Form 3
Generate an FEC Form 3 Report and file periodic financial reports for your federal candidate committee, including quarterly, pre-election, and year-end reports.
To get started, navigate to Generate a Form.
Select Form 3 from the form options. Form 3 is available for federal candidate committees only (House and Senate). You will not see Form 3X or 24/48 Hour Report options for candidate committee accounts.
Report Configuration
Report Type. Each type will pre-fill the covering period dates, but you can edit the dates if needed. You must choose both a type and a subtype, and enter an election date where relevant.
Available report types:
- Quarterly Reports
- April 15 Quarterly Report (Q1)
- July 15 Quarterly Report (Q2)
- October 15 Quarterly Report (Q3)
- January 31 Year-End Report (YE)
- Pre-Election Reports (12-Day)
- Primary (12P)
- General (12G)
- Runoff (12R)
- Special (12S)
- Post-Election Reports (30-Day)
- Runoff (30R)
- Special (30S)
Covering Period. The date range covered by this report. For example, a Q2 2026 report would cover 4/1/26 through 6/30/26. These dates pre-fill based on your report type selection but can be adjusted.
Aggregation Reporting Cycle Dates. The date range used to calculate cycle-to-date (Column B) totals. This typically spans the full election cycle (e.g., 11/6/2024 through 11/3/2026). Set this range to match the period your campaign has been raising money through the end of the current cycle.
Are you filing this form for a Senate Race? Select Yes if your candidate is running for U.S. Senate. This controls the filing destination and auto-fills the state/district field on the form.
Disbursement Threshold. Set the itemization threshold for operating expenditures to appear on Schedule B. As of August 2026, transactions or aggregated transactions exceeding $200 are itemized.
Order By. Choose how itemized transactions are sorted on the schedules.
Receipts (Schedule A)
Warchest automatically maps your receipt transactions to the correct FEC summary lines. The table below shows how each receipt type flows to the Form 3 summary page:
|
Receipt Type |
Summary Line |
|
Monetary Contribution |
Line 11(a)(i) through 11(d) |
|
Earmarked Contribution |
Line 11(a)(i) through 11(d) |
|
In-kind Contribution |
Line 11(a)(i) through 11(d) |
|
Conduit Contribution Received |
Line 11(a)(i) through 11(d) |
|
Joint Fundraising Transfer |
Line 12 |
|
Joint Fundraising Allocation |
Line 12 (memo entries linked to the transfer) |
|
Transfer In |
Line 12 |
|
Loan Received |
Line 13(a) or 13(b) |
|
Offset to Operating Expenditures |
Line 14 |
|
Other Receipts / Miscellaneous |
Line 15 |
Note: Joint Fundraising Allocations are the individual receipts (memo items) within a Joint Fundraising Transfer. They are linked to the transfer and count toward individual contribution limits.
Note: Loan Received transactions on Line 13 are split between 13(a) (loans from the candidate) and 13(b) (all other loans) based on whether the contact is the candidate record.
Aggregates. Warchest calculates aggregate contribution totals as of the end of the covering period using a running sum for the election cycle. These totals determine whether a contributor crosses the itemization threshold and must be listed individually on Schedule A.
“Information Requested.” When a contributor’s occupation field is blank, Warchest automatically fills it with “Information Requested.”
Disbursements (Schedule B)
Your disbursement transactions map to the Form 3 summary page as follows:
|
Disbursement Type |
Summary Line |
|
Operating Expenditure |
Line 17 |
|
Transfer Out |
Line 18 |
|
Repayment of Loan Received |
Line 19(a) or 19(b) |
|
Refund of Monetary Contribution |
Line 20(a), 20(b), or 20(c) |
|
Loan Made |
Line 21 |
|
In-kind Contribution Made |
Line 21 |
|
Monetary Contribution Made |
Line 21 |
|
Other Disbursement |
Line 21 |
Note: Operating Expenditures on Line 17 can include memo entries for credit card sub-items, reimbursements, and payroll breakdowns.
Note: Refund of Monetary Contribution transactions are positive disbursement amounts. When you create one, Warchest will prompt you to link it to the original contribution so the system can adjust the contributor’s aggregate totals for the current year or cycle.
Schedules C and D (Loans and Debts)
Schedule C reports outstanding loans, including loans from the candidate. When a Loan Received receipt is entered, the corresponding Schedule C data is generated automatically.
Schedule D reports debts owed by or to the committee. Debt entries are created and linked to their associated transactions.
Summary Pages
Warchest generates Form 3 summary pages based on your receipts and disbursements for the covering period. All line totals, subtotals, and cash-on-hand calculations follow FEC Form 3 instructions.
Note: The last report filed during an election cycle uses different summary pages. Warchest handles this based on the report type you select.
Period and Cycle
All transactions entered in Warchest require a Period and Cycle to be assigned. This ensures every receipt and disbursement is included in the correct report and that cycle-to-date aggregates are accurate.
Review and File
Once the report is generated, review the summary pages and itemized schedules before filing. The generated report follows FEC formatting requirements and is ready for electronic submission.
Have questions? Email us at compliance@mywarchest.com.