What changed, in one line. The federal transfer tax on a suppressor is $0, and has been since 1 January 2026. Almost every page on the internet that answers “what does a suppressor cost” still has a $200 line in it. That line is gone. This calculator uses your prices, not ours, so it cannot go stale the way a published price list does.
Last verified 2026-08-25. The federal section of this page is re-checked against the statute, the Federal Register and the court docket every week, and the date above moves only when that check has actually run. See the revision history.
The calculator
Every figure below is yours to set. We publish no prices: suppressor, dealer and trust pricing all move too fast for a published number to stay honest, so the only thing worth publishing is the arithmetic.
What the can itself costs, before anything else.
What your dealer charges to handle the transfer.
A lawyer-drafted trust, an online trust, or 0 if you file as an individual.
Per host. This is the line most cost pages leave out.
How many firearms you intend to run it on.
Shipping, a wipe kit, a can cover, range trips to zero.
Used only to spread the total across time.
Used only to spread a trust cost across the items it covers.
Figures round to the nearest dollar. The federal transfer tax line is fixed at $0 by statute and is not editable, because it is not a price.
What the total is made of
Four of these lines appear on most cost pages. The fifth usually does not, and on a multi-rifle setup it is often the second biggest number after the can.
| Line | Who sets it | Scales with |
|---|---|---|
| The suppressor | The maker and your dealer | One-off |
| Dealer transfer fee | Your dealer | One-off, per transfer |
| Federal transfer tax | Statute, currently $0 | Per transfer |
| Trust or filing | You, or a lawyer | Once, then spread across every NFA item it covers |
| Mount or muzzle device | The maker | Every host you want to run it on |
The federal position as of 2026-08-25
This section is dated on purpose. Three things changed in 2026 and they changed in different directions. Read all of them before you conclude anything. This page states the law as it stood on 2026-08-25; the court docket was current to 2026-08-21.
The federal transfer tax on a suppressor is $0.
26 U.S.C. 5811(a) was amended by P.L. 119-21 to set the transfer tax at $0 for every NFA firearm that is not a machinegun or destructive device. The change took effect 1 January 2026.
$0 for any firearm transferred which is not described in paragraph (1)
Source: 26 U.S.C. 5811(a)
The $200 did not disappear everywhere.
Machineguns and destructive devices still carry the $200 transfer and making tax, and the $500 or $1,000 special occupational tax on importers, manufacturers and dealers is unchanged.
But Congress did not eliminate the $200 transfer and making taxes for machineguns and destructive devices
ATF’s own rule kept the registration process in force.
When ATF revised its regulations to reflect the $0 rate, it said the rest of the NFA process was untouched. This is still ATF’s published position: the agency has issued no open letter, notice or Federal Register document responding to the August 2026 injunction, and its National Firearms Act Division page was last updated 16 January 2026.
all other regulatory provisions of the NFA application and registration process remain in full force and effect
Since 13 August 2026 a federal injunction has removed the registration and approval requirements for a defined group of people.
On 5 August 2026 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas entered final judgment in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, consolidated with Jensen v. ATF, holding that with the tax at $0 the NFA’s registration and approval provisions for suppressors, short-barrelled rifles and short-barrelled shotguns can no longer rest on the taxing power.
Because today’s NFA does not generate any revenue from untaxed firearms, its regulatory provisions cannot be upheld under the taxing power.
The injunction is not nationwide, and geography is not what decides it.
The court refused to issue a universal injunction. Relief runs to the parties and, where applicable, their agencies, political subdivisions, members and customers, current and future. Whether it reaches you turns on who you are and who you buy from, not on where you live.
from enforcing the challenged provisions of the National Firearms Act as to untaxed firearms against the plaintiffs and, where applicable, the plaintiffs’ agencies, political subdivisions, members, and customers-both current and future.
Source: Final Judgment, Dkt. 137
Even inside that group, the relief is transaction-specific.
The court said the injunction covers a customer’s transactions with the plaintiffs and their commercial members. It is not a general exemption from the NFA for everything a covered person owns.
it only covers current and future customers’ transactions with the plaintiffs and their commercial members.
The court said plainly why it would not go further.
A district court remedy protects the parties before it. It does not settle the law for everyone.
Federal courts lack power to issue universal injunctions that provide relief to parties not before the Court.
The judgment was stayed for seven days; the government let the stay lapse.
The seven-day stay expired and the injunction took effect on 13 August 2026. As of the docket’s currency on 21 August 2026 no notice of appeal, no motion to stay and no Fifth Circuit proceeding had been filed. The government’s time to appeal runs 60 days from entry of judgment, to early October 2026. An injunction can also be modified or stayed at short notice.
The Court stays the effect of this Final Judgment for seven days from the date of entry to allow the defendants to seek relief, if any, at the appellate level.
Source: Final Judgment, Dkt. 137
The detail behind this section. We keep a running tracker of the ruling itself, including who the parties are, what was enjoined and what has happened on the docket since: NFA Ruling 2026: Who Can Buy a Suppressor Without a Form 4. If the two ever disagree, the tracker is the newer one.
What has not changed
- The federal background check and the Form 4473 at the dealer.
- Every state and local restriction. Nine jurisdictions prohibit civilian possession outright, and no federal injunction changes that.
- The $200 tax on machineguns and destructive devices, and the special occupational tax on the trade.
- Whether the injunction reaches a given buyer is a legal question about that buyer and that seller. Nothing on this page decides it.
The nine. Civilian possession of a suppressor is prohibited outright in California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island. A federal injunction about federal registration does not touch a state possession ban.
Questions
- How much is the tax stamp for a suppressor in 2026?
- Zero dollars. 26 U.S.C. 5811(a) sets the transfer tax at $0 for every NFA firearm that is not a machinegun or a destructive device, and that has been the rate since 1 January 2026. Pages still quoting $200 for a suppressor are quoting a rate that no longer exists. The $200 does still apply to machineguns and destructive devices.
- Do I still have to register a suppressor?
- It depends on who you are and who you buy from, which is an unsatisfying answer but the only accurate one. ATF’s published position is that the registration process remains in force. A federal court injunction that took effect on 13 August 2026 bars enforcement of the registration and approval provisions, but only as to the parties in that case and, where applicable, their members and customers. The court expressly declined to make it universal. Whether it reaches a particular purchase is a question for you, your dealer and your attorney.
- Were suppressors removed from the National Firearms Act?
- No. That sentence is on a lot of pages and it is not what happened. Congress set the transfer tax to $0; it did not repeal the National Firearms Act. A district court has since enjoined enforcement of the registration and approval provisions for a defined group of people, which is a remedy for those parties rather than a repeal. A suppressor is still an NFA firearm.
- What does a suppressor actually cost once everything is counted?
- Take the price of the can, add the dealer’s transfer fee, add a trust if you use one, and add a mount or muzzle device for every host you intend to run it on. That last line is the one most cost pages omit, and on a three-rifle setup it is often the second largest number after the can itself. The federal tax line is now $0.
- Is a gun trust still worth it?
- A trust’s cost is fixed and the number of NFA items it covers is not, so the honest way to look at it is cost per item: a trust divided by the number of NFA items you expect it to cover. The calculator prints that figure. Note that a trust’s traditional purpose is bound up with the registration process, so if you are buying inside the scope of the injunction the reason for it may not apply to that purchase.
- Does the injunction depend on which state I live in?
- No. The court’s relief is defined by who the parties are and who their members and customers are, not by geography. State law is a separate question and it does still turn on where you are: nine jurisdictions prohibit civilian possession of a suppressor outright, and no federal injunction changes that.
Revision history
This is a page about law that is actively changing, so every substantive edit is logged here rather than made silently.
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-25 | First published. States the three layers as at this date: the $0 transfer tax, ATF’s rule keeping the registration process in force, and the 5 August 2026 injunction that took effect 13 August and is not nationwide. |
This page states arithmetic and cites primary law. It is not legal advice, and whether any court order applies to a particular purchase is a question about your circumstances that only you, your dealer and your attorney can answer.