Your company may be required to disclose its beneficial owners under the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) this year. To help prevent money laundering and other financial crimes, Congress authorized the US Department of the Treasury to collect the names of those who control and benefit from many companies doing business across the country. If your company started with a paper filed with your state’s Secretary of State to form your corporation, limited liability company, or similar entity, and you do not qualify for an exemption, you may have to file a report under the CTA. Exempt companies include large companies with more than 20 employees and more than $5 million in reported gross revenue or sales, and highly-regulated companies such as banks, insurance companies, and 501(c)(3) non-profits. So that means a lot of small businesses must file. Penalties for non-compliance include fines and jail time – ugh! More information, including a portal for filing the required report, can be found here: https://www.fincen.gov/boi.
