Tax Director
In an effort to combat financial crimes, money laundering, and corruption, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was enacted by Congress. This significant piece of legislation brings a new level of transparency to businesses across all industries, especially those that are privately owned. As of January 1, 2024, millions of small businesses must file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOI Report) with the United States Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
The required BOI Report includes information about their beneficial owners or those with “substantial control” over the company. Companies created or registered before January 1, 2024 will have one year (January 1, 2025) to file their initial BOI Reports. Companies created during 2024, will have 90 days after receiving notice of their creation or registration to file their initial BOI Report.
Non-compliance with the CTA can lead to significant penalties. If a person willfully provides false or fraudulent information or fails to report complete or updated beneficial ownership information, they may face a civil penalty of up to $500 per day that the violation continues, a criminal penalty of up to $10,000, and potentially up to two years in prison.
All businesses should work with their legal counsel to help comply with this report requirement or determine if an exception applies. Wright, Ford, Young and Company is not responsible for and WILL NOT be making these filings on behalf of business entities in conjunction with their annual tax returns or other filings.
For further information, please see the the FinCEN BOI website which contains FAQs, reference materials, and a helpful Small Entity Compliance Guide.
If you have any questions about the Corporate Transparency Act, please contact your WFY advisor or contact us here. You can also sign-up for our newsletter here to receive more updates.
Wright Ford Young & Co. is headquartered in Irvine, CA and is the largest single office CPA firm in Orange County. WFY is a full service corporate accounting firm offering audit, tax, estate and trust, and business consulting services to closely held company and family business owners. More information about our Firm can be found at www.cpa-wfy.com.