Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting

Author C. Matthew Schulz

Important Update

Consistent with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s March 2, 2025 announcement, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued 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. See FinCEN press release.

Based on this interim final rule, all entities created in the United States — including those previously known as “domestic reporting companies” — and their beneficial owners are 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. 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. 

Many companies were required to report information to FinCEN about the individuals who ultimately own or control them. FinCEN began accepting reports on January 1, 2024.

Beneficial Ownership

BOI refers to identifying information about the individuals who directly or indirectly own or control a company. 

In 2021, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act, which creates the beneficial ownership information reporting requirement as part of the U.S. government’s efforts to make it harder for bad actors to hide or benefit from their ill-gotten gains through shell companies or other opaque ownership structures.

Who Can Access Your Ownership Information

FinCEN permits Federal, State, local, and Tribal officials, as well as certain foreign officials who submit a request through a U.S. Federal government agency, to obtain beneficial ownership information for authorized activities related to national security, intelligence, and law enforcement. Financial institutions will have access to beneficial ownership information in certain circumstances, with the consent of the reporting company. Those financial institutions’ regulators will also have access to beneficial ownership information when they supervise the financial institutions.

How Secure is Your Ownership Information

Beneficial ownership information reported to FinCEN is stored in a secure, non-public database using rigorous information security methods and controls typically used in the Federal government to protect non-classified yet sensitive information systems at the highest security level. 

FinCEN says the agency works closely with those authorized to access beneficial ownership information to ensure that they understand their roles and responsibilities in using the reported information only for authorized purposes and handling in a way that protects its security and confidentiality.

For more information, see FinCEN's BOI website.