December 27, 2023
I wanted to answer some of your most popular questions from this video I posted yesterday about that brand new beneficial ownership information or BOI form you have to file if you have any type of business entity in the united states.
These are the four questions I’m going to answer in this video.
Are sole proprietor businesses or DBAs required to file?
What types of businesses, if any, are exempt from filing? Do I have to file if my business is inactive?
Where exactly can I file my BOI?
Do I have to file A BOI every year?
First – do sole proprietor or non-profits have to file a BOI?
Let me just repeat what I said in yesterday’s video.
So again – if you had to file any type of paperwork with your Secretary of State or similar government agency to create whatever business entity you have even if it’s a sole proprietor or a non-profit the answer is yes you have to file.
If that’s still not clear enough – the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or FinCEN – which is the agency handling all of this – put out this yes-no chart that might be helpful.
Now – when it comes to sole proprietor specifically FinCEN says you may had to file paperwork with your Secretary of State or local government to form the entity. If you did, you have to file a BOI. But there are three exceptions – one — if you only filed a document with a government agency to obtain an IRS employer identification number, two – a fictitious business name or three—a professional or occupational license does *not* create a new entity and therefore does not make your sole proprietorship required to file a BOI.
Second – what types of businesses do not have to file a BOI?
There are 23 exceptions of types of business entities that do not have to file a BOI. Here they are. You can see most of them are banks, investment companies, public utilities or government agencies do not have to file.
But there are two specific exempted entities I want to highlight. Number 19 – tax exempt entities and number 23 inactive entities.
If you have a tax-exempt business and answer yes to just one of these questions you do not have to file a BOI. I’ll get out of the way.
If your business is inactive you must answer yes to all six of these questions for you to be exempt. I’ll get out of the way.
Where do I file my BOI?
As I reported in yesterday’s video – you cannot file yet. The portal will be opened after January 1st. But if you want the link to the blank portal I will send that out to you tonight in my news girl news roundup email.
And lastly – do I have to file this BOI every year?
According to FinCEN the answer is no. You don’t have to file it every year. You file once. However – if there is *any* change or an update to the beneficial owner or the company you must refile. Or if you notice a mistake in your BOI filing you must change it. You will only have 30 calendar days to make the appropriate changes.
Read more from FinCEN about BOI here.
