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Download PS Form 3526 (Interactive)
Download PS Form 3526-X (Interactive)
The deadline for filing your Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation (PS Form 3526) with the United States Postal Service is Oct. 1 of each year. The filing and publication of this form is a requirement to maintaining Periodical mailing privileges. Dailies must publish a completed copy of the form in the newspaper by Oct. 10 and non-dailies by Oct. 31.
Download and complete the new PS Form 3526 (dated August 2012). If you are claiming electronic subscribers on line 16 you need to complete a worksheet: PS Form 3526-X. This is only if you are claiming electronic subscribers. The link for the Statement of Ownership form and the worksheet is provided above. Electronic subscribers are not to be included on line b(4) or any other line on the Statement of Ownership. They are only entered on PS Form 3526-X. If you are claiming electronic subscribers, publish PS Form 3526-X along with PS Form 3526.
Please fax a completed copy of your statement to TPA at 512-477-6759 or mail to: Texas Press Association, 718 West 5th Street, Austin, TX 78701. If you have questions concerning your Statement of Ownership, please contact TPA Periodicals Consultant Joel Allis at
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or 512-413-4122.
Information on including paid electronic subscribers:
Effective May 9, 2012, USPS will allow paid electronic subscribers to be included on PS Form 3526. The updated electronic form on PostalOne! will not be available until 2013. The updated hard copy form is not currently available, but information will be sent out as soon as this new form is made available. The final Federal Register rule relating to this change is available here.
Including paid e-subscribers on the Statement of Ownership is optional.
Postal regulations require that more than 50 percent of a newspaper’s total distribution go to paid subscribers. Under this new rule, at least 40 percent of the newspaper’s paid distribution must consist of printed copies. This would allow 10 percent of the paid distribution to be paid e-subscribers.
Reporting less that 60 percent total paid subscribers on your Statement of Ownership could trigger a USPS circulation audit of your publication. That has been the case for many years. Under the new rule, if you claim less than 60 percent paid circulation, and claim electronic subscribers, you will be responsible for obtaining an outside circulation audit to be conducted by a certified audit bureau. This could be a considerable expense.
A print subscriber that is given free access to the electronic version of your newspaper does not count as a paid e-subscriber. To count as a paid e-subscriber, the electronic subscriber must pay more than a nominal rate for the electronic subscription. Nominal rate is understood to be at least 30 percent of the basic annual rate. This would require the publication to establish a basic electronic subscriber rate. (For example: $30 a year — subscribers paying at least $9 a year for an electronic subscription would count as paid e-subscribers.)
If you submit your Statement of Ownership via PostalOne! you will have to use the old form and will not be able to claim e-subscribers for 2012. If you are not claiming e-subscribers, you can use the old form.
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