The Corporate Transparency Act is Coming: Are You Ready?

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is imminent, coming into force on January 1, 2024.

The CTA is the first federal law that establishes a national registry to collect and maintain beneficial ownership information (BOI) of individuals, both U.S. and non-U.S., who own or control a company within the scope of the new legislation.

The CTA will require in-scope domestic and foreign entities to report: 1) identifying information about the entity, 2) the individuals who directly or indirectly own or control the entity, and 3) for entities formed on or after January 1, 2024, the individuals called "company applicants" who helped form/file the entity's organizational documentation.

Reports will be sent electronically to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to be stored on the Beneficial Ownership Secure System (BOSS), a secure, non-public database, which can be accessed only by certain government agencies, financial institutions and their regulators.

The CTA will impact more than 32 million preexisting entities and about 5 million entities formed in 2024 and thereafter. Although the stated purpose of the BOI reporting is to combat the proliferation of anonymous shell companies in the United States, the CTA will impose significant administrative burdens on privately owned, non-regulated small businesses.

An important byproduct of the CTA will be its impact activities on numerous legal areas, such as corporate, finance, banking, real estate, private equity, private wealth, tax and privacy, necessitating the modification of the content in various types of legal documents, such as engagement letters, entity organizational documents and transactional documents to name a few.

So, are you ready for the CTA?

Please join Holland & Knight attorneys for a webinar that will familiarize you with the components of the BOI reporting rules and provide insights as to how entities, their owners and advisors should prepare for the CTA. There will be ample opportunity for Q&A.

An Update from FinCEN

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today (Monday, September 18, 2023) published a Small Entity Compliance Guide to assist the small business community in complying with the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule. The Guide is intended to help businesses learn about and comply with the new reporting requirements. FinCEN also issued revised and new FAQs about the BOI reporting requirements that incorporate content from the Guide.

News Release: https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-issues-compliance-guide-help-small-businesses-report-beneficial-ownership
Small Entity Compliance Guide: https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/BOI_Small_Compliance_Guide_FINAL_Sept_508C.pdf
FAQs: https://www.fincen.gov/boi-faqs
FinCEN’s BOI Webpage: https://www.fincen.gov/boi

Speakers:

John Bunge  |  Partner, Nashville
Alan Winston Granwell  |  Of Counsel, Washington, D.C.
Eddie Jauregui  |  Partner, Los Angeles
Larry Kemm  |  Partner, Tampa
Michael Scheinberg  |  Partner, Century City

Continuing Education Credits

Please note: Certificates of attendance will be provided upon request for attendees to self-apply for CPA credit.

Continuing Legal Education (CLE)

Holland & Knight will apply for CLE credit based on attendee requests. Some programs may not be awarded CLE credits because of content or jurisdictional restrictions. CLE accreditation is sought after the completion of the program, and the approval process can be lengthy in some jurisdictions. Holland & Knight is an approved CLE provider in several jurisdictions, including California, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. For New York attorneys, this program's format qualifies for CLE for transitional (newly admitted) and experienced attorneys.