Dear Valued Client,
We hope this lett er finds you well. We are writi ng to inform you about the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), a significant piece of legislati on that may impact your company's opera tions and reporti ng requirements. Below, you will find essen tial informati on regarding the CTA, including its history, applicability, and reporti ng obliga tions.
The Corporate Transparency Act, enacted in January 2021, aims to enhance transparency in corporate ownership to combat illicit ac tivi ties such as money laundering, terrorism financing, and tax evasion. As part of this effort, certain companies are now required to disclose their beneficial ownership informati on to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
You may wonder why you are only hearing about this now, given that the law was enacted in 2021. The compliance reporti ng under the act was delayed un til 2024, requiring completi on by December 31st, 2024, for entiti es formed before January 1st, 2024. Entiti es formed in 2024 are mandated to report within 90 days of formati on.
Who must engage in this repor ting? Unless exempt, all corpora tions, partnerships, LLCs, disregarded en tities, and those similarly created under state and local law are obligated to comply. Exemp tions encompass publicly traded en tities, certain financial ins tituti ons, and those already under federal oversight. Additi onally, a large operati ng company, mee ting the following criteria, is exempt:
• Twenty Full-Time employees
• Physical Presence in the United States
• Gross Receipts exceeding $5,000,000 annually
The act s tipulates that entiti es not mee ting exempti ons must report the following informati on:
1. Reporti ng Company’s
a. Full Legal Name
b. Trade Names
c. US Address
d. State of Formati on
e. IRS EIN
2. For Each of the En tity’s Beneficial Owner(s)
a. Full Name
b. Date of Birth
c. Current Address
d. Image of one of the following jurisdicti onal documents:
i. US Passport
ii. States Driver’s License
Following the ini tial reporti ng, it is impera tive to update records whenever there is a change of address for the en tity or beneficial owner, or addi tions/subtrac tions to the beneficial owners. Failure to report or make changes may result in significant penal ties, including fines and imprisonment. Currently, there is ongoing li tigati on challenging the cons titut ionality of this act, and only those a ttached to the lawsuits are impacted by this.
Our firm is commi tted to assisti ng you in understanding and complying with this act. We offer our services to complete this repor ting on your behalf before the deadline. Please note that there will be an addi tional fee for these services - $300 per en tity and $100 for each beneficial owner. These rates are applicable through October 31, 2024. After that time, the fees are subject to an increase.
If you wish to engage our firm to work with you on this matt er, please fill out the form below to indicate your interest. We will then provide you with our full engagement le tter. Alternati vely, if you plan on handling the reporti ng yourself, please indicate so in the form below. Please let us know your decision by July 15, 2024.
Should you have any further questi ons or require additi onal informa tion, please feel free to contact our team at your convenience.
Your Trusted Firm,
Perlson LLP