All business owners must register with treasury department

Deadline for the U.S. Beneficial Information Registry fast approaching

Business owners of all shapes, sizes and industries are now required to complete the U.S. Beneficial Ownership Information Registry by January 1, 2025. The U.S. Department of the Treasury is in charge of this initiative, but it was created by the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act in an effort to curb illegal financial dealings within U.S. entities.

Here are the hard and fast facts:

Who: any company doing business in the U.S.
What: Requires entities doing business in the U.S. to report information about individuals who own or control them.
Where: file for free online at http://www.fincen.gove/boi
When: Existing companies have until January 1, 2025; new companies must file within 90 days of creation or registration

The online form only takes a few minutes to fill out since it only asks for a few pieces of information for each beneficial owner: name, date of birth, address and an ID number from a government-issued form of identification. This includes a U.S. driver’s license, U.S. passport or identification document issued by a state, including a U.S. territory or possession, local government or Indian tribe.) If none of those forms of identification exist, a foreign passport can also be used. However, all forms of identification must be up to date.

Within the registry, the company will submit its name and address. For entities created on or before January 1, 2024, information about the individuals who formed the company will also be required for registry. Those individuals are known as “company applicants.”

Failing to register, or providing false information can result in civil and criminal penalties. This could include but is not limited to $500 fines per day of noncompliance and possible imprisonment.

Larger companies with more than 20 full-time employees and over five million in annual revenue do not need to register. Also, regulated entities such as banks, insurance companies and publicly traded entities are exempt. FinCEN advises that you work with an accountant, attorney or business advisor to make sure your company is compliant with the registry.

A few warnings against fraudulent phishing: 

Registration is free, so anyone offering to complete your file for a fee should be considered fraudulent. Emails asking for sensitive information in relation to registration should also be considered fraudulent, even if they appear to be from FinCEN or other agencies. Misinformation about possible exemptions or changing deadlines are likely circulating. All information should be taken directly from FinCEN and all other contradicting information should be considered fraudulent.

FinCEN will not request reports, fees or sensitive information via email. Report all suspicious activity to your local Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission.

For more information, check out:
http://www.fincen.gov/boi
https://www.bbb.org/article/business/31051-bbb-business-tip-understanding-the-corporate-transparency-act
https://www.bbb.org/article/business/31051-bbb-business-tip-understanding-the-corporate-transparency-act
https://www.bbb.org/article/business/31051-bbb-business-tip-understanding-the-corporate-transparency-act