Starting a business is a huge step – congrats on getting things off the ground in 2024! However, many new business owners will be blindsided when learning they are required to submit a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Report to the federal government this year to maintain compliance. If you’re reading this, it is more than likely this applies directly to your business.
It’s hard enough to keep up with state and federal compliance standards. BOI reporting became a new law dating back to 2021—when the nation was distracted by COVID-19—as part of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). The law silently went into effect on January 1, 2024, and now requires disclosing the identities of persons who have control or significant influence over a company, including names, addresses, and copies of government IDs.
The intent of BOI reporting is to create transparency within the immense landscape of private companies. In fact, 2023 was a record-setting year for new business applications in the United States, and 2024 is showing similar signs of growth driven by freelancers, e-commerce, and side hustlers.
Many of the world’s major economies have been reporting this level of ownership detail for years, and it’s shown a positive impact in preventing financial crimes like money laundering and tax evasion. The United States is just the latest country to join the trend.
So, does that mean your company needs to file a BOI report? For most of the 32 million businesses formed or operating in the U.S., the answer is yes. While some companies are exempt from reporting mandates, the majority are required to report their beneficial ownership information to the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) by the end of the year.
When exactly is your BOI Report due? That depends on your company’s date of formation, though it’s worth noting companies formed in 2024 need to prioritize their BOI report:
Did you know the first official BOI deadline is this Sunday, March 31st? That’s right, for those entities formed on January 1st, 2024. Since the start of the year, approximately one million reports have been filed. That is only 3% of the total expected number of businesses that must file in the next nine months.
The due dates above refer only to the initial report. As you scale your business, you must report any changes in beneficial ownership information to FinCEN. A Change of Information must be reported within 30 days of the change—a tight window easily missed. FinCEN will store BOI data to monitor the U.S. financial system.
More administrative paperwork means more headaches, especially for lean teams. As with other compliance requirements, failure to submit your BOI report can result in significant fines, civil and criminal penalties, and, in unique cases, imprisonment. Life is too short for that!
If your 2024 resolution was to start a new company, you should continue down that path rather than get caught up with another task to keep track of. BOI reporting is simple enough in concept, but tracking down information for all your beneficial owners and then continuously storing and maintaining that data across your companies can become complex and take up hours that can be saved.
FileForms is a centralized dashboard for your BOI reports and compliance needs, where you can store all your company and beneficial owner information, assign beneficial owners to multiple entities, and file Change of Information updates with a click of a button.
Our platform guides you through collecting all the necessary information for your BOI report, and we will file it with FinCEN for you (and your team). We’ll securely store your data so it’s easy to make changes, and you can even have your beneficial owners upload their information and IDs directly through an encrypted link. It’s so simple that you’ll be on your way to BOI compliance in under ten minutes.
For companies anticipating changes and growth, the FileForms Frequent Filer plan provides continuous monitoring and reminder services to help you stay on track. We’ll notify you when certain triggers are detected, like expiring IDs, so you can update your filing in a few clicks and get back to business.
Gain Access to BOI Quick Reference Guide: https://fileforms.com/boi-guide
Now that you’re educated on reporting requirements let us take it from here. With FileForms, you can quickly stay compliant and get back to growing your new business.
Learn more and file your company’s BOI report by taking our Free BOI Quiz
