FinCen zigzag's latest zig. or zag. I can't keep up.

[Catherine]

Latest on the rules. Link, then text.

https://tinyurl.com/xdstkvmz

FinCEN Removes Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements for U.S. Companies and U.S. Persons, Sets New Deadlines for Foreign Companies

Immediate Release

March 21, 2025

WASHINGTON––Consistent with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s March 2, 2025 announcement, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is issuing an interim final rule that removes the requirement for U.S. companies and U.S. persons to report beneficial ownership information (BOI) to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act.

In that interim final rule, FinCEN revises the definition of “reporting company” in its implementing regulations to mean only those entities that are formed under the law of a foreign country and that have registered to do business in any U.S. State or Tribal jurisdiction by the filing of a document with a secretary of state or similar office (formerly known as “foreign reporting companies”). FinCEN also exempts entities previously known as “domestic reporting companies” from BOI reporting requirements.

Thus, through this interim final rule, all entities created in the United States — including those previously known as “domestic reporting companies” — and their beneficial owners will be exempt from the requirement to report BOI to FinCEN. Foreign entities that meet the new definition of a “reporting company” and do not qualify for an exemption from the reporting requirements must report their BOI to FinCEN under new deadlines, detailed below. These foreign entities, however, will not be required to report any U.S. persons as beneficial owners, and U.S. persons will not be required to report BOI with respect to any such entity for which they are a beneficial owner.

Upon the publication of the interim final rule, the following deadlines apply for foreign entities that are reporting companies:

Reporting companies registered to do business in the United States before the date of publication of the IFR must file BOI reports no later than 30 days from that date.

Reporting companies registered to do business in the United States on or after the date of publication of the IFR have 30 calendar days to file an initial BOI report after receiving notice that their registration is effective.

FinCEN is accepting comments on this interim final rule and intends to finalize the rule this year.

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[Lee B]

Big win for the money launderers and the tax avoidance schemers

[JohnH]

So when the interim final rule is finalized, will it finally be the final rule? 
Or the interim/interim final rule?

Or just "the rule"?

Or something else? 

[Lion EA]

The final interim final rule...

[Corduroy Frog]

When they had a $500/day penalty with no limit, I backed off, just as the malpractice insurance companies were telling us to do.

I referred my clientele to corporate attorneys, and bailed out.  I never looked back, and will not.

[Randall]

This is why I never got involved.  I sent an email to my clients in early December telling about it and giving them the FinCen website.  They're on their own.

[Catherine]

On 3/24/2025 at 3:43 PM, JohnH said:

Or something else? 

Hokey Pokey

You put your right BOI in you take your right BOI out, your put your right BOI in, and you shake it all about!

[JohnH]

So THAT’s really what it’s all about! 

[Slippery Pencil]

On 3/24/2025 at 2:29 PM, Lee B said:

Big win for the money launderers and the tax avoidance schemers

Ha!  This stupid law wasn't going to do a damn thing to help catch a single money launderer.

[Corduroy Frog]

8 hours ago, Slippery Pencil said:

Ha!  This stupid law wasn't going to do a damn thing to help catch a single money launderer.

Exactly.  This is another example of the powers that be are so out-of-touch with the real world.  No firm guilty of these crimes is going to comply to begin with.  And especially after the application which has hiccuped in fits and starts.

[JohnH]

2 hours ago, Corduroy Frog said:

Exactly.  This is another example of the powers that be are so out-of-touch with the real world.  No firm guilty of these crimes is going to comply to begin with.  And especially after the application which has hiccuped in fits and starts.

You're right.  And I think this was always the actual goal. It wasn't necessarily to chase down people who make minor mistakes in their listing (or even didn't list at all),  but rather to create a trap for those who were laundering money IF they were caught by other means.  Regardless of whether they had lied on the BOI form or had never filed, the draconian penalties would serve as a wedge to force them to give up info on the major culprits in exchange for penalty forgiveness. Failing to cooperate would be financially devastating.  (Of course, cooperating might be even worse in the real world  ).   

Anyhow, we couldn't say any of this to our clients because there remained a real risk of huge penalties for even simple clerical errors, much less not filing, for which they might try to hold us accountable.  So we were intimidated into giving them just enough information to scare the hell out of them without being able to offer them any real help - on a simple clerical task that would only take about 15 minutes on average.  Makes us all look sort of silly in the eyes of many clients, IMO.