Justification for OMB 1140-0014 (ATF Form 4 (5320.4) Final

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES
Information Collection Request
Supporting Statement
OMB 1140-0014 - ATF Form 4 (5320.4)
Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of Firearm
A.

JUSTIFICATION
1.

The ATF Form 4 (5320.4) is required for a person with a registered National
Firearms Act (NFA)(Title 26, United States Code, Chapter 53) firearm to apply for
and receive approval for the transfer and registration of the firearm. The
implementing regulations are in Title 27, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 479.
Under the provisions of 26 U.S.C. § 5812, an NFA firearm shall not be transferred
until the transferor has applied for and received approval from the Attorney General
of the United States (delegated to ATF) and paid the applicable transfer tax. The
transfer of an NFA firearm is subject to a tax of $200 or $5 (for a firearm classified as
an “any other weapon”) as established by § 5811.
The statutory requirements are implemented in §§ 479.81 through 479.87, Title 27,
Code of Federal Regulations. Section 5812 also requires that the application form
identify the transferee in such manner as the Attorney General may by regulations
prescribe, except that if the transferee is an individual, his fingerprints and
photographs must be included in the application. Similarly, the transferor and firearm
must also be identified in such manner as the Attorney General may by regulations
prescribe. ATF has identified that the collection of Responsible Persons Social
Security Number, Date of Birth, Race, and UPIN (if applicable) would assist in
limiting delays in the processing of NICS background checks. While this information
is not required it would prove beneficial. In addition, the following changes are being
made to the layout and overall design of the form as part of this regularly scheduled
renewal.
Form Changes. ATF requests approval to make the following changes to ATF Form
4 (5320.4):
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Item 2a: Remove "Legal Entity" and add "Corporation" and "Legal Entity"
as a separate choice
Item 2b: Add "/Parrish" to County
Item 3b: Remove "optional"
Item 5: Copy language directly from the Item 5 of the ATF Form 1. Add a
separate entry box for both FFL and FEL license/permit numbers.

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ATF Form 4 (5320.4)
1140-0014
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Item 12: Reduce spacing to save room for additional items below
New Item16: Add SSN, DOB, and Race
New Item 17a: Add State of Birth and Country of Birth
Add UPIN to be Item 19
Definitions/Instructions: 1e: Responsible Person: Break definition into
section A. and B.
Definitions/Instructions 2d: Change numbering of "Note". 2d.4 add "See
2.d.5. for RP Requirements". Change 2.d.6 to reference "22".
Add new Definitions/Instructions Item 2h:Social Security Number
Change all references from "NFA Branch" to "NFA Division"
Item 2a: Update "Legal Entity" to "Other Legal Entity"
Items 5, 22 and Definitions/Instructions 2i, 2j, 2m: Change all references
from "Applicant" to "Transferee"
Item 4g: Obscure "Serial Number" on CLEO Copy
Item 16: Obscure "Social Security Number" on CLEO Copy
Items 16 and 20: Add "(See Instruction 2h)"
Relocate "Transferee Certification" Section from the top of page 3 to the
bottom of page 2
Increase Font Size of "Important Information for Currently Registered
Firearms" Section
Definitions/Instructions: 2i: Signatures: Add the statement: "Exceptions: In
the case of eforms or where a variance has been granted a digital signature
may be used."
Definitions/Instructions: 1m: EXCEPTION: Change "jurisdication" to
"jurisdiction"
Definitions/Instructions: 2a: Authority: Change "Please note that the form
now contain" to "Please note that the form now contains"
Definitions/Instructions: 2k: Photocopies, Computer Generated Versions...:
Remove extra end parenthesis
Item 15: Photo block: Remove "Business"
Item 3B: Obscure "E-mail address" on CLEO Copy
Item 3c: Obscure "Transferor's Telephone" on CLEO Copy

2. The information on this form is used by NFA Division personnel to determine the
legality of the application under Federal, State and local law. The form identifies
the transferor, transferee, and firearm. Section 5812 provides that an application
shall not be approved if the receipt or possession would place the person
receiving the firearm in violation of law.

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ATF Form 4 (5320.4)
1140-0014
An individual transferee is asked to respond, under penalties of perjury, to questions to
determine whether he or she is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms. The
requirement for the submission of fingerprints for both individual transferees and
responsible persons allows ATF to determine, based on criminal history checks,
whether individual transferee or responsible person would be prohibited by Federal law
from possessing a firearm.
The law enforcement notification required of the transferee and any responsible person
(via Form 5320.23), allows local law enforcement authorities to provide any
information that would indicate whether the transferee or any responsible person is
prohibited by Federal law from possessing a firearm. The application is submitted in
duplicate. The approval of the application effectuates the registration of the firearm to
the transferee. Both copies of the application are noted to reflect the approval –one copy
is returned to the applicant for transmission to the transferee as proof of registration and
payment of the transfer tax, and the other is retained by ATF as part of the National
Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. The information is used to verify any
subsequent transfer and registration of the firearm. In addition, registration information
is used to determine the non-registration of, a violation as specified in § 5861.
3.

The form was made electronic but had to be withdrawn from service until issues
could be fixed. The form cannot currently be filed electronically. However, ATF
intends to make the form an eForm which may then be filed via ATF’s eForms system
(www.atfonline.gov).

4.

ATF uses a uniform subject classification system to identify duplication and to ensure
that any similar information already available, cannot be used or modified for use for
the purpose of this information collection.

5.

The information on this form is unique to the person supplying it and would have little
or no impact on small business or other small entities.

6.

The consequence of not conducting this information collection could result in firearms
being transferred to a person whose possession would be in violation of the law. The
information is used to ensure the legal transfer and possession of a firearm, and to
effectuate the registration of the firearm to the transferee in the National Firearms
Registration and Transfer record.

7.

There are no special circumstances associated with this collection and the collection is
conducted in a manner consistent with the requirement in 5 CFR 1320.6.

8.

All comments received during the both the 60-day and 30-day Federal Register notice
period received a response/ and or were incorporated within ATF Form 4 (5320.4).

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ATF Form 4 (5320.4)
1140-0014
9.

No payment or gift is associated with this collection

10.

The information from this application is classified as “tax information’ or “tax
return information” and any release is severely restricted by the Tax Reform Act
(26 U.S.C.§ 6103) and may be only disclosed to Federal authorities for purposes
of prosecution for violation of the National Firearms Act. The respondent’s
information is kept in a secured location. Confidentiality is not assured.

11.

Questions of a sensitive nature are included on the form. These relate to the
qualifications of the transferee, such as whether the transferee has been convicted
of any crime, is a fugitive from justice, is a drug user, is an illegal alien, etc. This
information is needed to determine whether the transferee is prohibited by Federal
law from possessing firearms.

12.

There is a total of 123,339 respondents who respond one (1) time to this
information collection. Of these, 4,257 Government/Federal firearm licensee
respondents will take 20 minutes per response (1,419 hours); 93,739 trust and
legal entity responders will take 260 minutes per response (406,202 hours); and
25,343 individual respondents will take 140 minutes per response (59,134 hours).
It takes on average 3.78433 hours to complete the form. Therefore, the total
annual IC burden is 466,755 hours.

13.

The total estimated public cost associated with this IC is: $6,649,205 which is
calculated as follows: $53.91 (average cost per respondent to prepare and mail
packet with responses) * 123,339 (# total respondents).

14.

The estimated annual cost of $5,105,503.10 to the Federal Government is as follows:
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B.

15.

Printing Forms 4: $38,235.09 (123,339 forms * $.31 per form)
Processing fingerprints: $2,713,467.75
($12.75 * 212,821 individuals and responsible persons)
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Conducting and reviewing background checks of individual and responsible
person respondents: $2,353,800.26 ($11.06 (15 minutes at $44.22 per hour) *
212,821)
There are no adjustments associated with this information collection.

16.

The results of this collection will not be published.

17.

ATF does not request approval to not display the expiration date of the OMB approval
for this collection.

18.

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.
No statistical methods are associated with this collection.