How Your Duplex LLC Could Cost You A Fortune

If you have own an investment property in an LLC or corporation, you may have received an urgent call or email from your tax or financial advisor urging you to get your Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) filed by the end of the year.

And if you’re like me, you may vaguely remember hearing something about this a while back, but to be honest, it all sounds like gibberish.

It turns out there’s an incentive to decipher it; a $591/day fine, capped at a maximum of $10,000 for not filling out this form.

Where is all this coming from?

In 2021, Congress passed the bipartisan Corporate Transparency act in order to help stop illegal international money transfers. The law, which went into effect in January 2024, simply requires any company doing business in the U.S. to file a one-time report about who actually owns or controls them with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen), a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Any individual who directly or indirectly controls or has substantial control over a reporting company should be named as the beneficial owner, or anyone who owns at least 25% of the company.

Both FinCen and financial institutions collect beneficial ownership information from entities. However, they aren’t quite the same. The bank simply wants to know who its customer is, specifically, who they are financially. FinCen doesn’t collect information like social security numbers.

The reports can be completed and filed here. There is no charge to do so, and you are not required to use a tax or legal professional to do so.