Electronic Filing Requirements Triggered? Paper Reports Will Not Be Accepted

Reminder: Any committees, individuals or other non-committee entities that meet the $50,000 contributions/expenditures threshold triggering mandatory electronic filing requirements, must file reports electronically rather than on paper. Under 11 CFR 104.18(c), reports filed electronically are defined to include any statement, designation or report required by the Act to be filed with the Commission. Moreover, under 11 CFR 104.18(a)(2), once a filer has exceeded the $50,000 threshold, any report it files on paper will not satisfy filing obligations. Instead, the report will be considered "not filed" and could be subject to Commission action. This requirement (and reminder) extends to not only filings of Form 3, Form 3X or Form 3P (as applicable) by political committees but also to Forms 1, 1M (filed by PACs and party committees) and 6 (filed by campaigns). It also applies to individuals and non-committee entities filing Forms 5, 7 and 9 (disclosing independent expenditures, communication costs and electioneering communications respectively) and to convention committees filing Form 4. For more information on the rules that apply to electronic filing, see the Commission's Electronic Filing Overview.