Re: Corporate Transparency Act – Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting
There is a very important filing requirement which you have to take care of by no later than December 31, 2024 to avoid a potential $ 10,000 non-compliance penalty. This filing requirement is considered to be a legal document, and as such, is not being handled by the accountants, and is not considered an accounting or tax matter.
In 2021 The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was enacted to address and guard against money laundering, terrorism financing, and other forms of illegal financing by mandating that all small and medium sized S Corps, C Corps and LLCs report ‘beneficial owner” information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN). To qualify for an exception, the business entity would need to employee over 20 people, have gross revenue over $5 million, and have an operating office within the United States.
It is important you take immediate action to ensure you fulfill these requirements. You are able to go on-line yourself and submit the information. To do this, the website is https://boiefiling.fincen.gov. To complete their form, you will need the company name, address, and EIN (federal id#), owners name(s), address(es), date(s) of birth, and you will need to upload a photo of owner(s) personal identification, such as a driver's license. No financial information is required. It takes no more than 15 minutes to complete. For additional information on all of your requirements, you should go to https://www.fincen.gov/boi-faqs.
FinCEN’s website includes guidance about the beneficial ownership information reporting requirements on its beneficial ownership information webpage. FinCEN’s Small Entity Compliance Guide explains who must report, what they must report, and when they must report.
NOTE:
- It is faster, and easier to fill out the to use the online BOIR (your second option on the website) instead of the PDF BOIR (the first option). You only need to complete the required questions, but know that when you enter your form of ID, despite not being marked, all the issuing information for that ID (country, state, etc) is required in both locations you add it.
- To use the .PDF version, Adobe is required, and no one has reported successfully being able to use it. Those who have tried, and given feedback, have not been able to upload the completed .PDF.
- There is a captcha test at the end that doesn't always tell you what to do. Thus far, everyone has had to select the item that does not have a matching item.