Beneficial Ownership Reporting

The new law, the Corporate Transparency Act, is the most significant piece of federal legislation affecting businesses in 100 years, since the 1930s U.S. Securities laws. Under the new law, nearly all small businesses must disclose to the federal government who their beneficial owners are by filing a Beneficial Ownership Report (“BOI Report”). Beneficial owners are the individuals who “substantially control” the entity or who own 25% or more of the entity. Penalties for noncompliance are steep including fines and up to 2 years in jail.

Small businesses rely on certain professionals to help them, and bankers are one of those professionals. This new law provides an excellent opportunity for bankers to show they are a trusted partner by making sure small businesses are aware of the new law and providing them a secure, trusted place to file their BOI report.

BizFilings’ solution is:

• Optimized for small businesses – A smart form guides filers through the filing process with simple questions and tips to help explain the requested information as they go.
• Provides a mobile-friendly interface – Seamlessly access the solution from a computer, mobile device or tablet. Filers have the ability to take pictures of their personal identification from their phone's camera and upload securely.
• Enables easy, secure collaboration – Filers can send unlimited invitations via email or text to beneficial owners for quick, secure form completion.

While the federal government (FinCEN) has a free website on which to file the BOI Report, BizFilings’ solution offers key, valuable features –

• Unlike filing directly at FinCEN’s website, small businesses do not need to collect and securely store personally identifiable information like copies of passports or driver’s licenses and residential addresses for their beneficial owners. Small businesses just need to know the email address of their beneficial owners, and the owners can complete their portion of the report themselves, using the camera on their mobile device.
• When information in the BOI report changes, small businesses need to fill out the full form again, from start to finish, and submit the new form to FinCEN within 30 days of a change in information (example: a beneficial owner moves to a new residential address; renews a passport; a new senior officer is hired). With BizFilings’ solution, the BOI report is saved so the company can simply update the fields that have changed and resubmit the report.
• BizFilings offers live support during business hours, allowing small businesses to connect with BOI experts to help guide them through the form. Outside of business hours, there’s callback and voicemail options.