Beneficial Ownership Information reports: File by January

Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reports should now be filed by Jan. 13, 2025 with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN.) This after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction imposed by a lower court in Texas yapping about mah freedumbs. BOI reports only have to be filed once and apply to LLCs, S Corps, C Corps, Partnerships, as well as many trusts and foundations.

If an entity was created by filing of a document with a secretary of state or similar office, it is required to file BOI with FinCEN, which is part of CTA.

The bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) enacted in 2021 was designed to protect economic and national security by reducing corporate anonymity that enables money laundering, drug trafficking, terrorism and corruption.

Beneficial owners, the persons who ultimately own or control the company, are required to report their name, address, and upload ID.

Who counts as a beneficial owner?
According to the FinCEN rule, a beneficial owner is any individual who, either directly or indirectly, exercises “substantial control” of a reporting company or owns or controls at least 25% of the ownership interests/equity interests of said company.

For these purposes, substantial control can be defined in four ways:

A person who is a senior officer at the company, like CEOs or a similar office or similar function.
A person with the authority to unilaterally appoint or remove a senior officer or majority of the board of directors.
A person who directs, determines, or has substantial influence over important decisions made by the reporting company and its stakeholders.
A person with any form of substantial control over the reporting company.

FinCEN has copious information on how to file, including FAQs, plus this video. It's a straightforward process and should probably only take a few minutes to do.