What is SERFF?

Who uses SERFF

Three groups work in the system:

• Filers. Insurance companies, third-party filers acting for insurers, and advisory organizations such as ISO, AAIS and NCCI that file loss costs, rules and forms on behalf of their members.
• State reviewers. Rate and form analysts and actuaries at each participating department, who review filings, send objections and record the final disposition.
• The public. Consumers, researchers and other insurers who view filings the states choose to publish through SERFF Filing Access.

The NAIC's state participation page lists the participating states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories, with each jurisdiction's configuration, lines it does not regulate, fee arrangements and reviewer contacts. Some states make SERFF mandatory for most filings. New York, for example, requires rate, rating plan, rule, manual and policy form submissions to go through SERFF under Insurance Regulation 195, with narrow exceptions.

Filers license SERFF from the NAIC. There is a per-filing transaction fee, and state filing fees, where a state charges them, are commonly paid through SERFF by electronic funds transfer (EFT).

How a filing is structured

A SERFF filing is one submission to one state. The same product filed in 30 states is 30 SERFF filings, each with its own tracking number, reviewer, correspondence and outcome.

Filing type, TOI and sub-TOI

When a filer creates a filing, the filing wizard asks for the state, the type of insurance (TOI), the sub-type of insurance (sub-TOI) and the filing type. TOI and sub-TOI codes come from the NAIC's uniform Product Coding Matrix (for example, 04.0 Homeowners and its sub-TOIs), and SERFF allows one TOI and one sub-TOI per filing. Filing types are configured by each state and usually include rate, rule and form filings and their combinations. The choice controls which schedules appear and which state requirements apply, so a wrong TOI or filing type can put a filing in front of the wrong review unit or prompt a rejection. See Rate, rule and form filings for how the codes work.

The filing tabs

In the SERFF interface that most state filings still use, a filing is organized into tabs. The names below are the ones filers see most often:

The schedules matter. New York's published SERFF guidelines, for instance, say filings that put forms or rates on the wrong schedule, or attach several forms as one attachment, will be rejected, and that the appropriate Review Standards Checklist is mandatory for every SERFF filing. Other states have their own rules about what goes where, set out in their SERFF General Instructions and Filing Rules.

Correspondence and disposition

After submission, the filing becomes a record of the exchange between filer and reviewer: objection letters, responses, amendments, notes to filer and notes to reviewer. When review ends, the state records a disposition, such as approved, filed, acknowledged, disapproved, withdrawn or rejected, with the vocabulary and meaning depending on the state and the filing type. The disposition date and any approved effective date are the facts most often looked up later. Objections and responses are covered in SERFF objections.

SERFF modernization

The NAIC is replacing the legacy application. The first modernized release went live in March 2025 for Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission (Compact) filings, while state-based filings continue on the legacy platform as states migrate in phases. Screen names and workflow may change for a given state when it moves, so check the state's current instructions before relying on a familiar layout.

Public access: SERFF Filing Access

SERFF Filing Access (SFA) is the public interface for viewing filings that participating states have made public. Each state decides what to publish, when and in how much detail, under its own public records law. Common patterns:

• Filings typically appear after the state has closed its review, not while they are pending, though some states publish earlier.
• A state may limit what is visible to filings marked eligible for public access. Alabama, for example, says interested parties can view filing details only for filings marked eligible.
• Documents the filer designated confidential or trade secret, where state law allows that, are usually withheld even when the rest of the filing is public.
• The range of years available varies by state. Older filings may only be available by records request to the department.

Searches can usually be run by company name or NAIC code, TOI and sub-TOI, filing type, SERFF tracking number, product name and date range. A result typically shows the filing's summary fields, its disposition and the public attachments, which may include the actuarial memorandum, rate exhibits, rate and rule pages, forms and the correspondence.

Forms in public filings, especially advisory organization forms, are often copyrighted. Being able to view a document does not grant a right to copy it.

Practical tips

• Search by SERFF tracking number when you have one. It is the most reliable key across a filer's records, a state's records and public search.
• Read the state's General Instructions before choosing a filing type. Filing type options and required attachments differ by state and sometimes by TOI. State filing requirements and checklists covers where those instructions live.
• Use public filings as precedent, carefully. A competitor's approved filing shows what a state accepted at a point in time. It does not show what the reviewer objected to unless the correspondence is public, and it may predate a rule or bulletin change.
• Match the PCM version to the filing date. The Product Coding Matrix is updated annually, effective January 1, so TOI and sub-TOI codes on older filings may not match the current matrix.
• Keep one filing per state in view. Multistate projects drift: an amendment in one state's filing does not propagate to the others.
• Check the disposition, not just the submission. A filed rate change may have been approved with modifications or partly withdrawn. The disposition and the final rate pages are the record of what went into effect.