SEC Form NSAR-B

SEC Form NSAR-B was a semi-annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that registered investment management companies made at the end of their fiscal year as part of their NSAR form filing requirement. The NSAR, which was specific to registered investment management companies, required that those companies disclose some financial information (i.e., sales of shares, portfolio turnover rate, projections, expectations and other news items that are already reflected in a security’s price) included in the company's annual and/or semi-annual shareholder reports.

SEC Form NSAR 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 which require investment companies and trusts to file semi-annual and annual reports with the SEC. However, in 2016 and 2017, the SEC updated filing requirements for registered investment management companies, replacing Form NSAR and its related filings with Form N-CEN, as Form NSAR was widely considered obsolete.

The replacement of Form NSAR with Form N-CEN occurred in 2018 due to amendments of the SEC filing rules for registered investment management companies. While Form NSAR and its related filings, including Form NSAR-B, were filed every six months, the new Form N-CEN is to be filed yearly. Form NSAR and its related filings were rescinded on June 1, 2018, which is the compliance deadline for Form N-CEN.

Registered investment companies are no longer required to file form NSAR and its related filings as of June 1, 2018, although the SEC will continue to accept Forms NSAR applicable to the portion of 2018 prior to the Form N-CEN compliance deadline, and amended Forms NSAR for previous filing years, until June 1, 2019.

Registered investment companies are now required to file Form N-CEN within 75 days of the end of the fiscal year, although unit investment trusts that operate on a calendar year are required to file a Form N-CEN within 75 days of the end of the calendar year. Registered investment companies whose fiscal year-end date is prior to June 1, 2018, will still need to file Form NSAR and related filings for the first half of 2018. Those whose fiscal year-end date is June 1, 2018, or later will need to file Form N-CEN instead.