Beneficial Ownership Information Report

BOI Report Filing Overview

After your LLC or corporation has been officially formed under state law, you’ll need to file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This report communicates basic information about your company and the individuals with the most control over business decisions and profits to the federal government.

Unlike state filings, the information contained in your BOI report does not go on the public record—it can only be accessed by authorized parties. Mandated by the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), the BOI report is intended to help law enforcement agencies and banking organizations prevent and detect fraud, money laundering, and other financial crimes

BOI Report: Key Terminology

To understand what kind of information you need to provide to FinCEN on your report, let’s start with a few key terms:

• Reporting Company: Your LLC or corporation.
• Beneficial Owner: Anyone who owns 25% or more of your company and/or has substantial control over how your business is run. Examples of individuals with substantial control include corporate officers (CEO, CFO, COO) and LLC member-managers.
• Company Applicant: The person(s) responsible for company formation. This includes filing your formation paperwork and directing it to be filed (if these actions are completed by different people).
• FinCEN Identifier: A number issued to a business or person by FinCEN that can used on a BOI report in place of that business or person’s identifying information. You can apply for a FinCEN identifier online. Using an identifier is convenient if you’re required to provide your information on multiple BOI reports.

 

BOI Report Filing Requirements

Your report must include the following details:

Reporting Company:

1. Legal company name
2. Any DBAs or trade names
3. Principal business address
4. Jurisdiction of formation
5. Tax ID (EIN, SSN or TIN)

Beneficial Owner(s) and Company Applicant(s):

1. Full legal name
2. Residential address
3. Birth date
4. Copy of photo ID (for example, a passport or driver’s license)

This is the same information you must disclose in order to obtain a FinCEN identifier.

 

When to File Your Report

The filing requirement is effective January 1, 2024, but there are separate due dates for new and existing businesses.

• Existing businesses:
  • Formed before 2024: By January 1, 2025.
• New businesses:
  • Formed during 2024: Within 90 days of company formation.
  • Formed during or after 2025: Within 30 days of company formation.

 

How to File Your Report

BOI reports must be filed online using the FinCEN’s Business Ownership Secure System (BOSS) database. There is no filing fee.

To help you avoid additional paperwork and filing headaches, we offer professional BOI report filing service for just $9.

 

Notes on Filing Rules

Here are a few special filing rules to remember:

• Companies formed before 2024 don’t need to provide information on company applicants.

• You don’t have to provide identifying information for beneficial owners who are minors. Instead, you can list the information for their parent(s) or legal guardian(s).

• When a beneficial owner is another company, the information for the owners of that company must be listed, not just the name of the comp

If any of the information on your BOI report changes, you’ll need to update your report within 30 days of the change. Similarly, if you realize that any of the information on your report is inaccurate, you must correct it within 30 days.

You can make corrections and updates online through the FinCEN database. There’s no charge for making changes to your report.

 

Exemptions to BOI Report Filing

If you run a small business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to file. The CTA lists 23 exemptions to filing, which apply to more sizable ventures and businesses that are already highly regulated. These include:

• Large operating companies with 20+ full-time employees and over $ 5 million in gross receipts or sales for the previous year

• Inactive entities that haven’t engaged in business and also haven’t sent or received over $1,000 to or from any other entity over the past 12 months

• Banks and credit unions

• Insurance companies

• Accounting firms

• Investment companies and brokers or dealers

• Public utility companies

Most non-profit organizations are also exempt.

 

Penalties for Not Filing

Penalties for not filing—or for purposely providing FinCEN with false information—can be high. Violations could result in up to 2 years in jail. You may also be charged up to $500 per day of noncompliance, up to $10,000.