This is just a friendly reminder from the Cooper Legal Firm, PC that under the Corporate Transparency Act, LLCs, corporations, and other entities must report information about their beneficial owners (those who have substantial control over the company or own/control more than 25% ownership interest in the company). Entities registered with the Secretary of State before January 1, 2024 have until January 1, 2025 to file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report with the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcements Network, or FinCEN. For businesses formed during 2024, you have 90 days from the date of formation of your entity in which to file this report. Thereafter, an entity will be required to report changes in ownership within 30 days.
BOI information will be stored in a secure, non-public database and the information will only be available only to Federal, State, Local and Tribal government officials as well as certain foreign officials who submit a request to the federal government for use of the information only for certain authorized activities related to national security, intelligence, and law enforcement. Financial institutions may be granted access in certain circumstances with the consent of the reporting entity. The BOI report requires an entity to report such information as the full name, date of birth, business and/or residential address, and a “unique identifying number” for each owner such as a government issues ID (passport number, driver’s license number). An individual or an entity can apply for a FinCEN ID. This is not required, but once issued, your FinCEN number can be reported instead of certain other required information on BOI reports. For example, you can use the FinCEN number instead of reporting your name, date of birth, address, and unique identifying document number. Having a FinCEN number will make filing BOIs faster and easier.
To create an account and request your FinCEN ID number visit: https://login.gov/create-an-account/. After signing in, access the FinCEN ID application here: https://fincenid.fincen.gov.Certain entities are exempt from reporting. A list of exempt entities can be found here: https://www.fincen.gov/boi-faqs#C_2. The March 1, 2024 ruling in Federal District Court holding FinCEN reporting unconstitutional applies only to members of the National Small Business Association (NSBA). Most entities (99.8% of all entities) are still required to report. To submit your BOI report, visit: https://boiefiling.fincen.gov.
Written by: Pamela Entrikin, Attorney at Cooper Legal Firm, PC