Another week, another time to talk about the miscellaneous reporting required of business owners. (Don’t worry; we’ll lay off 1099s…for now.) Today we’re discussing a more impending need: BOI reports are due New Year’s Day, 2025.
You may have heard BOI referenced, but be unsure about what it is, or whether it applies to your business. Beginning this year (in 2024), the U.S. Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network began requiring all companies registered within, or registered to do business in, the United States to report “Beneficial Ownership Information”. Per the Treasury Department, “Beneficial ownership information refers to identifying information about the individuals who directly or indirectly own or control a company,” and the reason for this is to, “make it harder for bad actors to hide or benefit from their ill-gotten gains through shell companies or other opaque ownership structures.” (Frequently Asked Questions, Beneficial Ownership Information, https://fincen.gov/boi-faqs, U.S Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, 2023)
The short answer is, a bipartisan law has been passed to help track the flow of money from businesses within the United States and, as a business owner, you are almost definitely required to complete this reporting.
The good news is that this reporting is relatively easy, particularly compared to much of the reporting, forms, and files you may be used to filling out. (Many of us are still traumatized by the deluge of documentation required to benefit from the CARES Act.) All you need is some basic information about the owners of the company. Also, there is no fee for this required filing.
When you are ready to get started, head to https://boiefiling.fincen.gov/. If you have any questions, the FAQ linked above gets into detail on who needs to file, what information you need, etc.
Good luck, and happy reporting!