A few months ago, a fellow business owner from Minnesota sent me an email they had received from their Secretary of State. It informed LLC’s that they had to file with a new organization or face large fines. I dismissed it as something pertaining to Minnesota, until a few weeks later, when I realized that this was a FEDERAL requirement.
The new Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting requirements will be on all LLC owners. This is a form on the FinCEN website to detail who is a beneficial owner of an LLC, and is an additional requirement to an additional agency on top of all of the current IRS requirements. Many business owners are unaware of this new requirement, and for willful non-compliance there is a potential $500/day fine (and the first filing deadline is coming up on 3/31/24).
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a federal agency started in 1990 to track banking data and expose money laundering. In a country where we should be “innocent until proven guilty” we are now required to send business information to a financial crimes investigation organization.
Of even greater concern is the fact that, “FinCEN will permit 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.” (Read more on the Q&A page)
We as citizens should be protected by the Fourth Amendment, which states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Yet, with the new BOI requirements, without any warrant or due cause, all LLC’s are subject to having their information shared with government entities both here and abroad.
This additional tracking of our businesses and sharing it with entities without our permission is a serious infringement of our privacy. Why does the government suddenly need more information to share with even foreign officials, especially since LLC’s already file multiple other documents and taxes to the IRS and state government, some already pertaining to ownership? What other rights are being silently given away in this new system?
Congress passed the BOI requirement as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in 2021 and it will fully go into effect on 1/1/25. We the People are the watchdogs for our own liberty. We must bring this to the attention of our elected officials and end this invasion of our rights.