If you're a director, officer, or major shareholder of a U.S. public company, the SEC requires you to report your holdings and trades, on a tight clock. We prepare and file your Forms 3, 4, and 5 on EDGAR so each one is correct, coded properly, and on time.
These are commonly called Section 16 filings, after the section of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that requires them. The rules are unforgiving: a Form 4 is due within two business days of a trade, and a single late filing has to be disclosed in the company's proxy statement. We take that pressure off you.
Send us the details (we provide simple templates), and we prepare the filing, apply the correct transaction codes, send you a proof to approve, and submit it to EDGAR under your power of attorney. New to EDGAR? We also get you set up with access; see our Form ID & EDGAR access guide.
Bulk rates for boards and officer groups. Revisions to the proof are included.
Section 16 applies to "insiders" of a company with equity registered with the SEC. There are three groups:
Every member of the company's board.
Policy-making officers: CEO, CFO, principal accounting officer, and others who perform a policy-making role. It's the role that counts, not the title.
Anyone who beneficially owns more than 10% of a registered class of the company's equity.
"Beneficial ownership" is broader than shares in your own name; it can include holdings through family members in your household, trusts, and partnerships where you have a financial interest.
Your starting snapshot: all the company securities you hold (including options and RSUs) at the moment you become an insider. It reports holdings, not trades.
Within 10 calendar days of becoming an insider. For an IPO, it's due by the date the company's registration becomes effective.
The workhorse. Filed whenever your holdings change: purchases, sales, option/RSU grants and exercises, gifts, or shares withheld to cover taxes.
Before the end of the 2nd business day after the transaction. The clock starts the day the trade is executed.
A year-end true-up for transactions that were exempt from Form 4 (e.g., certain small or gift transactions) or anything that should have been reported earlier but wasn't.
Within 45 days after the company's fiscal year-end. Not required if everything was already reported on Form 4.
| Form | What it covers | When it's due |
|---|---|---|
| Form 3 | Initial holdings when you become an insider | 10 calendar days (or by IPO effective date) |
| Form 4 | Each change in ownership (trades, grants, etc.) | 2 business days after the transaction |
| Form 5 | Annual catch-up for deferred/missed items | 45 days after fiscal year-end |
EDGAR accepts filings until 10:00 p.m. ET on business days; anything submitted after that counts as the next business day, which matters a lot for a 2-day Form 4 window. Once filed, the report is public on EDGAR right away.
Late filings must be disclosed by name in the company's annual proxy statement, a visible mark on you and the company.
The SEC runs enforcement sweeps against chronic late filers. In a 2023 sweep, penalties ran from roughly $100,000 to $200,000 per insider or company. Liability doesn't require bad intent; being late is enough.
Under Section 16(b), any profit from a buy and sell (or sell and buy) within six months can be recovered by the company, automatically, regardless of intent. Accurate records help you steer clear.
You can't file a Form 3, 4, or 5 until you have an EDGAR account and codes. First-time filers get them by submitting a Form ID, and the process changed in 2025 under the SEC's EDGAR Next system. The good news: an individual insider can delegate the whole thing to us and skip the Login.gov and dashboard setup entirely.
This is exactly the routine work a filing agent absorbs. You tell us what happened; we make sure it's reported correctly and on time.
Rules and SEC systems change; we track these sources so your filings stay current.