U.S. companies are now exempt from filing a beneficial ownership information report, according to a new U.S. Department of the Treasury rule.
The rule exempts all U.S. companies and persons from beneficial ownership information reporting requirements, but it keeps the rules intact for foreign companies.
The BOI report details the identities of the individuals who own or control a business. Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act in 2021, requiring small businesses to start filing the report. The act was aimed at cracking down on illicit financial activities, such as drug trafficking, tax evasion and terrorist financing.
“The [Treasury] Department has alleviated substantial compliance burdens that would have disproportionately affected law-abiding main street businesses, while also shifting to a risk-based enforcement protocol that will ultimately strengthen the effectiveness of the [Corporate Transparency Act],” a coalition of business organizations wrote in a letter to the Treasury Department.
The Treasury announced on Feb. 27 it wouldn’t enforce penalties or fines against companies that fail to file or update their BOI reports following a federal court ruling that reinstated the BOI reporting requirement.
