The Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR, also known as BOI Report) provides details about the people who own and control businesses that operate in the U.S. as part of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).  It’s part of a broader effort to combat money laundering and other criminal activity that threatens fair business practices.  All corporations and limited liability companies (large or small) were required to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau within the United States Department of Treasury. 

The U.S. Treasury Department has decided to stop enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its requirements for Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting. It also won’t issue penalties or fines related to non-compliance. Moving forward, the scope of the rule may be limited to foreign reporting companies only.

For small businesses, this means no further actions are necessary. Whether you’ve already filed a BOI report or not, there’s no need to modify or remove existing filings, or to file anything new. Initially, the CTA was part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and aimed to prevent illegal activities like money laundering and tax fraud by mandating ownership transparency in companies. Penalties for non-compliance could have been severe, including fines and jail time.

The law has been challenged in court recently, leading FinCEN to confirm that it will pause enforcement indefinitely. While the CTA officially went into effect in 2024, it appears businesses can now operate without needing to worry about BOI reporting for the foreseeable future.