The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) began accepting beneficial ownership information – i.e., identifying information about the individual people who directly or indirectly own at least 25% of a company or exercise “substantial control” over the company – on January 1.

  • The information will be used to create a national database to aid investigations of tax evasion, money laundering and other financial crimes.

ICYMI: BOI Reporting Requirements: What Small Businesses Need To Know

FinCEN issued notice on October 29 that it has extended deadlines for certain victims of five recent hurricanes to submit the required information.

Recently formed entities in affected areas, as designated by FEMA for individual or public assistance and by the IRS for tax filing relief, now have an additional six months to file or update the required BOI reports, or to correct their existing reports. Specifically, the six-month extension applies to the following:

  • Hurricane Beryl victims whose filing deadline was between July 4, 2024, and October 2, 2024
  • Hurricane Debby victims whose filing deadline was between July 31, 2024, and October 29, 2024
  • Hurricane Francine victims whose filing deadline was between September 8, 2024, and December 7, 2024
  • Hurricane Helene victims whose filing deadline was between September 22, 2024, and December 21, 2024
  • Hurricane Milton victims whose filing deadline was between October 4, 2024, and January 2, 2025

The Journal of Accounting reports that FinCEN also says it will work with any reporting company headquartered outside the disaster areas that must consult records located in one or more of them in order to meet the deadline.

How To File

For entities not affected by the hurricanes, the deadlines to file BOI information are unchanged. Filing is not an annual requirement, and the report only needs to be submitted once, unless the filer needs to update or correct information. 

Filing is free via FinCEN’s online form, and anyone the reporting company authorizes to act on its behalf, such as an owner, employee or third-party service provider (e.g., an attorney or accountant), may file a BOI report.

  • A company created or registered to do business before January 1, 2024, will have until January 1, 2025, to file its initial beneficial ownership information report.
  • A company created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, and before January 1, 2025, will have 90 days after receiving notice of its creation or registration to file its initial BOI report.
  • Reporting companies created or registered on or after January 1, 2025, will have 30 calendar days to file their initial BOI reports.
  • Failure to comply can trigger civil penalties (up to roughly $600 per day) and criminal penalties (up to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000).
  • Both individuals and corporate entities can be held liable for “willful violations.”

A half dozen lawsuits seeking to overturn the requirement are working their way through the courts, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has submitted a letter to the Treasury Department asking to postpone enforcement until those are resolved.

Additionally, two bills have been introduced in Congress – one to repeal the rule and one intended to make filing easier – but neither has moved forward.

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