Form QUALIF Files Dataset

The Form QUALIF Files Dataset is a complete archive of EDGAR Notice of Qualification submissions — the SEC's own administrative notices declaring that a Regulation A offering statement on Form 1-A, or a post-qualification amendment on Form 1-A POS, has been qualified by Commission order and may begin accepting payment for securities. Each record is one EDGAR accession bundling a parser-produced metadata.json descriptor, the raw <edgarSubmission> primary XML, and the stylesheet-rendered HTML view that EDGAR serves to human readers. Unlike most EDGAR submission types, the filer of record is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission itself, posting under its synthetic central index key 9999999994; the qualified issuer is identified inside the record body by CIK and by the Regulation A 024-xxxxx file number. The dataset covers every Form QUALIF posted to EDGAR from September 2015 — the first qualifications under the revised Regulation A framework that took effect June 19, 2015 — through the present, and is distributed as monthly ZIP containers holding XML and JSON files.

Update Frequency
Daily
Updated at
2026-05-19
Earliest Sample Date
2015-09-01
Total Size
6.9 MB
Total Records
6,019
Container Format
ZIP
Content Types
XML, JSON
Form Types
QUALIF

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Dataset Files

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What This Dataset Contains

The dataset captures the complete population of Form QUALIF filings submitted to EDGAR — the EDGAR submission type the Commission uses to memorialize a Regulation A qualification order. Under the Regulation A framework revised in March 2015 and effective June 19, 2015 ("Regulation A+"), an offering statement filed on Form 1-A may not be used to accept payment for securities until the Commission has affirmatively qualified it. Qualification is granted by order under Rule 252(e), and the QUALIF filing is the public record of that order.

The QUALIF submission is generated by the SEC itself rather than by the issuer or its counsel, has no narrative or financial disclosure of its own, and exists solely to declare a state transition: an offering statement previously filed on Form 1-A (an initial offering statement) or on Form 1-A POS (a post-qualification amendment) has become effective at a specific Eastern Time timestamp, after which the issuer may lawfully begin closing sales. The notice is a pointer to, and a status update on, a separate document — the underlying Form 1-A on the same Regulation A file number — and carries none of that document's substantive content (offering size, securities terms, use of proceeds, financial statements, risk factors, and related disclosure).

The dataset includes every Form QUALIF posted from September 2015 to present, distributed as monthly ZIP containers. For each accession number, a metadata.json descriptor and all non-image documents in the original EDGAR submission are included. The underlying issuer-filed Form 1-A and related Regulation A reports (1-A/A, 1-A POS, 1-K, 1-SA, 1-U, 1-Z, 253G) are not part of this dataset; they remain reachable from EDGAR via the issuer CIK and the 024-xxxxx Regulation A file number recorded inside each QUALIF.

Content Structure of a Single Form QUALIF Record

What one record represents

A single record in the Form QUALIF Files dataset is one complete EDGAR submission of a Notice of Qualification issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with respect to a Regulation A offering statement. The record unit is the accession: a folder named after the accession number with hyphens stripped (for example 999999999425000198, corresponding to accession 9999999994-25-000198). Each accession bundles every non-image document EDGAR stored under that accession together with a parser-produced metadata descriptor, and captures exactly one Commission order qualifying one offering statement of one issuer at one effective date and time.

Because the Commission is the entity that posts the notice, every accession in this dataset shares the synthetic SEC-internal filer CIK 9999999994, which appears as the prefix of every accession number in the form 9999999994-YY-NNNNNN. This synthetic prefix is the structural signature distinguishing a QUALIF filing from an issuer-originated submission. The issuer whose securities have been qualified is identified inside the record, not in the accession prefix.

Folder layout and artifacts

A record consists of three artifacts stored side-by-side under the accession folder:

  1. metadata.json — a flat, parser-produced descriptor of the EDGAR submission, including form type, accession number, filing timestamp, links back to EDGAR, the issuer entity block, and an enumeration of the documents in the submission.
  2. primary_doc.xml — the raw SEC submission XML, a short (~20-line, ~600-byte) <edgarSubmission> document carrying the qualification payload.
  3. xslQUALIFX01/primary_doc.xml — a self-contained HTML page (despite the .xml extension) produced by EDGAR's QUALIFX01 XSL stylesheet, rendering the same payload for human readers.

The folder layout mirrors EDGAR's own archive path (/Archives/edgar/data/<filerCIK>/<accNoNoDashes>/), so the record is effectively a local mirror of the EDGAR submission directory with the addition of metadata.json. There are no exhibits, no XBRL instance documents, no graphics, and no supplemental data files; all substantive content lives in the issuer's underlying Form 1-A on the referenced Regulation A file number.

metadata.json

A flat JSON object designed to make the submission indexable without parsing SGML or XML. The fields that carry intentional meaning are:

  • formType — always the literal "QUALIF".
  • accessionNo — dashed accession number, always with the 9999999994-YY-NNNNNN prefix that identifies the SEC as the submitter of record.
  • description — the literal string "Form QUALIF - Notice of Qualification [Regulation A]".
  • filedAt — ISO-8601 timestamp with the -04:00 (EDT) or -05:00 (EST) offset. These cluster around 00:15 Eastern Time on the business day immediately following the qualification's effective date, because the Commission posts the previous day's qualifications as a single batch shortly after midnight. Multiple QUALIF accessions on the same date frequently form a contiguous run of sequential accession numbers.
  • linkToFilingDetails — URL to the stylesheet-rendered HTML view (.../xslQUALIFX01/primary_doc.xml) on SEC.gov.
  • linkToTxt — URL to the complete SGML submission .txt wrapper containing the SEC header plus the embedded primary XML.
  • linkToHtml — URL to the EDGAR *-index.htm filing-index page.
  • linkToXbrl, dataFiles, seriesAndClassesContractsInformation — empty for QUALIF. The notice carries no XBRL instance, no structured data file, and no series or class information.
  • documentFormatFiles — an array of three entries describing the styled XML view, the raw XML (sequence 1, typically ~590–600 bytes), and the complete submission .txt (typically ~1.7–2.1 KB).
  • entities — a single-element array describing the qualified issuer. Subfields include the issuer's own cik (the operational company identifier, not 9999999994), the Regulation A fileNo prefixed with 024- (for example 024-12663), act set to "33" (Securities Act of 1933), companyName, stateOfIncorporation, an sic value carrying both code and descriptive label (for example "4813 Telephone Communications (No Radiotelephone)"), fiscalYearEnd in MMDD form when reported, irsNo, filmNo, and an optional tickers array when the issuer is publicly quoted.
  • id — a 32-character hex hash uniquely identifying the record within the sec-api.io catalog.

primary_doc.xml (raw SEC submission)

The raw XML is a small <edgarSubmission> document whose only substantive child is <effectiveData>. A representative payload:

1 <?xml version="1.0"?>
2 <edgarSubmission>
3 <schemaVersion>X0101</schemaVersion>
4 <submissionType>QUALIF</submissionType>
5 <act>33</act>
6 <testOrLive>LIVE</testOrLive>
7 <effectiveData>
8 <finalEffectivenessDispDate>2025-09-30</finalEffectivenessDispDate>
9 <finalEffectivenessDispTime>16:30:00</finalEffectivenessDispTime>
10 <form>1-A POS</form>
11 <filer>
12 <cik>0001744448</cik>
13 <entityName>My Racehorse CA LLC</entityName>
14 <fileNumber>024-12611</fileNumber>
15 </filer>
16 </effectiveData>
17 </edgarSubmission>

Field roles:

  • schemaVersion — the EDGAR schema variant in use (for example X0101).
  • submissionType — the literal QUALIF.
  • act — the statute under which qualification was granted; always 33 (Securities Act of 1933).
  • testOrLive — distinguishes EDGAR test filings from production; always LIVE in the production dataset.
  • <effectiveData> — the qualification payload proper.
    • finalEffectivenessDispDate and finalEffectivenessDispTime — the Eastern Time date and time at which qualification became effective. This is the operative legal moment: from this timestamp forward, the issuer may accept payment for the securities described in the underlying Form 1-A. It does not coincide with the QUALIF's own filedAt, which is the next-midnight batch posting time.
    • form — the underlying offering form whose status was changed by the order. Two values occur: 1-A (an initial Regulation A offering statement reaching first qualification) and 1-A POS (a post-qualification amendment being qualified in turn). This field is the principal payload variable distinguishing initial qualifications from amendment qualifications.
    • <filer> — the qualified issuer's zero-padded 10-digit cik, plain entityName, and the Regulation A fileNumber with the 024- prefix specific to Reg A offering statements. The 024-... file number is the durable handle that links the QUALIF to the issuer's Form 1-A and any subsequent 1-A POS, 1-A-W (withdrawal), or 253G post-qualification supplements on the same offering statement.

xslQUALIFX01/primary_doc.xml (rendered HTML view)

This artifact is a self-contained HTML document, produced server-side by applying the xslQUALIFX01 XSL stylesheet to the raw XML, that the SEC presents to humans browsing the filing. It carries the page title "Notice of Qualification" and a small Times/Arial-styled table with rows for Date Qualified, Form, CIK, Company Name, and File Number. The CIK and file number are wrapped in EDGAR search links (/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?...) so a reader can pivot directly to the issuer's filing history or to the underlying offering statement. The HTML view contains no information that is not already present in primary_doc.xml; it is provided for parity with how EDGAR renders the record on the web. The linkToFilingDetails field in metadata.json points at this artifact.

Content included in a record

Each accession folder includes the parser-generated metadata.json, the raw primary_doc.xml, and the stylesheet-rendered HTML view (also named primary_doc.xml, nested under xslQUALIFX01/). Together these cover every textual document EDGAR stored under the accession. The metadata file additionally exposes the EDGAR-side URLs (linkToFilingDetails, linkToTxt, linkToHtml) so that the original SGML submission wrapper, the index page, and the rendered notice can be retrieved from sec.gov when desired.

Content not included or structurally separate

Image files referenced in the EDGAR submission are omitted from the dataset copy by design; in practice this exclusion is rarely material because QUALIF submissions almost never contain graphics. Nothing of substantive disclosure value is omitted, because the QUALIF submission itself carries none — the offering's economic and legal substance lives in the issuer's separate Form 1-A and Form 1-A POS filings on the same 024-... file number, which are not part of this dataset. To reconstruct the offering being qualified, a reader must follow the issuer CIK and Reg A file number to those underlying offering statements. The linkToXbrl and dataFiles slots are present in metadata.json but empty because QUALIF carries no structured financial data and no associated XBRL instance.

Changes in required content and structure over time

Form QUALIF in its current form is a creation of the 2015 Regulation A overhaul. Before June 19, 2015, the legacy Regulation A regime did not require an SEC qualification order in the modern sense — offerings under the old $5 million ceiling were governed by a notice-of-effectiveness process that did not produce a distinct QUALIF submission type. The revised Regulation A introduced two offering tiers (Tier 1, up to $20 million as originally adopted, and Tier 2, up to $50 million, subsequently raised to $75 million by amendments effective March 15, 2021) and the rule that an offering statement may be qualified only by order of the Commission. Form QUALIF was added to EDGAR to memorialize those orders, and the dataset's coverage therefore begins with the first qualifications issued after the rule took effect, in September 2015.

Within the QUALIF era, the structural payload has been remarkably stable. Every record from 2015 onward carries the same <edgarSubmission> skeleton with submissionType=QUALIF, act=33, testOrLive=LIVE, and an <effectiveData> block holding the effective date, effective time, underlying form name, and filer identity. The set of underlying-form values reflected in the <form> element has remained 1-A and 1-A POS throughout, mirroring the lifecycle of an offering statement (initial qualification, then any post-qualification amendments). While the Regulation A framework distinguishes Tier 1 and Tier 2 offerings, the tier is not encoded as a discrete field inside the QUALIF XML payload; tier classification is a property of the underlying Form 1-A cover page, reachable via the 024-... file number, rather than a value emitted by the qualification order.

Changes in data format over time

Form QUALIF has been an XML-native submission type since inception. There is no ASCII or pre-HTML era for this form: from the first qualifications in 2015 forward, EDGAR has accepted and stored QUALIF as an <edgarSubmission> XML primary document wrapped in the standard SGML submission envelope, accompanied by the server-rendered stylesheet HTML view under xslQUALIFX01/. The dataset reflects this stability — records across the full date range share the same three-artifact shape (metadata JSON, raw XML, rendered HTML).

Interpretation notes

Several nuances matter when reading or extracting from these records:

  • Who the "filer" is. The accession prefix 9999999994-... identifies the Commission as the entity posting the notice; the qualified issuer must be read from metadata.json.entities[0] or from primary_doc.xml/<effectiveData>/<filer>. Treating the accession-level filer CIK as the issuer will misattribute every record in the dataset to the SEC itself.
  • Two distinct timestamps. finalEffectivenessDispDate plus finalEffectivenessDispTime is the legal moment of qualification (Eastern Time) and is the field that drives downstream analysis of when sales may begin. metadata.json.filedAt is the EDGAR posting time of the notice itself, which is typically several hours later: the SEC issues a batch of QUALIFs at roughly 00:15 ET on the business day following the effective date. Same-day batches often appear as a contiguous run of sequential accession numbers.
  • Initial vs amendment qualifications. The <form> field inside <effectiveData> distinguishes 1-A (first qualification of a freshly filed offering statement) from 1-A POS (qualification of a post-qualification amendment to an already-qualified offering). A single Reg A file number can therefore produce multiple QUALIF records over time, one for the original qualification and one for each qualified amendment.
  • The Reg A file number is the join key. The 024-xxxxx value in fileNumber (XML) and fileNo (metadata JSON) is the durable handle linking the QUALIF to the issuer's underlying Form 1-A and any related 1-A POS, 1-A-W, 1-K, 1-SA, 1-U, or 253G filings — none of which are included in this dataset but all of which can be retrieved from EDGAR by file number or issuer CIK.
  • No substantive disclosure within the record. Because the QUALIF carries only a state transition, there is no offering size, share count, price, securities class, use-of-proceeds, or risk-factor content to extract from the record itself. Any such analysis requires retrieving the corresponding Form 1-A.
  • Machine extraction. The XML payload is small, well-formed, and schema-stable, so direct XML parsing of primary_doc.xml is the most reliable extraction path. The rendered HTML view is suitable for display but redundant for data extraction. The metadata JSON is convenient for indexing and joining across many records but should be cross-checked against the XML for the operative effective-date and underlying-form values.

Who Files or Publishes This Dataset, and When

Who produces the record

Form QUALIF is not filed by an issuer or by any private reporting person. Each record is generated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission itself, acting through the Division of Corporation Finance under delegated authority from the Commission. The QUALIF is the SEC's own notice that an order has been entered qualifying a Regulation A offering statement on Form 1-A or a post-qualification amendment on Form 1-A POS. On EDGAR, the filing is posted under the SEC's synthetic central index key 0009999999994 (commonly shown as 9999999994), which EDGAR uses for Commission-originated notices. The Regulation A issuer named in the notice retains its own CIK on the related Form 1-A and on any subsequent Regulation A reports (1-K, 1-SA, 1-U, 1-Z) but is not the filer of record on the QUALIF itself.

Issuer population referenced in the notice

The entity named inside each QUALIF is a Regulation A issuer whose Form 1-A has just been qualified. Eligible issuers under Regulation A (17 CFR 230.251-263), as adopted in the March 25, 2015 release and effective June 19, 2015, are generally:

Foreign private issuers outside the U.S. and Canada cannot use Regulation A and do not appear here. Registered Securities Act offerings (S-1, S-3, S-11, F-1, F-3, F-4) receive an order of effectiveness rather than qualification and likewise do not generate QUALIF records.

Triggering event

A QUALIF record exists only when the Commission, through Corporation Finance under delegated authority, enters an order qualifying an offering statement. Under Rule 252(e), an offering statement is qualified only by Commission order, and the issuer may not accept payment for securities until that order has been entered. Pre-qualification "testing the waters" communications and non-binding indications of interest are permitted, but no sale may be consummated before qualification.

Two events generate QUALIF notices:

  1. Initial qualification of a Form 1-A. After staff review of the Form 1-A (and any pre-qualification 1-A/A amendments) is complete, the Commission enters a qualification order and a QUALIF is posted identifying the issuer, the qualification date, the related Form 1-A accession number, and the tier of the offering.
  2. Qualification of a Form 1-A POS. A post-qualification amendment — filed to reflect material changes, extend the offering, add securities, or update post-fiscal-year financial statements — requires a separate Commission order, and each such order produces its own QUALIF. One issuer can therefore appear multiple times across the life of a single offering.

Withdrawn, abandoned, or never-qualified Form 1-A submissions, staff comment letters, and pre-qualification amendments are not represented in this dataset.

Regulatory framework

  • Securities Act Section 3(b)(2), added by Title IV of the JOBS Act (2012), authorizes the tiered exemption implemented by Regulation A.
  • Regulation A (17 CFR 230.251-263), as amended effective June 19, 2015 (often called Regulation A+), creates two tiers:
    • Tier 1 — offerings up to $20 million in any 12-month period, subject to state Blue Sky review.
    • Tier 2 — offerings up to $75 million in any 12-month period (raised from $50 million by the 2021 amendments), preempting state Blue Sky registration but requiring audited financials, investor purchase limits for non-accredited investors, and ongoing reporting on Forms 1-K, 1-SA, 1-U, and 1-Z.
  • Form 1-A is the offering statement filed by the issuer; Form QUALIF is the SEC's administrative notice that the Commission has qualified it.

Timing

QUALIF has no periodic schedule and no issuer-borne deadline. Timing is governed entirely by Commission action:

  • The clock begins when the issuer files its Form 1-A (or 1-A POS) and runs through staff review and comment cycles.
  • The qualification order is entered on a date coordinated between the staff and the issuer (often timed to the issuer's launch).
  • The QUALIF notice is posted to EDGAR by the Commission on or near the date of the order and carries the qualification date in the body of the notice.

The dataset's earliest filings appear in September 2015, consistent with the June 19, 2015 effective date of revised Regulation A and the typical multi-month review cycle for the first wave of Form 1-A submissions. The pre-2015 Regulation A regime did not produce a QUALIF form type on EDGAR.

Important distinctions

  • Filer of record vs. issuer named in the notice. The CIK on the submission (9999999994) is the SEC's notice identity, not the issuer's. Linking a QUALIF to the underlying issuer requires reading the notice body or the referenced Form 1-A accession number.
  • QUALIF vs. Form 1-A / 1-A POS. The Form 1-A and 1-A POS are filed by the issuer and contain the substantive offering disclosure. QUALIF is filed by the SEC and confirms qualification.
  • QUALIF vs. registered-offering effectiveness. Registered Securities Act offerings receive an order of effectiveness, reflected through the registration statement and EFFECT notices, not via QUALIF.
  • QUALIF vs. Reg CF and Reg D. Section 4(a)(6) crowdfunding (Form C) and Rule 506(b)/(c) (Form D) offerings are not qualified by Commission order and produce no QUALIF.
  • Withdrawn or abandoned 1-A offerings. Form 1-A-W withdrawals or abandoned reviews produce no QUALIF; absence from the dataset is itself informative.
  • Multiple QUALIFs per issuer. Initial qualification plus each qualified 1-A POS produces a separate record; deduplication for unique-issuer counts should use the underlying issuer identity rather than QUALIF accession numbers.
  • Tier identification. The notice indicates Tier 1 or Tier 2. Only Tier 2 issuers go on to file ongoing 1-K, 1-SA, and 1-U reports; Tier 1 issuers generally have no continuing federal reporting after qualification beyond a possible Form 1-Z exit report.
  • No QUALIF amendments. Because QUALIF is an SEC-issued notice, corrections or supersessions take the form of new QUALIF records tied to new 1-A POS qualifications rather than QUALIF/A filings.

How This Dataset Differs From Similar Datasets or Filings

Form QUALIF is unusual in EDGAR: the SEC is the filer (synthetic CIK 9999999994), so each record is a regulatory action rather than an issuer disclosure. The most useful comparisons are (1) the issuer-filed Regulation A documents QUALIF acts upon, (2) the post-qualification Reg A reporting stream, (3) EFFECT, the structural twin for registered offerings, and (4) parallel exempt-offering regimes that deliberately omit a qualification step.

EFFECT — the structural twin

EFFECT is the SEC-issued notice of effectiveness for registered offerings on Form S-1, S-3, S-11, F-1, and similar registration statements. Like QUALIF, it is filed under CIK 9999999994, is short and formulaic, and is the gating event that legally permits sales to begin. The two are direct parallels in different statutory channels:

  • EFFECT: Securities Act Section 5 registered offerings, primarily Form S-1 and S-3.
  • QUALIF: Regulation A exempt offerings under Section 3(b)(2), tied to Form 1-A.

They are never substitutes. A complete map of SEC gating actions for public capital raises requires both.

Form 1-A — the underlying Regulation A offering statement

Form 1-A is the issuer-filed offering statement that QUALIF acts upon: Part I issuer information, Part II offering circular (business, risk, financial, use-of-proceeds), and Part III exhibits. QUALIF references a specific 1-A accession but does not republish its content. Use 1-A for offering substance; use QUALIF for the legal qualification date and the qualified Tier 1/Tier 2 universe.

Form 1-A/A and Form 1-A POS — amendments

  • 1-A/A is filed pre-qualification, typically in response to staff comments. Multiple 1-A/A submissions may precede a single QUALIF. These amendments do not themselves trigger a QUALIF.
  • 1-A POS is filed post-qualification to update an ongoing offering and can itself trigger a new QUALIF, because the amended offering statement must be re-qualified by Commission order. This is why a single issuer may appear in the QUALIF dataset multiple times.

Form 1-K, 1-SA, 1-U — post-qualification ongoing reporting

These are the periodic and event reports for Tier 2 Reg A issuers after qualification: 1-K (annual, lighter analogue to 10-K), 1-SA (semiannual, analogue to 10-Q), 1-U (current report, analogue to 8-K). An issuer only enters this regime because a QUALIF was previously issued. QUALIF marks entry; 1-K/1-SA/1-U capture ongoing disclosure; Form 1-Z marks exit.

Form C (Regulation Crowdfunding) and Form D (Regulation D)

Both are exempt-offering neighbors, and both highlight QUALIF by contrast:

  • Form C (Reg CF, Section 4(a)(6), $5M cap per 12 months): no SEC qualification order required; the offering proceeds through a funding portal or broker-dealer intermediary.
  • Form D (Rule 504, 506(b), 506(c)): a post-sale notice; issuers self-certify exemption with no SEC review.

Neither regime produces a QUALIF-equivalent record. The absence of a gating order is the defining contrast.

CORRESP and UPLOAD — staff review correspondence

CORRESP (issuer-to-staff letters) and UPLOAD (staff comment letters, released after a delay) document the substantive dialogue during the Form 1-A review that culminates in a QUALIF. They capture the content and timing of review; QUALIF records only the binary outcome.

Key differences at a glance

  • Authorship: QUALIF is SEC-authored (CIK 9999999994); 1-A, 1-A/A, 1-A POS, 1-K, 1-SA, 1-U, Form C, Form D, and CORRESP are issuer-authored. UPLOAD and EFFECT are SEC-authored.
  • Function: QUALIF and EFFECT are gating orders with legal effect. The Reg A issuer forms are disclosure documents. Form C and Form D are notice filings without SEC review.
  • Scope: QUALIF is confined to Regulation A. EFFECT covers registered offerings. Form C covers Reg CF; Form D covers Reg D.
  • Content: QUALIF carries the qualification date, issuer reference, associated 1-A, and offering tier — not the offering disclosure itself.

A common pitfall is conflating QUALIF with the NT family (NT 10-K, NT 10-Q, NT 20-F, NT 10-D). Both are short and procedural, but NT forms are issuer-filed late-filing notifications keyed to the issuer's CIK, whereas QUALIF is an SEC action keyed to CIK 9999999994 and only linked to the issuer through document references.

Boundary summary

Form QUALIF is distinct because it combines three features that no other EDGAR submission type shares: SEC authorship, legal qualification effect, and exclusive scope to Regulation A. Its only true functional analogue is EFFECT, which performs the same gating role for registered offerings. The Reg A issuer filings (1-A, 1-A/A, 1-A POS, 1-K, 1-SA, 1-U) and the staff correspondence streams (CORRESP, UPLOAD) surround QUALIF in the lifecycle but do not replace it. For any analysis that needs to know when a Reg A offering became legally permitted to sell securities, QUALIF is the authoritative, non-substitutable source.

Who Uses This Dataset

Each Form QUALIF record marks the moment the Commission qualifies a Regulation A offering and the issuer becomes legally permitted to accept investor payment. The user workflows below pivot on the issuer CIK, the Reg A file number (024-xxxxx), the underlying form (1-A vs. 1-A POS), tier, and the qualification timestamp (finalEffectivenessDispDate / finalEffectivenessDispTime).

Regulation A counsel

Securities lawyers advising on Reg A deals track qualification orders for clients and benchmark Staff review cycles across the market. They subtract the original 1-A filing date from finalEffectivenessDispDate to model time-to-qualification, read the underlying form to distinguish initial qualification from a 1-A POS reopening, and rely on the tier field to drive advice on ongoing reporting, blue sky preemption, and investor caps.

Capital markets bankers and small-cap broker-dealers

Coverage and syndicate desks at boutique investment banks and selling-group broker-dealers use the feed as a deal-flow signal. Newly qualified CIKs feed prospecting for selling agreements and post-qualification financing; the Reg A file number joins back to the offering statement; the tier flags whether the deal is large enough to support syndicated or platform distribution.

Reg A funding platforms and escrow agents

Online offering platforms and the escrow agents holding investor funds treat finalEffectivenessDispDate / finalEffectivenessDispTime as the operational green light. The CIK and 024-xxxxx number key the timestamp to a specific offering page, and the 1-A vs. 1-A POS flag tells the platform whether to launch sales or refresh disclosure on an existing listing before resuming.

Issuer-side compliance and finance teams

In-house compliance officers, deal counsel, and the finance team running the offering archive the qualification order as the authoritative sales-authority record. They reconcile the accession number and qualification timestamp against board approvals and sales-launch authorizations, and use the tier value to scope ongoing 1-K, 1-SA, 1-U, and 1-Z obligations.

Financial journalists covering small-cap and crowdfunding markets

Reporters at small-cap and crowdfunding trade publications use the dataset to compile newly qualified offering lists and to chart historical qualification volume, sector mix, and Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 share for trend coverage of the Reg A market.

Quantitative and academic researchers

Researchers studying Reg A outcomes build event series on the full 2015-to-present population: qualification counts, time-to-qualification distributions, tier mix, and post-qualification issuer survival. The CIK is the join key into subsequent ongoing reports, enforcement actions, and secondary-market data.

Fintech and data product engineers

Engineering teams building Reg A deal trackers and small-cap dashboards ingest the XML and JSON payloads to maintain a qualified-issuer table keyed by CIK and 024-xxxxx. finalEffectivenessDispDate surfaces as the "qualified on" field; tier and underlying form become filter dimensions.

Litigation, enforcement, and blue sky researchers

Plaintiff- and defense-side litigators, enforcement counsel, and blue sky compliance staff use the qualification timestamp to anchor timelines in disputes over premature solicitation, misrepresentation, or unregistered sales. The Reg A file number and CIK link the qualification event to later 1-K / 1-SA / 1-U disclosures and to any follow-on enforcement.

State securities regulators

Staff at state securities regulators participating in coordinated review for Tier 1 offerings use the tier field as the first filter, then reconcile the federal qualification timestamp with state authorization dates via issuer name and CIK.

Summary

A compact but well-defined set of users reads each Form QUALIF: Reg A counsel and issuer compliance teams treat it as a legal milestone; bankers, platforms, and escrow agents treat it as an operational trigger; journalists, researchers, and product engineers treat it as a structured event stream; litigators and state regulators treat the qualification timestamp as a fixed anchor for downstream timelines.

Specific Use Cases

The use cases below pivot on the qualification timestamp (finalEffectivenessDispDate / finalEffectivenessDispTime), the issuer CIK, the Reg A file number (024-xxxxx), and the underlying form flag (1-A vs. 1-A POS).

Time-to-qualification benchmarking across Reg A counsel and tiers

Join each QUALIF record to the issuer's initial Form 1-A by CIK and 024-xxxxx file number, then compute the number of business days between the original 1-A submission and finalEffectivenessDispDate. Filtering on <form>=1-A isolates first qualifications; grouping by issuer state, SIC, or tier (resolved from the underlying 1-A) produces a comparable review-cycle distribution that law firms and bankers use to set client expectations.

Sales-launch trigger for Reg A funding platforms and escrow agents

Stream new QUALIF accessions (the SEC's nightly batch around 00:15 ET) and key on entities[0].cik plus fileNo to match each notice to a live offering page. The finalEffectivenessDispDate and finalEffectivenessDispTime values drive the operational release that lets the platform accept payment; the <form> flag tells the platform whether to open a fresh offering (1-A) or resume an existing one after a post-qualification amendment (1-A POS).

Reg A market trend reporting

Aggregate the full QUALIF population by month, year, tier (joined from the underlying 1-A cover page), and SIC label to chart qualification volume, sector mix, and Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 share over time. The resulting series feeds small-cap and crowdfunding trade-press coverage and academic studies of the post-2015 Regulation A+ regime.

Issuer lifecycle tables keyed by Reg A file number

Use 024-xxxxx as the join key to build a per-offering ledger that links the original 1-A, any 1-A/A amendments, the initial QUALIF, subsequent 1-A POS submissions and their re-qualifying QUALIFs, and the post-qualification 1-K, 1-SA, 1-U, and 1-Z reports. Counting QUALIF records per file number identifies offerings that have been re-qualified one or more times — a marker of long-running, periodically refreshed Reg A deals.

Timeline anchoring for enforcement, litigation, and blue sky review

Treat finalEffectivenessDispDate / finalEffectivenessDispTime as the authoritative "sales-permitted" boundary when investigating premature solicitation, misrepresentation, or unregistered-sales claims. Pair the qualification timestamp with the issuer CIK to pull pre- and post-qualification marketing materials, broker-dealer activity, and subsequent 1-U disclosures, and to reconcile federal qualification with state authorization dates in coordinated review for Tier 1 offerings.

Deal-flow prospecting for boutique investment banks

Subscribe to newly added accessions, extract the issuer CIK, company name, state of incorporation, and SIC label from metadata.json.entities[0], and route freshly qualified issuers to coverage bankers for selling-agreement outreach, post-qualification PIPE financings, and warrant-exercise advisory. Filtering on the underlying form distinguishes brand-new offerings (1-A) from re-qualified amendments (1-A POS) that signal an existing deal mid-distribution.

Dataset Access

The Form QUALIF Files Dataset can be accessed in three ways: through the dataset index JSON API, by downloading the full dataset archive, or by retrieving individual monthly container files.

Dataset Index JSON API: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-qualif-files.json

Returns dataset metadata including name, description, last updated timestamp, earliest sample date (2015-09-01), total records, total size, form types covered (QUALIF), container format (ZIP), file types contained (XML, JSON), the download URL for the full dataset archive, and the list of all individual container files. Each container entry includes its key, size, record count, updated timestamp, and direct download URL. This endpoint does not require an API key and can be polled to identify which containers were refreshed in the latest update run, allowing selective day-by-day downloads.

Example
1 {
2 "datasetId": "1f13365b-9ae0-6971-9348-6f71cf513b45",
3 "datasetDownloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-qualif-files.zip",
4 "name": "Form QUALIF Files Dataset",
5 "updatedAt": "2026-05-16T03:03:15.136Z",
6 "earliestSampleDate": "2015-09-01",
7 "totalRecords": 6016,
8 "totalSize": 6852488,
9 "formTypes": ["QUALIF"],
10 "containerFormat": "ZIP",
11 "fileTypes": ["XML", "JSON"],
12 "containers": [
13 {
14 "downloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-qualif-files/2026/2026-05.zip",
15 "key": "2026/2026-05.zip",
16 "size": 142336,
17 "records": 24,
18 "updatedAt": "2026-05-16T03:03:15.136Z"
19 }
20 ]
21 }

Download Entire Dataset: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-qualif-files.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Downloads the complete Form QUALIF archive as a single ZIP file covering all filings from September 2015 to present. This endpoint requires an API key.

Download Single Container: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-qualif-files/2026/2026-05.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Downloads a single monthly container instead of the full dataset. Container paths follow the YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip pattern and are listed in the dataset index JSON response. This endpoint requires an API key.

Frequently Asked Questions

What form does this dataset cover?

The dataset covers Form QUALIF, the EDGAR submission type the SEC uses to memorialize a Regulation A qualification order under Rule 252(e). Each QUALIF is the public record of an order by which the Commission qualifies an offering statement on Form 1-A or a post-qualification amendment on Form 1-A POS.

What does one record in this dataset represent?

One record is one complete EDGAR accession of a Notice of Qualification — a folder named after the accession number with hyphens stripped — bundling a metadata.json descriptor, the raw primary_doc.xml submission, and the stylesheet-rendered HTML view under xslQUALIFX01/. Each record captures exactly one Commission order qualifying one offering statement of one issuer at one effective date and time.

Who files Form QUALIF?

Form QUALIF is filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission itself, acting through the Division of Corporation Finance under delegated authority. Every QUALIF on EDGAR is posted under the SEC's synthetic central index key 9999999994; the qualified Regulation A issuer is identified inside the record body (in metadata.json.entities[0] and in <effectiveData>/<filer>) rather than as the filer of record.

What time period does the dataset cover?

The dataset's earliest sample date is September 1, 2015, reflecting the first qualifications issued after the revised Regulation A framework took effect on June 19, 2015. The legacy pre-2015 Regulation A regime did not produce a QUALIF submission type on EDGAR, so the coverage begins with the Reg A+ era and runs through the present.

What file format is the dataset distributed in?

The dataset is distributed as monthly ZIP containers organized under a YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip path scheme. Each accession folder inside a container holds the parser-produced metadata.json, the raw <edgarSubmission> primary_doc.xml, and the stylesheet-rendered HTML view (named primary_doc.xml under xslQUALIFX01/).

How does this dataset differ from EFFECT?

EFFECT is the SEC's notice of effectiveness for registered Securities Act offerings on Form S-1, S-3, F-1, and similar registration statements; QUALIF is the SEC's parallel notice of qualification for Regulation A offerings on Form 1-A under Securities Act Section 3(b)(2). Both are posted under CIK 9999999994 and both are gating events that legally permit sales to begin, but the two are never substitutes — registered offerings produce EFFECT, Regulation A offerings produce QUALIF.

Why does the same issuer sometimes appear in the dataset more than once?

An issuer appears once for the initial qualification of its Form 1-A and again for each qualification of a Form 1-A POS filed to amend the offering post-qualification (for example, to extend the offering, add securities, or update financials). The <form> field inside <effectiveData> distinguishes initial qualifications (1-A) from amendment qualifications (1-A POS), and the durable 024-xxxxx Regulation A file number is the join key that ties multiple QUALIF records for the same offering together.