Effective January 1, 2024, Federal law — the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) — requires certain entities, including many small businesses, to report information about the individuals who ultimately own or control them (also known as their “beneficial owners”) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. A separate regulatory requirement currently requires many financial institutions to also collect beneficial ownership information from certain customers that seek to open accounts as part of Federal customer due diligence requirements. The CTA’s requirement that entities report information to FinCEN enables FinCEN to supply that information to law enforcement and other government agencies, as well as certain financial institutions. Agencies and institutions authorized to receive this information may then use it for a several specified purposes, most significantly combatting money laundering and other illicit activities that involve shell companies. Beneficial ownership collection requirements for financial institutions, in contrast, are primarily intended to ensure that financial institutions know their customers and thus can prevent their institutions from being used to facilitate illicit activity. 

While filing BOI reports on the FinCEN portal is complimentary, navigating their system can pose challenges and may lead to errors. Incorrectly filed reports are subject to penalties equivalent to those for unfiled reports, incurring daily fines of $500. To avoid these risks, consider utilizing our filing company. We offer an exceptionally user-friendly filing system that submits reports directly to the FinCEN portal, effectively eliminating potential mistakes.