Oregon Small Business Owners: I don’t mean to scare you, but this is pretty serious. You have a deadline for new reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act, and if you don’t meet that deadline, the federal government can fine you $500 per DAY, up to $10,000, and you could face two years in PRISON if you don’t comply! This is a big deal.

You may have heard some talk about the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). The point of it is to make sure that people aren’t setting up a bunch of sham LLCs to launder money and avoid taxes and whatnot. A good thing, right? But for regular business owners, it means that you have a new requirement to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report.

Now, I know more paperwork is the last thing you need right now, but paperwork is a hallmark of adult life, especially if you own a business.

Here’s what you need to know:

What are the deadlines?

Reporting companies—those with twenty or fewer employees and that were formed by filing paperwork with the Secretary of State—formed prior to January 1, 2024, have until January 1, 2025, to file an initial report; formed after January 1, 2024 and before January 1, 2025, will have ninety days after formation to file a report; and formed on or after January 1, 2025 will have 30 days to submit the reports to FinCEN.

Who has to report?

Most small businesses that filed paperwork with the Secretary of State will have to report. There are around two dozen exemptions, which generally include larger companies already subject to regulation, since the primary purpose of the CTA is to combat money laundering and other illicit activities conducted via small, private, and anonymous shell companies.

What do I have to report?

Reporting companies must file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR) with FinCEN. The BOIR requires the name of the company and any alternative (DBA) names, the address of its principal place of business, the state of formation, and its taxpayer identification number or FinCEN identifier. It requires that each beneficial owner of a reporting company must furnish their full legal name, date of birth, residential address, and an identification number from a driver’s license, passport, or other state-issued identification (ID), along with a copy of the ID document. It further requires that for businesses formed after January 1, 2024, a company applicant is required to submit the same information as a beneficial owner.

Do I have to do anything else?

You must keep the information that FinCEN has for your company current. Changes to any information previously filed with FinCEN must be filed with 30 days of those changes.

Can I do this myself?

Yes. If you can go through the information, fill out the form, and file it without needing assistance, you can do it yourself. If you know that you have what it takes to remember to update FinCEN if your business changes, you can do it yourself.

HOWEVER, if you find that you need assistance with this, I cannot help you with answering “quick questions” unless you are paying for the business services I offer. There are simply too many businesses that need to comply with this change in law for me to be able to answer people’s “quick questions.”

Do I have to do this myself?

No. If your business is in Oregon, I can help you to assess whether your business must file the Beneficial Ownership Information Report and I can help make sure that you get it filed on time.