Tier II reporting: who must file, thresholds, and the March 1 deadline

Who must file

Two conditions have to be true at the same time. First, the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) must require the facility to prepare or have available an SDS for a hazardous chemical. Second, that chemical must be present at the facility at or above its threshold at any one time (40 CFR 370.10(a)). EPA has not published a list of hazardous chemicals for this purpose. A substance is covered if it needs an SDS and meets the OSHA definition of hazardous chemical in 29 CFR 1910.1200(c) (40 CFR 370.12(b)).

“Facility” means everything on a single site, or on contiguous or adjacent sites, owned or operated by the same person (40 CFR 370.3). Quantities are totaled across all buildings, tanks, and storage areas on that site, not per building.

EPCRA §311(e) excludes five groups of substances from §311 and §312 reporting (40 CFR 370.13):

• Food, food additives, color additives, drugs, and cosmetics regulated by FDA.
• Substances present as a solid in a manufactured item, to the extent exposure does not occur under normal conditions of use.
• Substances used for personal, family, or household purposes, or present in the same form and concentration as a product packaged for distribution and use by the general public.
• Substances used in a research laboratory, hospital, or other medical facility under the direct supervision of a technically qualified individual.
• Substances used in routine agricultural operations, and fertilizer held for sale by a retailer to the ultimate customer.

These exclusions apply only to the §311 and §312 inventory requirements. EPA’s reporting guidance points out that the same facility may still have obligations under EPCRA §302, §304, and §313.

Reporting thresholds

The EHS rule means the Tier II threshold for an EHS is never higher than 500 pounds. Sulfuric acid, for example, has a TPQ of 1,000 pounds in 40 CFR Part 355, Appendix A, so its Tier II threshold is 500 pounds. Chlorine has a TPQ of 100 pounds, so its Tier II threshold is 100 pounds. The TPQ itself, and the separate 60-day emergency planning notice it triggers, are covered in EPCRA 302 EHS and TPQs.

What counts toward the threshold

The test is the maximum amount present at any one time during the calendar year, added up across the whole facility. It is not annual throughput and not the amount purchased. A site that receives 30,000 pounds of a solvent over the year but never holds more than 6,000 pounds at once is below the 10,000-pound threshold for that solvent.

A few rules change the arithmetic:

• Mixtures. For an EHS, you must add the EHS content of every mixture to any pure EHS on site. For other hazardous chemicals you may total either the component across all mixtures or each mixture as a whole. Components at or below 1% (0.1% for carcinogens) do not have to be counted (40 CFR 370.14). See how to count mixtures for Tier II.
• Weight, not volume. Thresholds and range codes are in pounds. Part 370 says to convert gas or liquid volume to weight by multiplying by an appropriate density factor (note to 40 CFR 370.43). See converting gallons to pounds.
• EHS solids. Part 355 lets you discount EHS solids in solution (multiply by 0.2) or in molten form (multiply by 0.3) when checking the TPQ. Part 355 states that these reductions must not be used for the amount present at one time under 40 CFR 370.10 (40 CFR 355.16).

The March 1 deadline

Inventory information is due on or before March 1 of each year and covers hazardous chemicals present at or above threshold during the preceding calendar year (40 CFR 370.45(a)). Calendar year 2026 reports are due Monday, March 1, 2027. EPA’s guidance says that if March 1 falls on a weekend or other non-business day, reports should be submitted before it.

Two other clocks run alongside the annual report. If the SERC, LEPC, or fire department requests Tier II information, you have 30 days from receipt of the request (40 CFR 370.45(b)). And the first time a chemical crosses its threshold, a separate one-time §311 submission is due within three months; see EPCRA 311 notification.

Who receives the report

The report goes to three recipients: the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), and the fire department with jurisdiction over the facility (40 CFR 370.44). Many states run a single point of submission that forwards data to the LEPC and fire department. EPA’s guidance says it remains the owner or operator’s responsibility to make sure all three actually receive it, so confirm the state system covers each recipient.

You may ask that the location of a specific chemical be withheld from the public by using the Tier II Confidential Location form. You may not withhold it from the SERC, LEPC, or fire department (40 CFR 370.64(b)). A facility that has submitted inventory information must, on the fire department’s request, allow an on-site inspection and provide specific chemical locations (40 CFR 370.65).

What the Tier II report contains

Federal law sets Tier I as the minimum, but EPA’s forms page notes that Tier I is generally not accepted by states and Tier II is generally required. For each reportable chemical, Tier II asks for (40 CFR 370.42(s)):

• Chemical or common name and CAS number as shown on the SDS, or, for a mixture, the product name and any EHS components.
• Physical state (solid, liquid, gas) and whether it is an EHS.
• The hazard categories from Section 2 of the SDS.
• Maximum amount on any single day and average daily amount, each as a range code from 01 (0–99 lb) to 13 (10,000,000 lb and above) in 40 CFR 370.43. States may require narrower ranges or exact amounts.
• Maximum number of days on site, type of storage, storage conditions, and precise locations.

Facility-level fields include street address with latitude and longitude, NAICS code, Dun & Bradstreet number, TRI and RMP facility IDs, whether the facility is subject to EPCRA §302 or the CAA §112(r) Risk Management Program, the facility emergency coordinator, and a 24-hour emergency phone number. The owner, operator, or designated representative certifies the submission (40 CFR 370.42(a)).

How states differ

States implement §312 and have flexibility to add chemicals, set lower thresholds, and require their own formats or extra data, according to EPA. EPA’s May 2026 Tier II instructions state that all states require at least the information on the federal Tier II form. In practice that means a different filing path in each state. EPA’s state page lists, for example, California filing through the California Environmental Reporting System (CERS), Texas filing through TCEQ’s STEERS application, Alaska requiring E-Plan, and Alabama accepting either E-Plan or a file from EPA’s Tier2 Submit software. Some states charge fees; there is no federal fee. Check your state’s entry on EPA’s State Tier II Reporting Requirements and Procedures page before each season.

Hazard categories change for calendar year 2027

On June 22, 2026, EPA published a final rule conforming Part 370 to OSHA’s 2012 and 2024 Hazard Communication Standard amendments (91 FR 37022). The rule took effect August 21, 2026. Its compliance date for the new hazard categories is January 1, 2028, and EPA expects the changes to appear in calendar year 2027 reports due March 1, 2028.

What changes for filers:

• The EPCRA hazard categories now track the OSHA hazard classes and categories as they appear in Section 2 of the SDS (40 CFR 370.3). EPA’s 2027 Tier II instructions list 55 health hazard categories and 63 physical hazard categories.
• New physical hazard classes from the 2024 HCS, including aerosols, chemicals under pressure, and desensitized explosives, become their own categories.
• The calendar year 2026 report, due March 1, 2027, still uses the 2017–2026 Tier II form. EPA’s guidance says that for that report you may use the SDS you already had if you received a revised SDS during 2026. When an SDS written to the 2024 HCS shows aerosols, chemicals under pressure, chemically unstable gases, or desensitized explosives, EPA says to report those as Hazard Not Otherwise Classified (HNOC) for reporting years 2024 through 2026.

Common questions

Where Chemsana fits

Chemsana keeps inventory as a ledger totaled by CAS number, with low, nominal, and high bounds from SDS concentration ranges, and uses the upper bound for threshold checks. It produces the Tier II report as the EPA form PDF, a Tier2 Submit .t2s file, and Tier II XML. See how filing works.

Sources

1. 40 CFR Part 370, Hazardous Chemical Reporting: Community Right-to-Know (§§370.3, 370.10, 370.12–370.14, 370.40–370.45, 370.64, 370.65), eCFR, accessed October 2026.
2. 40 CFR 355.16, quantities for certain forms of solids, eCFR, accessed October 2026.
3. 40 CFR Part 355, Appendix A, EHS list and TPQs, eCFR, accessed October 2026.
4. EPCRA Hazardous Chemical Inventory Reporting Requirements: Conformity With the 2024 OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, 91 FR 37022 (June 22, 2026), Federal Register.
5. EPCRA Hazardous Chemical Inventory Reporting: Revisions to Hazard Categories and Reporting Guidance, EPA, accessed October 2026.
6. Tier II Forms and Instructions, EPA, accessed October 2026.
7. EPCRA Hazardous Chemical Inventory Reporting: General Reporting Guidance, EPA, accessed October 2026.
8. State Tier II Reporting Requirements and Procedures, EPA, accessed October 2026.
9. Regulatory Overview and Instructions for the Tier II Form (May 2026), EPA.

This guide summarizes federal requirements for general information. States can set lower thresholds or extra requirements, and it is not legal advice. Confirm obligations with your SERC, LEPC, or a qualified EHS professional.