The 45-day rule, and what a late filing actually costs

Two deadlines, not one

30 days

From awareness of the transaction.

45 days

From the transaction itself. The earlier of the two dates controls.

House PTR deadlines do not roll forward for weekends or federal holidays. Paper filing has receipt/postmark requirements; consult the official instructions and due-date calculator.

What our timing flag measures

Our public timing flag compares the filed trade and filing dates against 45 days. It does not evaluate the separate notification deadline. A row within 45 days is therefore not proof that every reporting requirement was met.

Incoherent dates and suspected year errors can make a result indeterminate. We preserve those source dates and explain the limitation rather than silently repair them. A flag is a research lead, not an ethics finding or evidence that a fine was paid.

What a late filing costs

The House instructions describe a $200 late fee and a 30-day fee grace period. A report can be late before a fee is due. Repeat late PTRs can trigger additional fees; payment does not exclude other disciplinary action. Filers should ask the Committee to determine the amount due.

Sources

• House Committee on Ethics — financial disclosure requirements
• House Committee on Ethics — 2026 instruction guide (PTRs and late fees, pages 12–20)
• House Committee on Ethics — PTR due-date calculator

Keep reading

• The STOCK Act, explainedWhat the 2012 law actually requires members of Congress to disclose, who it covers, and the three things people most often get wrong about it.
• How to read a periodic transaction reportEvery field on the form, which three actually matter, and the two that are most often misread.