Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements
As you may be aware, the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) have been in effect since January 1, 2024. This program, administered by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) division of the U.S.Treasury, requires many businesses to disclose key information about their beneficial owners. Compliance is essential to avoid penalties. Our teams of tax experts at Chehardy Sherman Williams would like to provide a brief overview of the requirements.
Who is Required to File?
Most U.S. corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and other entities formed by filing documents with U.S. state and foreign entities registered to do business in the U.S. must file a BOI report. Most for-profit business entities must also file this report unless they qualify for an exemption. There are exceptions for certain entities, including tax-exempt entities and large operating companies. You can find out if you have an exemption on this page.
Entities employing 21 or more full-time employees or reporting over $5,000,000 in sales on last year’s business tax return are exempt.
Additionally, entities that already currently report such information because they are in the following industries are exempt:
- securities business
- money services business
- lending industry
- investment advisory
- venture capital
- insurance industries
- any company that has SEC registration as an issuer of its own securities
- CPA Firms
- tax-exempt entities and their wholly owned subsidiaries, along with entities established solely to provide financial assistance or governance to a tax-exempt entity
- any inactive entity created before January 1, 2020, that holds no assets, is not engaged in any business, has no foreign owners, and has not sent or received money or changed ownership in the prior 12 months
What Must Be Filed?
The BOI report must include information about each applicant and each beneficial owner.
An applicant is the person responsible for applying for the company’s charter/articles of incorporation/formation.
A Beneficial Owner is any person who owns 25% or more of the equity, any director, or any officer who exerts significant control over the governance of the entity.
Required information:
- Full legal name
- Date of birth
- Current residential or business address
- A unique identifying number from an acceptable identification document (e.g., passport or driver’s license), along with an image of the document
If you choose to file your own FinCEN reports, use this link to the website:
If You Have Not Already Done So
If you still need to complete your BOI filing, it is critical to do so as soon as possible. Non-compliance can result in substantial penalties, including fines of up to $500 per day, and in certain cases, criminal penalties may also apply.
For entities formed in the calendar year 2024, the deadline for filing a BOI report is 90 days from the date of formation. For all other entities that existed before January 1, 2024, the deadline to file the existing entity report is December 31, 2024. As the end of the year quickly approaches, we want to bring these deadlines to your attention.
If you believe your business is subject to the BOI filing requirements or would like to discuss having Chehardy Sherman Williams handle the BOI report on your behalf, please email us at info@chehardy.com or call our offices at (504) 977-2687. We are prepared to assist you in maintaining compliance and can help facilitate the filing process.
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