Beginning January 1, 2024, certain types of limited liability companies, corporations, and other similar entities must report information about their beneficial owners—the persons who ultimately own or control the company—to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Additional information about these federal reporting requirements, including answers to questions such as “is my company required to report beneficial ownership information to FinCEN,” “who is a beneficial owner,” and “when do I need to report my company’s beneficial ownership information" is available on FinCEN’s beneficial ownership information webpage, FinCEN.gov/BOI. You can also subscribe to FinCEN Updates for future guidance documents.

Alert: There have been recently reported fraudulent attempts to solicit information from individuals and entities who may be subject to reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act.

The fraudulent correspondence may be titled "Important Compliance Notice" and asks the recipient to click on a URL or to scan a QR code. Those e-mails or letters are fraudulent. FinCEN does not send unsolicited requests. Please do not respond to these fraudulent messages, or click on any links or scan any QR codes within them.

The North Carolina Secretary of State does not administer or have any control over beneficial ownership filings. Congress enacted the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) on January 1, 2021 in an effort to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption, and tax fraud. Beneficial ownership reports must be filed with the FinCEN, a bureau within the U.S. Department of Treasury, within the time period established by FinCEN.

North Carolina business entities that do not fall within the scope of the federal reporting requirements include sole proprietorships, general partnerships, unincorporated associations, and wealth planning trusts. Tax-exempt entities are also exempt from the CTA filing requirements. These entities include any organization that is described in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and exempt from tax under section 501(a).