Starting in 2024, most small businesses will have to give new information to the federal government or face penalties of up to $500 per day.claims a new federal law is “surveilling” small businesses by requiring them to submit new personal information to the federal government beginning Jan. 1, 2024, or face fines of $500 per day if they do not comply.
The new reporting requirements are part of the government’s “efforts to make it harder for bad actors to hide or benefit from their ill-gotten gains through shell companies or other opaque ownership structures,” FinCEN says. We VERIFY what small business owners need to know about the new reporting requirements.The new requirements apply to corporations, limited liability companies , or any other entities created by filing a document with a secretary of state or similar office.
The additional information includes the person’s full legal name, their date of birth, a passport or driver’s license number, and a photocopy of that documentation. Business owners who willfully fail to report complete or updated information to FinCEN could face civil or criminal penalties. This also goes for people who willfully provide false or fraudulent information.
Financial institutions will also have access to this information with the company’s consent in certain cases, according to FinCEN. Companies registered to do business before Jan. 1, 2024, will have until Jan. 1, 2025, to file their official BOI reports, according to FinCEN.