back this month...
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Yeah it is. If anyone has new info anytime soon please come back and post here. I will do the same. Sure hate to go ahead and file by mail if they have the new system up within a month. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get a new system in place.
They've changed the page again. Now it says it is down for maintenance. I still directs to submit via paper though.
eForms Outage
Due to maintenance, the eForms system is unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience.
In the interim, all imports forms (Forms 6 Part I and 6A), NFA forms (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10), and AFMER reports (Form 5300.11) must be submitted via paper, including any eForms in draft status.
· Tax refund for draft eForms
o Direct a request for refund to [email protected]
o Include the email that was generated for the payment
· Copy of submitted or finalized eForm
o Direct a request to [email protected]
o Provide specific information regarding what is being requested
· Status queries
o Contact the NFA Branch at (304) 616-4550
o Contact the Firearms and Explosives Imports Branch at (304) 616-4550
· Other eForms questions
o Direct the question to [email protected]
eForms Outage
Due to maintenance, the eForms system is unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience.
In the interim, all imports forms (Forms 6 Part I and 6A), NFA forms (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10), and AFMER reports (Form 5300.11) must be submitted via paper, including any eForms in draft status.
· Tax refund for draft eForms
o Direct a request for refund to [email protected]
o Include the email that was generated for the payment
· Copy of submitted or finalized eForm
o Direct a request to [email protected]
o Provide specific information regarding what is being requested
· Status queries
o Contact the NFA Branch at (304) 616-4550
o Contact the Firearms and Explosives Imports Branch at (304) 616-4550
· Other eForms questions
o Direct the question to [email protected]
I finally got on last week and had a form 2 approved in 3 days, but it took 8 tries.
Maybe I'm just too new with working with the ATF but it makes sense to me that if they originally said they canned the efile setup for other alternatives and changed the statement after the fact to say they're just doing MX, that it is still in fact gone. And from my experience with the government's contract procurement process, it could take forever to see it working again... I really hope not though.
Quoted from their original issued statement........
" Any eForm submitted will continue to be processed. The finalized forms will be sent to the user via email."
I'm unable to find this worded in the statements posted here on the hide. I copied it from subguns. There's room
For speculation on those forms already submitted, but that would be one heck of a shitstormcoming if they can't
Cough up the forms from Mid Nov-March. That's a lot of money to return, as well as fall back on the dealers who sold
Or transferred all those items. I cannot wrap my mind around such an event.
Portion of letter dispersed..
The eForms software is not performing to our expectations. As a result, we are taking the eForms system down until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work with our industry partners to deliver a quality product. Any eForm submitted will continue to be processed. The finalized forms will be sent to the user via email.
Until the eForms system is returned to service for the industry, all imports forms (Forms 6 Part I and 6A), NFA forms (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10), and AFMER reports (Form 5300.11) must be submitted via paper, including any eForms in draft status.
· Tax refund for draft eForms
Addresses/ph#\email........blah, blah
So yeah, what is submitted is to be processed. What was in the middle of being submitted (drafts) when the light turned red will be refunded. It doesn't say submitted AND drafted form refunds, it ONLY pointed out the drafts, and that's because they were not completed=the system was choking hard at those last dying moments (months).
The eForms software is not performing to our expectations. As a result, we are taking the eForms system down until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work with our industry partners to deliver a quality product. Any eForm submitted will continue to be processed. The finalized forms will be sent to the user via email.
Until the eForms system is returned to service for the industry, all imports forms (Forms 6 Part I and 6A), NFA forms (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10), and AFMER reports (Form 5300.11) must be submitted via paper, including any eForms in draft status.
· Tax refund for draft eForms
Addresses/ph#\email........blah, blah
So yeah, what is submitted is to be processed. What was in the middle of being submitted (drafts) when the light turned red will be refunded. It doesn't say submitted AND drafted form refunds, it ONLY pointed out the drafts, and that's because they were not completed=the system was choking hard at those last dying moments (months).
DAYMIT... Keep the info coming. Hate to think I was a week or two too late. Also hate to think about sending it old school and waiting 9 months to a year. Last I heard all we were waiting on in Georgia was for the governor to sign off on suppressors being legal for hunting. Looks like I'll most likely be missing the 2014 season unless they claim to have a new system in place in the near future.
Got to visit my girl yesterday while signing some papers. Screwed her twice during our visitation...
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Got to visit my girl yesterday while signing some papers. Screwed her twice during our visitation...
Great! Just getting ready to submit for 2 cans and this happens. Think I'll wait awhile before submitting paper forms to see if the site comes back online.
Damnit!
I'm 6 months in for a paper Form 4
3 months in for a Form 1 SBR
2 months in for a Form 4 eFile
I'm 6 months in for a paper Form 4
3 months in for a Form 1 SBR
2 months in for a Form 4 eFile
Im pretty sure that anything that was submitted is fine. Just no new submissions via eform.
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Dec 3 efiled form 4, so past 125 days on mine. Anyway, yeah, the chatter is the submitted are to be processed
I hope I was lucky in that my FFL submitted via efile and followed with paper a week before the shutdown. I have two other suppressors that were approved via paper opinion March after 9+ months. This is a bad situation and it is politically tough for congressmen to address it.
Just got my payment for a TBAC 30p-1 to RangeWalker71 today.
Guess the 3 to 4 week estimation to dealer and 4 to 5 month e-form wait on a form 4 is out the door.
Guess the 3 to 4 week estimation to dealer and 4 to 5 month e-form wait on a form 4 is out the door.
neat. my f3 cleared so now i get to do paper. the tirant that just cleared took 11 months so now another nice long wait.
I am pretty sure I read that forms has been discontinued until further notice.
Any updates on this?
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None, it is completely out of service until further notice. All new submissions need to be done via the traditional paper method until the ATF gets this sorted out, i.e. A LONG TIME.
I hope their "two weeks" isn't like AAC's "two weeks"...
Wonder if they ever plan on fixing their check cashing system, my last check was cashed 3 times (2 ach's and 1 check) over a couple weeks and took me months to have my old bank resolve the issue.
Damnit, I'm so pissed off about this shit. The fact that an agency the size of the ATF can't manage to create a simple data entry program for this process is completely mind-boggling. As an LEO myself, I'm completely dumbfounded by the fact that wait times have been as long as they have been already. I can conduct a clearance and 50 state background check on someone in less than 2 minutes from my vehicle's laptop (using a SLOW data radio connection — since my agency doesn't provide air cards), and I'm pretty sure the ATF examiner isn't doing anything much more involved than that during the processing of a Form 4.
Plus, the fact that their servers have been "overwhelmed" makes me think that they're running this system off of a laptop from 1994. I'll admit that I'm not a computer nerd, but simple math on this subject would suggest that we aren't really sending a ton of data to them… the last I heard the ATF had a 60,000 application backlog, of which I'm guessing the majority were NOT e-forms. But, even if they were all submitted electronically, at the maximum allowable file size of 3Mb, that would only account for 180GB worth of storage. In other words, I could download that much data to my laptop and still have enough room to do everything I'm currently doing with the computer. And, I can download multi-gigabite files fairly quickly from home, using a basic cable internet connection.
So, again, why can't the ATF manage to make this system work? It only really requires technology that was available 20 years ago.
For my part of it, I bought a suppressor from Mile High on 4/1/14, and even set up a trust so that I could have my Form 4 e-filed. Jamie told me that the site was having problems the day I was there, and said that she'd get the form sent in that night. I talked to Jamie today, after seeing this thread, and discovered that my form never made it through before the site went down, evidently for the foreseeable future. She's going to keep trying for the next few days, but I'm not predicting that things will improve (given that the government is involved in this). I'd hate to have to send this in by snail mail, since it sounds like doing so would cause my wait time to double or triple.
It's bad enough that we have to jump through so many bureaucratic hoops for a suppressor, but it's even more agitating that the ATF does such a piss-poor job of handling this stuff that you need to plan to buy a suppressor over a year in advance of needing it for a rifle.
It seems like perhaps they need to hire a few more employees. But, where would they get the money? Hmmm… 60,000 applications and $200 per stamp adds up to… lets see here… $12,000,000. That ought to help!
Okay, done ranting. Not sure if I feel better or not, but at least I have my Snipershide help group here to listen to me.
Plus, the fact that their servers have been "overwhelmed" makes me think that they're running this system off of a laptop from 1994. I'll admit that I'm not a computer nerd, but simple math on this subject would suggest that we aren't really sending a ton of data to them… the last I heard the ATF had a 60,000 application backlog, of which I'm guessing the majority were NOT e-forms. But, even if they were all submitted electronically, at the maximum allowable file size of 3Mb, that would only account for 180GB worth of storage. In other words, I could download that much data to my laptop and still have enough room to do everything I'm currently doing with the computer. And, I can download multi-gigabite files fairly quickly from home, using a basic cable internet connection.
So, again, why can't the ATF manage to make this system work? It only really requires technology that was available 20 years ago.
For my part of it, I bought a suppressor from Mile High on 4/1/14, and even set up a trust so that I could have my Form 4 e-filed. Jamie told me that the site was having problems the day I was there, and said that she'd get the form sent in that night. I talked to Jamie today, after seeing this thread, and discovered that my form never made it through before the site went down, evidently for the foreseeable future. She's going to keep trying for the next few days, but I'm not predicting that things will improve (given that the government is involved in this). I'd hate to have to send this in by snail mail, since it sounds like doing so would cause my wait time to double or triple.
It's bad enough that we have to jump through so many bureaucratic hoops for a suppressor, but it's even more agitating that the ATF does such a piss-poor job of handling this stuff that you need to plan to buy a suppressor over a year in advance of needing it for a rifle.
It seems like perhaps they need to hire a few more employees. But, where would they get the money? Hmmm… 60,000 applications and $200 per stamp adds up to… lets see here… $12,000,000. That ought to help!
Okay, done ranting. Not sure if I feel better or not, but at least I have my Snipershide help group here to listen to me.
Too bad you resolved the charges with your bank. Maybe you could have resolved the charges with the two other Form 4's that they must have lost if they could not find them... get it!
First of all let me say I have not called the ATF in many years to "check status" on NFA items that I have in the works. I simply grew out of it and keep a general understanding of current wait times as I make purchases/ transfers. However they received 2 calls from me today regarding (3) Form 1 efiles, submitted on 12-3-2013.
My Reasons for calling today:
1. Little to no clear information on where processed but not approved efiles stand since the total shut down ~10 days ago.
2. As of 10 days ago the loop was running ~120 days and I am past that/ hanging on the cusp about the time they hit the EMO button and calling is the only way to follow up.
3. Wanted to know from them if it was worth hanging on in the efile black hole or to resubmit through paper channels.
First person I spoke to (female and didn't take down her name) attempted to "find" me by 1 of the 3 serial numbers I have up. Zip-she proceeded to look for all 3 serials and found, Zip. I asked if she could look under the ID, APP or Permit numbers I received at the time of submission. She explained No- we can not locate under those numbers because the whole system is down, has been down for 10 days. Ok.. I asked if people in the "loop" like me for the past few months are still going through the process during the public closure in the background, she said what process, I just told you the system was down, nothing is being processed "efile wise". That was a 3 minute phone call.
Waited 10 minutes and called back to see if the feedback would remain on track with another agent ( I know you're laughing already and rightfully so)
Agent #2- ( Damon or Damian/ IDFK) Nice enough kid, Gave him a quick lead into my curiosity of how the first agent could not find any of my articles by serial number and stated that none of the other doc #'s could be used to locate my Items.. basically he cleared his throat and asked me for the APP# (which I offered Agent 1) and he located my items instantly after verification of name and such. He asked me what I wanted to know now. I said I just want to know if these items are moving, stuck, unknown? He said sir, "all we are allowed to tell people right now is that the turn around time is 6 months".
One other anecdotal factoid: I ran through NFA-TRACKER earlier today looking for any signs that even 1 efile NFA item has cleared ( and I mean a stamp issued) since the shut down ~10 days ago... you guessed it, not a single one.
So, draw your own conclusions from my findings if you will. To me it appears 1, the system is locked down except from maybe a master data review perspective in which facilitated Damon to find me and otherwise there is no movement on Efiles. 2, They have added ~2 months of time to the efile wait time ( which as of 10 days ago was ~120 days) in anticipation that possibly in the next month or so the whole system will be back up and or it will at least be up on there side and they can get to processing efile app's that got in before the closure. 3, I'm going to hold out another month or so and see what shakes out. If I was looking to submit today I would definitely go the paper route.
Have fun, Enjoy the Second!
My Reasons for calling today:
1. Little to no clear information on where processed but not approved efiles stand since the total shut down ~10 days ago.
2. As of 10 days ago the loop was running ~120 days and I am past that/ hanging on the cusp about the time they hit the EMO button and calling is the only way to follow up.
3. Wanted to know from them if it was worth hanging on in the efile black hole or to resubmit through paper channels.
First person I spoke to (female and didn't take down her name) attempted to "find" me by 1 of the 3 serial numbers I have up. Zip-she proceeded to look for all 3 serials and found, Zip. I asked if she could look under the ID, APP or Permit numbers I received at the time of submission. She explained No- we can not locate under those numbers because the whole system is down, has been down for 10 days. Ok.. I asked if people in the "loop" like me for the past few months are still going through the process during the public closure in the background, she said what process, I just told you the system was down, nothing is being processed "efile wise". That was a 3 minute phone call.
Waited 10 minutes and called back to see if the feedback would remain on track with another agent ( I know you're laughing already and rightfully so)
Agent #2- ( Damon or Damian/ IDFK) Nice enough kid, Gave him a quick lead into my curiosity of how the first agent could not find any of my articles by serial number and stated that none of the other doc #'s could be used to locate my Items.. basically he cleared his throat and asked me for the APP# (which I offered Agent 1) and he located my items instantly after verification of name and such. He asked me what I wanted to know now. I said I just want to know if these items are moving, stuck, unknown? He said sir, "all we are allowed to tell people right now is that the turn around time is 6 months".
One other anecdotal factoid: I ran through NFA-TRACKER earlier today looking for any signs that even 1 efile NFA item has cleared ( and I mean a stamp issued) since the shut down ~10 days ago... you guessed it, not a single one.
So, draw your own conclusions from my findings if you will. To me it appears 1, the system is locked down except from maybe a master data review perspective in which facilitated Damon to find me and otherwise there is no movement on Efiles. 2, They have added ~2 months of time to the efile wait time ( which as of 10 days ago was ~120 days) in anticipation that possibly in the next month or so the whole system will be back up and or it will at least be up on there side and they can get to processing efile app's that got in before the closure. 3, I'm going to hold out another month or so and see what shakes out. If I was looking to submit today I would definitely go the paper route.
Have fun, Enjoy the Second!
That's what I was afraid of. I'm at 5 months in Efile and figured they would bump us back to be in conformity with the paper filing timeline of 10 to 12 months.
Thanks for the footwork.
I'm also at dec-3, and all forums concerning this matter are one in the same. They're quoting 6 months to all callers across the board. General consensus agrees that most examiners were working with early to mid November eforms when they turned it off.
6 months from nov is may, and we're half way through April now, so....could they be projecting to have their processing end open
Withing a few weeks??
Exactly my dilemma. Think ill paper file one and wait on efile for the second one and see how the cards fall..... That's of course if and when that efile system is out back up.
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E-filed a can in Feb..called yesterday just for shits/grins and was told that it went pending 4 Feb and that it would take 6 months...
That said, I paper filed a can last summer...went pending mid-July and was just approved 4/9.
My tin hat doesn't fit well but wasn't the Atf looking to add fingerprints and CLEO sign with trust apps. I thought that a decision would be out by June? Maybe they are killing the program that is trust based before they release a decision.
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FML just spent the last 3.5 months offshore anticipating coming home this week having my trust finalized and efiling. Of coarse this garbage was bound to happen!
I got one I need to start in the next few days. Now I don't know which route to take.I hate that I waited for a Tirant instead of the Backslide that was instock when the efile was up and going.
I know the feeling. I got on the build list for Tromix for an S17. After sending it in Maryland decided that SBR's and SBS's are handguns that need to be approved by the handgun board (read: that ain't happening). I figured its no big deal. I'll eform a form 1, cut the barrel myself and send it back to them to make it work right. I got my shotgun back and found they took the system down. Now I'm not sure if I should wait or mail off a form 1. Even so, the value will not be nearly as high with my name on the side instead of Tromix. Not that I want it for value but still....
Maybe Anonymous can hack the ATF website, fix their problems and actually make it run smooth and efficient.....
I have 2 cans waiting at Silencershop for form 3's...... I know as soon as I tell them to do the transfer via paper the website will be back up.
I have 2 cans waiting at Silencershop for form 3's...... I know as soon as I tell them to do the transfer via paper the website will be back up.
