Transferring title II items from a gov agency to an individual?

[Zombie Defense]

That does make sense with the way it is worded. I agree.

[Coreyh]

Several years ago I bought a used .22 silencer from a sheriffs department. After double checking with a phone call to NFA branch, the silencer transferred directly to me as an individual from the department on a Form 5 tax exempt. The county sheriff signed the form twice, once as the transferror and once for the CLEO approval.

The form does clearly state it is for transfers TO OR FROM a government agency. But before anyone gets any ideas, having a department purchase an NFA item just to transfer to you as an individual on a Form 5 is considered tax evasion.

[KLRANGL]

Well I guess that settles it. Many thanks Corey.

[GarrettJ]

If you get a class 3 FFL involved, the guns go to them on form 10 and to the private citizen on form 4...
How did this get into my house then? I asked my dealer how he got it and that is what I posted in this thread.

First off - David is correct.

Second, that is not a Form 10 shown in the picture. It has a tax stamp on it, and FFL/SOT info. You will have neither of those on a Form 10. You can view the form here.

As noted, transfers to or from a government agency are tax-free, and are done with a Form 5. I've got two NFA firearms that I bought this way. If the buyer resides in the same state as the selling agency, the firearm can transfer directly to the buyer. If the buyer resides in a different state, it's just like any other out-of-state transfer. The firearm transfers (tax-free Form 5) to a dealer in the buyer's home state, and then transfers (tax-paid Form 4) to the individual.

My 590A1 sbs is on form 4...

herein lies the source of some confusion. Guns are not on forms. They transfer based on the status of the buyer and seller. Just because a firearm was last transferred using one particular form, does not mean it has to transfer again using that form.

Consider when an NFA firearm was first "made". It would have been registered using either a Form 1 or Form 2, depending on the FFL/SOT status (or lack thereof) of the maker. It would then transfer to a buyer using a Form 3, 4, or 5, again depending on the status (SOT to SOT, SOT to non-SOT, or SOT to gov. agency) of the buyer and seller.

It has nothing to do with the status of the gun. Consider an SOT who buys a pre-'86 dealer sample MG. If it is bought from another SOT, it would transfer tax-free using a Form 3. Now if the individual doesn't renew his SOT status, he can still keep the gun (this only works for pre-'86 MGs, not posties). Say he later wants to sell the gun. It has to go to an FFL/SOT. But since the seller no longer has SOT status, the gun would transfer tax-paid via Form 4. Nothing has changed with the gun's status. It's exactly the same as when it was last transferred. What has changed is the owner's status, which is why the different form.

So again, guns are not on forms. They transfer based on the status of the buyer & seller.