FAQs

Beneficial ownership information refers to identifying information about the individuals who directly or indirectly own or control a company. [Issued March 24, 2023]

In 2021, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act on a bipartisan basis. This law creates a new beneficial ownership information reporting requirement as part of the U.S. government’s efforts to make it harder for bad actors to hide or benefit from their ill-gotten gains through shell companies or other opaque ownership structures. [Issued September 18, 2023]

FinCEN will permit Federal, State, local, and Tribal officials, as well as certain foreign officials who submit a request through a U.S. Federal government agency, to obtain beneficial ownership information for authorized activities related to national security, intelligence, and law enforcement. Financial institutions will also have access to beneficial ownership information in certain circumstances, with the consent of the reporting company. Those financial institutions’ regulators will also have access to beneficial ownership information when they supervise the financial institutions

No. No one needs to report beneficial ownership information to FinCEN until January 1, 2024. FinCEN is currently not accepting any beneficial ownership information reports.
[Issued March 24, 2023]

A reporting company created or registered to do business before January 1, 2024, will have until January 1, 2025, to file its initial beneficial ownership information report. A reporting company created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, will have 90 days to file its initial beneficial ownership information report. This 30-day deadline runs from the time the company receives actual notice that its creation or registration is effective, or after a secretary of state or similar office first provides public notice of its creation or registration, whichever is earlier. (Issued November 29, 2023)

FinCEN will begin accepting beneficial ownership information reports on January 1, 2024. Beneficial ownership information reports will not be accepted before then. To view more Frequently Asked Questions, click here to visit the FinCEN BOI FAQ page.

Only reporting companies created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, will need to report their company applicants.

A company that must report its company applicants will have only up to two individuals who could qualify as company applicants:

The individual who directly files the document that creates or registers the company; and
If more than one person is involved in the filing, the individual who is primarily responsible for directing or controlling the filing.

Not all reporting companies have to report their company applicants to FinCEN.

A reporting company must report its company applicants only if it is either a:

Domestic reporting company created in the United States on or after January 1, 2024; or
Foreign reporting company first registered to do business in the United States on or after January 1, 2024.
A reporting company does not have to report its company applicants if it is either a:

Domestic reporting company created in the United States before January 1, 2024; or
Foreign reporting company first registered to do business in the United States before January 1, 2024.

An accountant or lawyer could be a company applicant, depending on their role in filing the document that creates or registers a reporting company. In many cases, company applicants may work for a business formation service or law firm.

An accountant or lawyer may be a company applicant if they directly filed the document that created or registered the reporting company. If more than one person is involved in the filing of the creation or registration document, an accountant or lawyer may be a company applicant if they are primarily responsible for directing or controlling the filing.

For example, an attorney at a law firm that offers business formation services may be primarily responsible for overseeing preparation and filing of a reporting company’s incorporation documents. A paralegal at the law firm may directly file the incorporation documents at the attorney’s request. Under those circumstances, the attorney and the paralegal are both company applicants for the reporting company.