BurntHome / NFA Guides / Tax stamp cost
What a tax stamp costs
Short answer: $0 for a suppressor, a short-barreled rifle, a short-barreled shotgun or an AOW. $200 for a machine gun or a destructive device. Most of the internet still has the first number wrong.
The tax stamp is a tax, not a fee and not a licence. It is paid once, on one specific item, transferring to one specific person. It is not an annual renewal, it does not cover your next purchase, and having one does not entitle you to anything else.
As of 1 January 2026 the amount of that tax, for most NFA items, is zero.
What each item costs
| Item | Transfer tax (Form 4) | Making tax (Form 1) |
|---|---|---|
| Suppressor / silencer | $0 | $0 |
| Short-barreled rifle (SBR) | $0 | $0 |
| Short-barreled shotgun (SBS) | $0 | $0 |
| Any Other Weapon (AOW) | $0 was $5 | $0 |
| Machine gun | $200 | Not available to civilians |
| Destructive device | $200 | $200 |
The AOW line is the one people miss. An AOW transfer used to be the cheap outlier at $5 while everything else was $200. Now it is $0 like the rest, and the $5 figure you will still find on older pages is dead.
Where the change came from
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed on 4 July 2025 and took effect on 1 January 2026. It reduced the National Firearms Act transfer and making tax to $0 for suppressors, SBRs, SBSs and AOWs.
It did not repeal the NFA, did not remove those items from the NFA's definitions, and did not touch machine guns or destructive devices. Congress changed a number in the tax table. That is the whole of what the statute did.
Free does not mean unregulated — and it never meant faster. When the tax went to zero, everyone who had been waiting for exactly that filed at once. The queue got deeper, not shorter. Anyone selling you a firm approval time is guessing.
Why a $0 tax turned out to matter far more than $200
This is the part that gets left out, and it is the most consequential thing that has happened to the NFA in ninety years.
The National Firearms Act has always been a tax statute. That is not a technicality — it is the constitutional footing the whole thing stands on. Congress could not simply ban or register these items in 1934, so it taxed them, and the registration requirements ride along as the machinery for collecting that tax. Every court challenge for ninety years ran into the same wall: it is a valid exercise of the taxing power.
Set the tax to zero and that argument gets considerably harder to make. On 5 August 2026, in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF (consolidated with Jensen v. ATF) in the Northern District of Texas, Judge James Wesley Hendrix held that the NFA's registration and approval provisions are unconstitutional as applied to suppressors, SBRs and SBSs now that the tax on them is $0 — a registration scheme with no tax behind it is no longer a tax.
The relief is not nationwide. It reaches the named plaintiffs, the members of the organisations that sued, and the customers of the companies that sued. Everyone else is still filing forms.
The suppressor guide covers what that means at the counter, and the Florida guide covers how it lands in this state.
Where we stand: we file. ATF has not issued guidance on the August 2026 ruling, so nothing about how we do business has changed. Silencer Shop is still submitting Form 3s to us. We still file your Form 4. You still wait.
We are not going to be the shop that guessed at a federal felony on a customer's behalf. We follow the law as it is written and enforced, not as it might be after an appeal. When ATF says something different in writing, we will change what we do, and this page will say so on the day it happens.
What it actually costs you
The stamp being free does not make the process free. Here is the honest ledger for a suppressor bought the conventional way:
| Line | Cost | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| The suppressor | Varies | Your dealer |
| ATF transfer tax | $0 | — since 1 Jan 2026 |
| ATF filing fee | None | There has never been one beyond the tax |
| Digital fingerprints (.EFT) | Varies | Whoever captures your prints |
| Passport-style photo | $0 – a few dollars | You, or a photo counter |
| Gun trust, if you use one | Varies | An attorney |
| Our transfer fee on a can we sold you | None | — |
We do not run a fingerprint kiosk, so prints and photo are the two things you bring with you. See how to buy a suppressor for the formats.
Things people still get wrong
- "It's $200." Not since January 2026, for suppressors, SBRs, SBSs and AOWs. If a page still says $200 for a can, it has not been updated in over a year and you should distrust the rest of it too.
- "It's an annual tax." No. It is once, per item, per transfer. Nothing renews.
- "The stamp is a licence to own suppressors." No. It approves the transfer of one item to one person. Buy a second one, file again.
- "Free stamp, so no paperwork." For most people, no. The tax is $0 and the form is still the form. Possession before approval is still a felony.
- "Machine guns are free now too." No. Still $200, and still limited to the pre-May-1986 registry — which is why the prices are what they are, not because of the tax.
- "I'll get my $200 back on my old stamps." No. The change applies going forward. Taxes already paid stay paid.
Common questions
Could the tax go back to $200?
Congress set it at $0 by statute, so only Congress can change it back. That is a different and slower thing than an agency changing a rule. What is genuinely in motion right now is the court fight over whether registration survives a $0 tax at all — and that could move in either direction.
Is there any other federal fee?
No. There is no ATF processing fee, no filing fee and no charge for the eForms system. Any other money you spend goes to a dealer, a fingerprint service or an attorney — never to ATF.
Do I pay the tax before or after approval?
The tax field on a Form 4 or Form 1 now reads $0, so for these items the question has gone away. On a machine gun, the $200 is submitted with the form and refunded if ATF disapproves.
Does a free stamp mean I should buy more than one?
More people do file multiple forms at once now, and each item still needs its own form and its own approval. Whether it is a good idea depends on the guns you already own, not on the tax. We would rather talk you out of the second one than sell you a can that does not fit anything you shoot.
Does the $0 tax apply to a transfer between two private individuals?
Yes, for the covered item types. A Form 4 between private parties on a suppressor carries a $0 tax. Our fee for handling that filing is separate and is on the transfers page.
Not sure which column you are in? Email [email protected] with what you are looking at and we will tell you exactly what it costs and what has to be filed. Shop visits are by appointment only, no walk-ins.
General information from a licensed dealer, not legal advice. Federal, state and local law changes — and in 2026 it is changing faster than usual. Confirm the rules in your own jurisdiction, and confirm the current status of any court order, before you buy. Last reviewed 3 September 2026.