ATF E-Forms Submission wait time

exodious said:
I scanned my entire trust with attachments (don't forget to include the property assignment for your receiver) into one PDF. And separate PDF for my LTC. When you upload you select what type of document it is. Also don't get confused about the upload for the firearm description, unless you need to upload a separate document about it you can skip that part.
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Exodious, do I understand it correctly? You have assigned (transferred) the receiver that you owned to the trust, and then included this receiver as property owned by the trust when you filed for the stamp. In other words, the firearm, intended to be converted into SBR, must be owned by the trust prior to filing for the stamp. Also, in the description of this firearm, did you put "receiver", or just listed it as firearm by the manufacturer name, model, and serial number (caliber also?).
 
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JackO said:
Exodious, do I understand it correctly? You have assigned (transferred) the receiver that you owned to the trust, and then included this receiver as property owned by the trust when you filed for the stamp. In other words, the firearm, intended to be converted into SBR, must be owned by the trust prior to filing for the stamp. Also, in the description of this firearm, did you put "receiver", or just listed it as firearm by the manufacturer name, model, and serial number (caliber also?).
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Yes the trust must own the firearm before filing. When you say description, do you mean on the Form 1 or on some description field on your assignment sheet?
 
As I posted in this thread
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/235660-Trust-vs-Individual?p=3767633#post3767633
I called ATF and asked this specific question. The answer was, NO, first you file for the stamp, and then, when approved and got the stamp, you transfer the firearm to the trust. I was told to attach a Schedule A to the trust showing no firearms (provided trust is new and does not own anything besides the initial amount of cash). The firearm that one intends to build into NFA (SBR) is not being shown on the Schedule A.
 
In my trust, for my form-1, the assignment sheet (schedule A) I used, specifically asked for make, model & serial number. I listed the stripped lower receiver & serial number I intend to build into an SBR. It's technically not a firearm yet, but is an asset of the trust.
 
Canndo said:
In my trust, for my form-1, the assignment sheet (schedule A) I used, specifically asked for make, model & serial number. I listed the stripped lower receiver & serial number I intend to build into an SBR. It's technically not a firearm yet, but is an asset of the trust.
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It's really confusing. What you are saying, makes perfect sense. Trust should own the lower or firearm prior to converting it into anything else. But when I asked this specific question, ATF person instructed me otherwise. She said, just list the cash assets for a new trust, the NFA item will be added later when approved.
 
When you go through the Form-1 e-form process, it requires all the firearm info for you're intended NFA item, so, it doesn't necessarily need to be on the assignment sheet. They will know the serial # etc., of the firearm that will be NFA. The assignment sheet just needs to have something, anything, on it, for your trust to be legit. A new sheet, with newly acquired assets, such as your NFA item, can be sent in anytime you wish. The new assignment sheet will need 2 witness signatures.

IANAL. This is my understanding of how it works. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will chime in.
 
I finally e-filed two Form-1 applications yesterday. What a pain in the **s!!! No commercial company would've survived with a web site like this. It took me literally hours and many, many multiple attempts to file two applications. I would estimate a total of at least 5-6 hours. Multiple times the site was just hanging for 5-10 minutes just to eventually give a message "connection to server lost", "sorry, we are having troubles with the servers", etc. In the middle of the process I figured out that refreshing the screen after the connection was lost MIGHT bring me back to the same scree and continue the application. Trying to log in after the connection is lost required 10-20 attempts to succeed.

It is my true believe that a 5th grader could've done better job on programming site interface than "politically connected government contractors". I haven't seen a site programmed that badly in whole my life!

As a practical suggestion to people who will be doing e-filing.

1. Check "No FFL" on the first application screen.
2. Put the name of your trust as a filer, not the trustee name.
3. After filling out the info on the firearm, DON'T upload any trust documents. ATF don't explain this, but at the first upload documents screen they expect you to upload files related to BUILDING a new firearm (drawings, pictures, etc.), not your trust documents. There will be another screen later on to upload your legal documents.
4. Upload a copy of trustee's LTC after all your trust's legal documents.
5. Be advised, they don't ask you 4j question (is the firearm being reactivated?). Somewhere on the log in to form 5320-1 they had a message that e-Form can't be used for reactivation.
6. Nowhere in the process they ask you the questions 10 and 11 (Are you a fugitive, indited, felon, etc.).
7. When you are at the end of application and are ready to certify it, they give a link to download a PDF copy of your filled out application. I downloaded mine prior to certifying. No squares in sections 10 and 11 were checked (not "No" nor "yes"), but I guess, it's fine with ATF, as they generated the application.

I hope this will give a little help to those E-filing for the first time.
 
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Another advise. Please read an exert from ATF email, and don't try to use their site during their "reboot" times:

To address ongoing system issues, such as slowness or access limitations, daily restarts of the eForms servers will be conducted at the following times (all times are Eastern) until further notice:

4:00 am – 5:00 am
9:00 am – 10:00 am
NOON – 1:00 pm
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Restarts will take approximately one hour to complete during which time eForms will not be available. This is only a temporary measure until a more permanent solution is implemented.
 
Glad you got them filed, Jacko. I had the same issues. I spent hours, on what should be a 10 min form. I haven't returned to the site since the initial filing for fear of being trapped on my computer again. It's a Goddamn mess.
 
mlaboss said:
Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but based on the NFATracker wait time trend graph it looks like wait times for paper forms are starting to come down (blue points are paper, red points are e-filed).

http://www.nfatracker.com/TrendGraph.aspx
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What the heck is that one record that says it was eForm approved in 4 days? That's got to be an error, or somebody with a lot of pull made it happen.

http://www.nfatracker.com/Default.aspx?transferId=96e5666a-d9b2-4855-a483-7c8e2c3600f7
 
for those of you that have submitted your eform. How long did it take for you to get an email saying what person was handling your application? I filed mine on monday, they took the money out on monday, but still not other update.
 
alright.. i didnt know because when i look at nfatracker.com they have there updated status with which examiner is handling there application. i guess all i can hope is that i did it correctly and that they have everything
 
exodious said:
4x reboots a day to keep that POS site "working"? What the hell server is it running on, a crackerjack box?
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It's more like 12 times a day, it's not responsive most of the time.

I had several forms pending and one of them just mysteriously got deleted, I emailed Gary + the DOJ help desk to ask if I need to resubmit and if my fee is SOL.
 
rkwjunior said:
They must have just finished a reset, the website is flying right now, login took seconds not minutes.
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Thanks. But I just got this: [thinking]


eForms Outage


Due to daily maintenance, the e-Forms system is temporarily unavailable.
We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience.
ASSISTANCE:
Please direct questions to the OST Customer Support Help Desk at 1-877-875-3723 or Helpdesk-OSTCS@atf.gov.
 
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After several failed attempts ("no server response"; "eForms reboot outage", etc.), I was finally able to submit my Form 1.

When I log into my account now, I see two items under "Forms" on the left pane. One shows "Draft" (which I assume is from one of the many failed attempts), another shows "Submitted/In Process". Both have the "+" sign next to them, but I can't expand either of them or delete the "Draft" item. Are any of the "+" items expandable for anyone else or is this one of those website bugs that happen from time to time?
 
Ok, I got some additional details from Gary @ DOJ / Eforms.

Yes you can open the plus signs eventually, you may have to try back the following day.

I submitted a form and after trying to open it to print out the PDF, I also got a copy of appearing in 'drafts' as well as 'submitted'. 2 weeks later when I deleted my draft, it deleted my submitted form, so I'd suggest not doing that.

Gary confirmed that the DOJ/Eforms team DID receive my content even after it appeared deleted, and it would be processed as normal. As long as you got an email of your control number, THAT is the most important part, they use that as reference.

There are lots of bugs in the system...
 
For the eform form 1, are we supposed to check the eform site to see if the stamp came in? Are we notified? Do they email the stamp or mail it?
I know the site was down. I haven't returned since I filed. Is this still the case?
I don't want to go back to that site unless it's absolutely necessary. What a nightmare!
 
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