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Posted: 6/8/2006 6:53:16 PM EDT
| A submits a Form 4 and pays the $200 tax to transfer an NFA item X to B. ATF/NFA Branch approves the Form 4 tax-paid transfer of NFA item X from A to B, and upon receipt of the approved Form 4, A immediately physically transfers NFA item X to B. At some time T later, B no longer wants NFA item X and A agrees to take it back. Must A now submit a new tax-paid Form 4 to transfer NFA item X back from B to A? Or can B merely physically return NFA item X to A, and then A write a letter to ATF/NFA Branch stating that the transfer for which the original Form 4 application was submitted has been voided? Would ATF consider this second scenario tax evasion for failing to file a second tax-paid Form 4 to transfer NFA item X back from B to A? Would it make any difference in your answer if the time T (between when A received the original approved Form 4 for NFA item X and subsequently physically transferred NFA item X to B, and then later when B no longer wanted NFA item X and wanted to return it to A) was a day? week? several weeks? months? |
(Ow! It hurts my eyes to read that! Then again, what should I expect from hrt4me....) IMHO.... BATF considers the transfer complete the instant the NFA item is delivered to the new owner. At that point, the Form 4 can no longer be voided, and a new transfer (with a new $200 tax) must be applied for. I have heard of many attempts, never successful, except in cases where the transferee and transferor lied to BATF and said it was never delivered in the first place (and please note that lying to a federal official is a felony which will disqualify both transferor and transferee from ever again owning a firearm). Also note that once the Form 4 is approved and a stamp is attached to it with the serial number written across the face, it is considered "cancelled," just like a postage stamp, and while you can void the transfer before delivery has been completed, that first $200 tax will not be refunded. "Buyer's remorse" is expensive for NFA collectors. 
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| I cancelled a transfer after it had been approved. The approval had taken so long (back in the DC days) that each party desired to "undo" the transaction. Got my $200 back too. I started the process about 6 months after it was approved. In our case, the approved form 4 never showed up (again, this was in the DC days). We each decided it was simpler to void the transfer rather than try to deal with another transfer back. |
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CZ-75Jeff, it's good to hear they refunded the $200 -- as they should, if you hadn't received the Form 4 six months after approval! The D.C. crew was famous for "losing" paperwork at any and every stage of the process, but you should not have to pay for something you have not received. The D.C. staffers were also famous for being stubborn beyond reason. The new W.Va. staff is both way more efficient, and more willing to try to help out NFA owners. So hrt4me, hypothetically you might want to call the hypothetical examiner who signed the hypothetical Form 4 and ask if it could be undone. Maybe they have changed the refund/voiding policy and procedure as well. AFAIK, BATF has not changed its policy of having very tight controls on the actual stamps themselves -- they are, in effect, govt. currency and examiners have to account for every one. That's why, fer instance, if you lose your original and request a certified copy, they won't give you a replacement stamp. And it's what was cited in past cases as why they would not refund the $200, if the paperwork was delivered per the rules and the decision to void was made by the purchaser at that point.
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It would all seem dependent on the item being physically transferred. If the paperwork cleared, but the item never changed hands, then I could see the transfer being "cancelled". However, irregardless of the elapsed time, once an item has been exchanged from one party to another, it has been transferred, and thereby requiring an additional Form 4 application to transfer to another party, even if that party was the seller. Or so it would seem. 
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