What is SEC Form NSAR-A

SEC Form NSAR-A was a semi-annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that registered investment management companies made at the end of the first six months of their fiscal year as part of their NSAR form filing requirement. The NSAR, which was specific to registered investment management companies, required those companies to disclose some financial information (i.e., sales of shares, portfolio turnover rate, etc.) included in the company's annual and/or semi-annual shareholder reports.

BREAKING DOWN SEC Form NSAR-A

SEC Form NSAR-A and all of its related filings were covered under Section 30 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (1940 Act) and Sections 13 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This requires investment companies and trusts to file semi-annual and annual reports with the SEC.

Modernization of Investment Company Reporting

In October 2016, the SEC proposed changes intended to modernize investment company reporting; it revised those proposed changes in December 2017. As of June 1, 2018, Form N-SAR and its associated filings will no longer be required to be filed by investment companies, although the SEC will still accept Forms N-SAR, and amendments to previously-filed Forms N-SAR, until June 1, 2019. Form N-SAR has been replaced by Form N-CEN.

Form N-CEN replaces or eliminates outdated items found on Form N-SAR, but consists of much of the same content as the long-considered-obsolete Form N-SAR and its related filings. All registered investment companies will be required to file Forms N-CEN in XML format. Form N-CEN must be filed within 75 days of the fiscal year-end date for the fund in question. However, funds with a fiscal year-end date prior to Form N-CEN’s compliance date (June 1, 2018) do not need to make their first Form N-CEN filing until the end of the next fiscal year. Therefore, for example, if a fund’s fiscal year-end date is May 31, it needn’t file its first Form N-CEN filing until within 75 days after May 1, 2019. But, if a fund’s fiscal year-end date is June 1, it needs to file its first Form N-CEN within 75 days after June 1, 2018, because June 1 is the compliance date. Unlike Form N-SAR and its related filings, Form N-CEN is to be filed annually.