As of January 1, 2024, the newly enforced Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) requires many corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities (reporting companies) to report beneficial ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This change enables the government division, FinCEN, to remain vigilant against money laundering, financial terrorism, organized crime, and other financial crimes.

Failure to report complete or updated beneficial ownership information to FinCEN may result in a civil or criminal penalties, including civil penalties of up to $500 for each day that the violation continues, or criminal penalties including imprisonment for up to two years and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

There is a fast-approaching filing deadline of January 1, 2025, for companies created before January 1, 2024, and a 90–day deadline if your company was registered on or after January 1, 2024. Just one more required documentation that comes with owning a business.

There are, of course, exemptions to beneficial ownership information reporting, such as for publicly traded companies or nonprofits, but for the most part, BOI reporting affects many, and the filing date will arrive before you know it.

As a result of this new regulation, we have a solution for all your BOI filing needs! EdgarAgents is proud to present FinCEN Filing agents, offering a a comprehensive and efficient filing software to self-registrants and service providers!

FinCEN Filing Agents makes BOI reporting a breeze, with features like Optical Character Recognition, which scans and uploads all the information from your required identifying document image (i.e. your license or passport), and Bulk Import capabilities, which offer a downloadable Excel template to complete the information for multiple companies at once, thus saving you time.

As your business grows, we are prepared to help you along the way with any necessary amendments to your BOI filings. If your beneficial ownership information changes, we can assist with refiling, as all your previous company information will be stored in a Reusable Entities Database, so you can reuse information form after form.

EdgarAgents is currently onboarding new clients to the BOIR software allowing them to successfully file with FinCEN. By offering products and services powered by FinCEN Filing Agents, EdgarAgents once again proves its leadership qualities within the financial services industry. Connect with our team today to receive a feature demonstration on the Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Platform, powered by FinCEN Filing Agents!

How much is one billion, really?

Let’s do the math. One billion seconds is equal to about 38 years. One billion minutes is 1,901 years and one billion hours…well you get the point. It’s a lot! But what about one billion dollars or more, specifically 18.8 billion dollars. It is safe to say that is a ridiculous amount of cash.

While I, personally, would take that money and spend it on a super yacht and sail across the globe, visiting one luxury location after the next, our client decided to do the intelligent thing and acquire another company¹. This acquisition brought together two premier energy infrastructure businesses.

In 1977, a man by the name of George Lucas released a movie that influenced an entire cinematic generation. I’m sure you know exactly what movie I’m speaking of, and if you don’t, I may or may not be judging you right now. Other than the release of one of the greatest movies of all time, something else with meaning happened that year. 1977 was also the last time the SEC updated its deadline for filing the initial Schedule 13G.

And guess what, if that seems like a very long time ago, just know that 1968 was the last time the filing deadline for Schedule 13D was updated. For context, that was the same year Apollo 8 flew around the moon for the first time.

The Change 
Clearly, a rule update for these forms has been long past due and the SEC recognized this fact. As a result, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to modernize the rules governing beneficial ownership reporting. The main change in the rule is the shortening of the deadlines for the initial and amended Schedule 13D and 13G filings. Previously, if you acquired 5% of a company you had 10 calendar days to report the transaction. Now, that time has been reduced to 5 business days.