Will you meet the new best efforts defense if you don't file your report on time?

New regulations allow committees facing an administrative fine for late filing to use "best efforts" as a defense. In order to claim “best efforts,” committees must demonstrate that they could not file due to reasonably unforeseen circumstances beyond their control and that they filed the late report within 24 hours after those circumstances ended. Excuses involving negligence, illness, inexperience, unavailability of committee staff or treasurer, failure to know filing dates and failure to use Commission software properly do not qualify for the "best efforts" defense. The rules include examples of what does and does not meet this new defense. Ultimately, the best thing you can do: File your reports on time!