- It is required for all entities (corporate and LLC) in the US with few exceptions. The only one that will likely impact some of this audience is:
- Companies with at least 20 full-time employees, more than $5 million in gross receipts or sales, and a physical office in the United States
- Registration is free from the FinCEN site while other forms of registration (especially other websites) will charge for the service.
- https://fincen.gov/boi is the official site
- Do NOT use BOIR service unless you want to pay. They are the “sponsored” response on Google when you search, and they are trying to look like the FinCEN site.
- Before you do anything, make sure you have a copy of a driver’s license on your computer for each owner with a 25% or more share of the entity.
- This can be front only
- Once on the FinCEN site and you are ready to start registration, do NOT check box number 3 (FinCEN ID) unless you have multiple (more than 1 or 2) entities. It will add a lot of time to the process that is not required.
- Use all drop down boxes as they are way easier to navigate
- Do NOT put in a dash with the Tax ID Number for your entity
- When you get to box 16, be sure to check it IF YOUR ENTITY HAS BEEN IN EXISTENCE PRIOR TO 1/1/2024. This will be most of you. This will eliminate a chunk of information you need to place on the form.
- You will have an opportunity to SAVE your form before you submit. Be sure to do this!
- You will get a confirmation receipt. PRINT AND SAVE!
- There is no cost to register, but the penalty for not doing so is over $500/day for late filing. There is a cap around $10K, but why pay it???
- There is no annual filing.
- If you sell your business, you will file one to let them know you are out of the game.
- If the makeup of those with 25% stake in the entity changes you will need to re-file within 30 days of the event that causes the re-filing.
- This is NOT an attack on precious metals dealers. This IS an attack on shell and shelf corporations, and it is meant to eliminate the money laundering and tax evasion opportunities that they represent. Those with nothing to worry about should have zero problems doing this. All they need is:
- Entity legal name, address, TIN, and state of formation
- Beneficial Owners (25%+) name, address, SSN
- Copy of driver’s license attached for each Beneficial Owner
- FinCEN does NOT need any information about your business performance, valuations or anything of the sort. They get that from your tax return each year. This is all about who the owners of taxable entities are. Period. Remember that corporations are nothing more than a piece of paper. You are not the entity, and the entity is not you. It is a separate living breathing entity that you control. If you have control, and it is 25% or more, they want to know it.
- Register no later than January 13, 2025
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