USA Company UBO Reporting Regime

[Fred]

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/brave-new-world-us-implements-company-ubo-reporting-regime

What Obligations Are Imposed?​

In accordance with forthcoming regulations prescribed by the U.S. Department of Treasury, each Reporting Company is required to submit to FinCEN a report that contains the following information ("Reportable Information") of each Beneficial Owner and each Applicant with respect to such Reporting Company:

1. full legal name,
2. date of birth,
3. current residential or business address, and
4. unique identifying number from a non-expired U.S. passport or U.S. state identification (e.g., driver's license), or from a non-expired foreign passport, or a FinCEN identifier (i.e., the unique number issued by FinCEN to a person under the Act).

Key Terms Defined.​

Reporting Company: A corporation, limited liability company, partnership or similar entity (an "Entity") that either:

1. is created by the filing of a document with a secretary of state or a similar office under the laws of any U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other commonwealth, territory or possession of the United States (collectively, the "United States" or "U.S."), or
2. registers or files an application to register an Entity under the laws of a foreign country to do business in the United States by filing a document with the secretary of state or similar office under U.S. law.

Penalties for Non-Compliance.​

Unless otherwise exempted under the safe harbor provided in the Act, violations of the Act's reporting requirements, and unauthorized disclosure or use of Reportable Information, may give rise to civil and criminal liability. Civil penalties for reporting violations may consist of a monetary fine of up to $500 per day that the violation continues unresolved, while criminal exposure may include a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment for up to two years, or both.

For unauthorized use or disclosure violations, the civil penalty is the same, while criminal liability may consist of a fine of up to $250,000, imprisonment of up to five years, or both. If one is guilty of a disclosure or use violation while also violating other U.S. Federal law or engages in a pattern of any illegal activity involving more than $100,000 in a 12-month period, the criminal monetary fine and imprisonment ceilings are doubled (i.e., $500,000 and 10 years, respectively).

 

[tasos]

• CTA does not start until January 2022, the deadline for Congress to enact the regulations
• The creation of a non-public, government-maintained registry. FinCEN will maintain a registry of beneficial ownership data, but access to the registry will be limited to:

Category	Examples
1. Federal government agencies, including those with law enforcement, national security, intelligence and applicable financial regulatory missions	Justice Department FBI Treasury Department (for tax administration purposes) Federal Reserve Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
2. State, local or tribal law enforcement agencies with an appropriate court order	State Attorneys General
3. Non-US law enforcement via their US federal counterparts	Interpol Europol
4. Financial institutions subject to the CDD Rule, with the covered entity's (i.e., customer's) permission	National, state member, and state non-member banks Branches of non-US banks Trust companies Broker-dealers Futures commission merchants Introducing brokers in commodities

Worrying for sure but is not a "law"....yet

 

[JohnLocke]

Thanks for sharing all the information, to both of you. Let's hope they keep the US out of the reporting circus for just some time.

 

[kranj99]

Just wondering if any body has any new updates on this? It certainly makes Wyoming or New Mexico etc. LLC's less attractive. I found this today: Will the Belgian authorities soon be informed of your US business presence ? - Taxpatria

 

[Golden Fleece]

Worrying for sure but is not a "law"....yet

It absolutely is a law. In fact, Congress overrode President Trump's veto to enact it. It is just that the Treasury Department has not yet crafted the applicable regulations. The same thing happened with the The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), where it took a year or so for the IRS to craft the regulations.

In accordance with forthcoming regulations prescribed by the U.S. Department of Treasury, each Reporting Company is required to submit to FinCEN a report that contains the following information

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/brave-new-world-us-implements-company-ubo-reporting-regime

 

[Golden Fleece]

Just wondering if any body has any new updates on this? It certainly makes Wyoming or New Mexico etc. LLC's less attractive. I found this today: Will the Belgian authorities soon be informed of your US business presence ? - Taxpatria

The article was quite clear that the answer is "no." The last sentence in the article was simply pure speculation. The U.S. wants to remain the world's largest tax haven. It does not wish to jeopardize that status. Having said that, the socialists in the U.S. are growing increasingly insane, so anything could happen in the future.

The information provided to FinCEN will thus only be available to US federal government agencies, like the Treasury Department (for tax administration purposes), the FBI and the likes, as well as financial institutions and non-US law enforcement agencies via their US federal counterparts.