This blog serves as a reminder of important dates related to FINRA’s 2022 Annual Registration Renewal Program.
If you have any state registrations that you do not want to renew in 2022, you must take action by Friday, November 5th in order to avoid being charged on the Preliminary Statement. Registration terminations can be post-dated to remain active through the end of 2021. The Preliminary Statement will be available in FINRA E-bill on Monday, November 8th. After this time, you will still be able to drop registrations. However, once it is generated, the Preliminary Statement must be paid in full by December 13, 2021. Fees for state registrations that are terminated between November 6th and December 26th will be included on your Preliminary Statement and must be paid for in full by December 13, 2021 with refunds processed in January. See the FINRA Renewal Program FAQ for more information.
Don’t forget to consider firm, branch, and individual registration fees. Review your roster and branches and firm registrations now to identify any registrations that can be dropped prior to November 5th.
Note, this process only relates to terminations of registrations. Please continue adding registrations as needed through the year. If you add registrations and they are approved prior to December 26, 2021, then you will be charged for both 2021 and 2022 registrations.
Summary of Critical Dates:
11/5/2021: Last opportunity to drop registrations to avoid pre-paying 2022 fees. Registration terminations can be post-dated to stay active through 12/31/2021.
11/8/2021: Preliminary renewal statements and reports are available for viewing and printing on Web CRD through E-Bill.
12/13/2021: Deadline for receipt of Preliminary Renewal Statement payments. Firms with enough monies in their Flex-Funding Accounts will have funds transferred to their Renewal Accounts to cover total renewal fees owed. Transfers will be conducted every day until Web CRD/IARD shuts down for year-end processing.
12/26/2021: Deadline to submit terminations and other filings prior to year-end is 6 pm ET.
1/2/2022: Log in to E-Bill to find your Final Statement. Refunds issued to firms for terminations requested between 11/5/2021 and 12/26/2021 will be reflected in Final Renewal Statement.
1/28/2022: Payment is due for Final Renewal Statement.
**Post-dated Form U-5 and BR Closings must have an effective date of 12/31/2021 and must be done by no later than 12/26/2021.
If you process yourself, please note that the system will shut off at 6pm on 12/26/2021. No filings of any kind will be made between 12/26/2021 and 1/2/2022. Filings will resume on Monday, 1/2/2022.
MasterCompliance provides expert consulting, outsourcing, and implementation tools in planning and budgeting for your firm’s compliance responsibilities. Please contact us if you would like to better understand the registration renewal process, especially if you have not gone through it before as there could be a significant cost if you don’t act promptly and understand the deadlines.