Welcome to the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA” or “Act”) which is a federal law intended to combat tax fraud, money laundering, terrorism, corruption, etc. The key part of the Act is the requirement that most small and medium size businesses need to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report (“BOI Report”) which will contain information about a business’s owners (i.e., individuals with either a 25% ownership or substantial control of the business). The BOI will be filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”).

The Act took effect January 1, 2024, and the new filing requirements go into effect as follows:

• Businesses that started before January 1, 2024 have until the end of the year in 2024 to file their BOI Report.
• New businesses that start up in 2024 have 90 days to file their Report.
• Businesses that start up after January 1, 2025, have 30 days to file their Report.

The BOI Report will typically require 4 pieces of information about each beneficial owner: name, DOB, address, and a picture ID. Here is a link to the BOI Report which can easily be filed online. There is no charge to file the BOI Report and, the BOI Report is only filed once, unless information needs to be updated or corrected, in which case the Report must be changes within 30 days after any such updates or corrections. Most small and medium size businesses will need to comply with the Act. There are 23 exceptions that you can find listed here.

FinCEN has a compilation of FAQs and also has published a guide for small businesses that discusses the BOI reporting requirements: Small Entity Compliance Guide.