WASHINGTON, D.C. – Businesses such as ranch and farm operations will not incur any penalties or fines for not filing Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
BOI refers to details about the individuals who ultimately own or control a company, essentially the “real people” behind a business, and is typically reported to government agencies like the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to help combat financial crimes and identify potential risks associated with a company; this includes information like their names, addresses, and identifying documents.
Amid increasing grassroots concerns over foreign ownership of farm and ranch land, BOI was introduced to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes by requiring companies to disclose the identities of their true owners, making it harder for criminals to hide behind anonymous shell companies and facilitating law enforcement investigations by providing access to crucial ownership details
The Treasury Department announced that not only will it not enforce any penalties or fines associated with BOI reporting rule under the existing regulatory deadlines, but it will further not enforce any penalties or fines against U.S. citizens or domestic reporting companies or their beneficial owners after the forthcoming rule changes take effect either.
The Treasury Department will further be issuing a proposed rulemaking that will narrow the scope of the rule to foreign reporting companies only.
The BOI rule was expected to impact more than 32 million businesses and roughly 230,000 ranch and farm operations. The deadlines for filing business ownership information had been delayed multiple times in recent months because of court decisions.
