SEC to Require Electronic Filing of Forms 144 via EDGAR

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted its 2021 proposed amendment to require Form 144 be filed electronically via its EDGAR database and eliminate the alternative to file paper copies.¹ As a result, the historically de facto nonpublic information in Forms 144 will be publicly available. 

The filing of the electronic Form 144 will be similar to Exchange Act Section 16 filings, by means of an online, fillable-document format. The form itself will be adjusted to remove certain identifiable personal information. The newly adopted rules also eliminate the need to separately send a copy of Form 144 to the exchange where the class of securities sold is listed.

The new requirement has a six-month phase-in period from the date that the SEC publishes in the Federal Register the update to the EDGAR Filer Manual to address these changes. The SEC expects to adopt the updated version of the EDGAR Filer Manual in September 2022, which means the requirement to file Form 144 electronically could be effective as early as March 2023.