What Small Businesses Need to Know

Who does this impact?

Small business owners should be aware that their company must disclose beneficial ownership information directly to FinCEN. Certain businesses, however, may qualify for an exemption. See this link to Fin CEN’s guidance on what companies may be exempted at pages 4 - 14. Unless exempted, the following individuals must be reported:

• Any individual who directly or indirectly owns or controls at least 25% of the ownership interests of the reporting company.
• Any individual who exercises substantial control over the company.

What do they need to do?

New Deadline: Due to a recent update, the new deadline for most companies to report their beneficial ownership information is March 21, 2025. Please note that this is a change from the previous January 1, 2025 date.

• Businesses created on or after January 1, 2024, will have 90 days from receiving notice of their creation or registration to file their initial reports. In Hawaii, this notice comes from the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA).
• FinCEN will assess its options for further modifying deadlines, so it is important to stay updated.

What to Expect When Regulations Go into Effect

Compliance Requirements

New Deadline: The compliance deadline for reporting beneficial ownership information is now March 21, 2025, for most existing small businesses.

Businesses created on or after January 1, 2024, have 90 days from their creation date to comply.

Failure to Report Penalties

Companies that fail to report their beneficial ownership information could also be subject to civil penalties such as significant fines.

What Information Will You Need to Report

What to submit?

• Company legal name
• Any Trade Name or Doing Business As (DBA)
• Physical address (P.O. Box not sufficient)
• Jurisdiction in which it was formed or first registered (U.S. or foreign)
• Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)

Existing Businesses

In addition, if your company was created or registered before January 1, 2024, you will need to report information for each beneficial owner.

New Businesses

If your company is created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, you will need to report information for each beneficial owner and company applicant. For each beneficial owner and company applicant, you will need to provide the following for them:

• Legal name
• Birthdate
• Physical address
• Government-issued identification number, such as a social security or passport number. An image of this document bearing the government-issued number must also be included with the application.