February 21. 2024 - FinCEN Issues BOI Small Business Guide

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has published a Small Entity Compliance Guide to help small businesses meet the new beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rules that go into effect Jan. 1, 2024. The guide contains answers to key questions, interactive flowcharts, checklists and other items to help companies determine whether they need to file a BOI report.

The reports include information on the entity, beneficial owners and company applicants. A beneficial owner is usually an individual who owns or controls at least 25% of a company or has substantial control over it. A company applicant is generally the person primarily responsible for filing the documents to register the company.

Reports must be filed electronically using FinCEN's secure filing system beginning Jan. 1, 2024, but reporting companies created before that date will have until Jan. 1, 2025, to file their initial BOI report. Companies created or registered to do business after registration begins will have 30 days to file after receiving notice of its creation or registration.