Reports due in 2026

“Mandatory electronic filing” means that once a filer crosses certain activity levels, it is no longer allowed to submit FEC reports on paper and must submit all required reports and statements electronically, using FEC‑approved formats. Under current rules, any political committee or other person that must file with the FEC and that receives contributions or makes expenditures (including independent expenditures) totaling more than $50,000 in a calendar year, or has reason to expect to exceed $50,000, must file all reports electronically, and those e‑filed reports must be received and validated by the FEC by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. This includes candidate committees, party committees, PACs (including Super PACs and Hybrid PACs), and other independent‑expenditure filers that meet the threshold.

FECFile is the Federal Election Commission’s free, Windows‑based software that committees and other filers can use to prepare, validate, and electronically submit their campaign‑finance reports to the FEC. For 2026 filings, the FEC requires that all electronically filed reports use version 8.5 of the electronic filing format: reports created with earlier versions of FECFile or with commercial software that has not been updated to the 8.5 specifications will be rejected by the FEC’s validation system. The FEC released FECFile version 8.5 on September 2, 2025 and has told filers they must update their software (FECFile or commercial) for filings on or after that date.

It depends on how you mail it:

• Registered or certified mail: The report is considered filed on the U.S. Postal Service postmark date. As long as it is postmarked on or before the deadline, it is timely.
• Overnight mail (qualifying Priority Mail/Priority Mail Express or an overnight delivery service with tracking and next‑day delivery): It is timely if the delivery service receives it on or before the deadline; for these services the effective “filing date” is when you hand it to the service by the deadline.
• All other methods, including first‑class mail: The report is considered filed only when it is actually received by FEC staff, and must arrive by close of business on the due date (or the last business day before the due date if the deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday).

A 48‑Hour Notice is a special, last‑minute disclosure report (FEC Form 6) that candidate committees must file to report large contributions received shortly before an election. For 2026, the principal campaign committees of House or Senate candidates (and, generally, quarterly‑filing presidential committees) must file a 48‑Hour Notice every time they receive a contribution or loan of $1,000 or more from any one source during the period that is less than 20 days but more than 48 hours before the day of an election in which the candidate is running. The notice is due within 48 hours of receiving each qualifying contribution, and those contributions are also later itemized on the next regular report.

An independent expenditure is a payment for a communication (such as an ad, mailer, or online message) that:

• Expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified federal candidate, and
• Is made without coordination with any candidate, campaign, or political party committee.

Because they are made independently but can strongly affect elections, large independent expenditures must be reported very quickly:

• 48‑hour reports (Form 3X Schedule E for committees; Form 5 for non‑committees):
  • From the start of the year up to the 20th day before an election, each time a filer’s independent expenditures for a given election and candidate reach or pass an aggregate of $10,000 in that year, it must file a 48‑hour report. Each additional $10,000 aggregate for that race triggers another 48‑hour report.
• 24‑hour reports:
  • From after the 20th day but more than 24 hours before an election, any independent expenditures that aggregate to $1,000 or more for a given election and candidate must be reported within 24 hours.

All independent expenditures must also be disclosed on the filer’s next regular campaign‑finance report, even if already reported on 48‑ or 24‑hour filings.

The lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold is set by statute and then adjusted each year using a cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA). The law starts with a base amount of $15,000 and multiplies it by the cumulative inflation adjustment; the result is then rounded to the nearest $100. The resulting dollar figure is the amount of bundled contributions from a lobbyist/registrant or lobbyist/registrant PAC that will trigger disclosure on FEC Form 3L during an election reporting period. For 2025, this threshold was $23,300. For 2026, the figure may increase again based on the annual COLA; once calculated, the FEC will publish the new threshold in the Federal Register and on its website.

Committees keep their email address up to date on Form 1 (Statement of Organization), which can be amended either electronically (for electronic filers) or on paper (for paper filers):

• Electronic filers must submit a complete amended Form 1 electronically.
• Paper filers can amend by sending Form 1 with the committee name, address, FEC ID, and only the changed sections, or by using the FEC’s online webform for Form 1.

Submitting Form 1 through the online webform counts as an electronic filing. Under FEC rules, once a committee that is not otherwise required to e‑file chooses to file electronically (including via the webform), it must continue to file all reports electronically for the rest of that calendar year. The webform page explicitly warns that filing Form 1 there “constitutes an electronic filing” and that voluntary electronic filers must continue to file electronically for that year.

These are types of regular election‑related reports that disclose activity around specific elections:

• Pre‑primary report: Filed before a primary election. It covers activity from the end of the last report through a cutoff date shortly before the primary. It is required for authorized committees of House and Senate candidates (and certain other filers) before any primary election in which their candidate runs, and for PACs/party committees that file quarterly and make contributions or expenditures in connection with that primary (if not already disclosed).

• Pre‑general report: Filed before a general election. It covers activity from the end of the last report through a cutoff date shortly before the general. House and Senate candidate committees must file a pre‑general before any general election they participate in. In 2026, both monthly‑ and quarterly‑filing party committees and PACs must also file a pre‑general report for any general election in which they contribute to or spend on behalf of a candidate (and, for monthly filers, the pre‑general substitutes for the regular November report).

• Post‑general report: Filed after a general election, covering activity from the close of the pre‑general report through a date after the election. Authorized committees of House and Senate candidates that run in the general must file a post‑general report. In 2026, both monthly‑ and quarterly‑filing party committees and PACs must also file a post‑general report (for monthly filers, it replaces the December report).