E0021: eForms 2026 Walkthrough: New Steps, New Rules, No Surprises

In this episode, Dan Peterson (Peterson Farms USA / Cerberus LiveScan) walks through the upcoming ATF eForms 2026 changes expected to go live January 1, 2026. He starts by showing the current production eForms experience as of Dec 26, 2025, including the recent navigation changes (like where Form Status now lives), the current slow search performance, and why Form 4 is temporarily offline during the update window.

Dan then switches to the ATF eForms test site (beta) to preview what’s coming. A major update is the expanded My Profile → Personal Information requirements—fields like height, weight, eye color, hair color, race, ethnicity, date/place of birth, and a required photo are now part of the profile data set (with Social Security Number still not required).

Most of the episode focuses on Form 4, where the biggest workflow changes are happening. Dan highlights new seller/transferor options beyond the traditional FFL with SOT, including options that appear designed for private party NFA transfers (Individual, Trust, Corporation, and FFL without SOT). He also points out a change in the Responsible Person section (now appearing as a multi-select checkbox format) and confirms CLEO information is still required for Form 1 and Form 4 submissions.

For private party transfers, Dan calls out an important compliance detail: if the seller’s eForms profile address doesn’t match the firearm’s registered address (for example, they moved), a 5320.20 update may be required before the firearm can be pulled into the new Form 4 flow. He also notes early test-site issues with the firearm lookup process, including a barrel-length entry limitation where decimal points aren’t accepted.

Finally, Dan briefly reviews Form 1 (which appears largely unchanged) and shows the updated eForms account registration process, which now requires significantly more personal data than before. He closes with what to expect next, invites feedback for future episodes, and shares where to learn more about Peterson Farms USA products like Cerberus LiveScan, Merlin, and LiveScan LE.