Form SIM‑1· Statement of Organization Practice copy — not filed

Build a PAC

Follow the money is real. So follow it here first. Pick a vehicle, put money in it, and watch which dollars the law drags into daylight — and which ones it lets stay dark. Nothing here is filed with anybody. It is a practice run.

Step 1 of 311 CFR 100.5

Pick your vehicle

Four ways to spend money on federal elections. They look similar from outside. They are not the same, and the difference is who has to know your name.

Step 2 of 3Schedule A — Receipts

Take the money

Add who is giving and how much. Some of these are illegal for the vehicle you picked — the ledger will say so rather than quietly dropping them.

Step 3 of 3What the public gets to see

The ledger

Add a donor and file it to see your ledger.
If you actually wanted toFEC.gov

How you would really do this

Not hypothetical. This is the real sequence, in order, with the real deadlines.

Forming a federal political committee

  1. Cross the threshold. You are not a political committee until you receive or spend more than $1,000 in a calendar year for federal elections. Under that, none of the rest of this applies. There is no "small PAC" tier — you are either under the line or you are carrying the whole load.
  2. Name a treasurer. Required before you may accept a dollar or spend one. This is a real person with personal legal liability for the committee's reporting. Not a title you hand a friend.
  3. Open a dedicated bank account. Committee funds cannot sit in a personal account. A hybrid committee needs two separate accounts.
  4. File Form 1, the Statement of Organization. Due within 10 days of becoming a political committee A Super PAC files Form 1 along with a letter stating it will make only independent expenditures and will not contribute to candidates.
  5. Collect the required information at the moment of donation. For anyone whose giving passes $200 in a cycle you must make a best effort to get name, address, occupation, and employer. Get it up front. Chasing it later is how committees end up with blank fields and enforcement letters.
  6. Put a disclaimer on everything. Every public communication says who paid for it and whether a candidate authorized it. This is the rule Citizens United upheld.
  7. File Form 3X on schedule. Quarterly or monthly, your choice, then stick to it. Independent expenditures carry their own clocks: 48-hour reports once IEs aggregate $10,000+ · 24-hour reports for $1,000+ in the final 20 days before an election
  8. Keep the records. Three years, and the FEC can audit you.
This is a teaching page, not legal advice. Campaign finance law changes and the penalties are real. The authority is the Federal Election Commission at fec.gov. If you are seriously forming a committee, talk to an election lawyer first.