FinCEN issued several new FAQs on January 4th and 12th regarding BOI Reporting. The following were some of the more important clarifications that they provided in those FAQs:
· FinCEN has frequently been asked whether foreign companies are subject to BOI Reporting. FinCEN confirmed that in addition to companies in the U.S., a company that is created or registered to do business by the filing of a document with a U.S. state or U.S. territory’s secretary of state or similar office, and that does not qualify for any exemptions to the reporting requirements, is required to report beneficial ownership information to FinCEN. U.S. territories are the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Also, any company registering with a U.S. tribe is also subject to BOI Reporting.
· One of the information items that is required is a picture identification (i.e. driver’s license, passport). FinCEN confirmed that if a beneficial owner or company applicant’s identification document does not include a photograph for religious reasons, the reporting company may nonetheless submit an image of that identification document when submitting its report, as long as the identification document is one of the types of identification accepted by FinCEN, such as a non-expired State-issued identification document.
· For individual addresses that are needed it is confirmed that the residential address that is current at the time of filing should be reported to FinCEN. An updated report should be submitted if the address, or any other information previously reported, changes or there is risk of non-compliance and resulting penalties.
· One of the exemptions from filing is where a subsidiary is owned by an entity that meets one of the exemptions from filing. FinCEN clarified that in order for the subsidiary to meet this exemption the subsidiary’s ownership interests must be fully, 100 percent owned or controlled by the exempt entity.
· FinCEN confirmed that third parties such as us, BOI Reporting LLC, can file on behalf of reporting companies.