Report your beneficial owners to FinCEN.
Filed right the first time, updated on time.
The Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR) is the FinCEN filing every US LLC, corporation and partnership must submit under the 2024 Corporate Transparency Act, naming every owner of 25% or more or with substantial control. Monezzi files it and tracks every 30-day update.
Focus on your customers, we will handle the bureaucracy.
Sources: official FinCEN guidance on the Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting program, the Small Entity Compliance Guide (PDF), and the FinCEN BOI Reporting FAQs.
Why BOI Filing is Critical
The Corporate Transparency Act took effect in 2024. Every US entity now sits inside a FinCEN reporting regime with civil and criminal teeth — and a silent 30-day update rule most founders never see coming.
Federal mandate
BOI reporting is required by federal law under the Corporate Transparency Act. There is no state-level alternative and no opt-out. Every US LLC, corporation and partnership is in scope by default.
Severe penalties
Failure to file accrues 500 US dollars per day in civil penalties. Wilful violations escalate to criminal penalties up to 10,000 US dollars and prison time for the beneficial owner personally — not the company.
Ongoing obligation
BOI is not a one-and-done filing. Any change to beneficial-owner information — address, ID number, ownership percentage, officer appointment — restarts a 30-day clock. Most penalties come from missed updates, not the initial filing.
Foreign-ownership scrutiny
Entities with non-US beneficial owners face stricter document checks: passport scans, foreign residential addresses, sanctions-list cross-reference. Foreign-only LLCs fail the do-it-yourself path most often.
The FinCEN portal is built for US lawyers. Non-US founders hit the same three traps every time.
FinCEN counts anyone with 25 percent or more equity AND anyone with substantial control — that is, an officer, a director, or a senior decision-maker who can sign for the company. Founders routinely list only equity holders and miss the CFO who signs every check. Under-reporting is the most common rejection trigger.
Date formats, address normalization, ID-number formatting, country-code dropdowns — the portal accepts your submission and then days later returns a rejection notice with no field-level diagnostic. You restart from scratch. We pre-validate every field against FinCEN technical specs before submission.
A beneficial owner moves house — 30-day clock starts. Renews a passport — clock starts (the ID number changed). Ownership shifts by one percent in a vesting schedule — clock starts. We track every reported field and ping you the moment a deadline opens.
"Most BOI rejections come from misidentifying substantial control. Founders assume only 25 percent owners count, but the CFO who signs every check is also a beneficial owner under the Corporate Transparency Act. We re-read the org chart before we read the cap table."
BOI Report Overview & Key Details
The BOI Report names every individual who owns 25 percent or more of the company or exercises substantial control. For each beneficial owner FinCEN collects full legal name, date of birth, residential address, and a passport or driving-licence number with a scanned copy of the document. The filing is electronic, via the FinCEN portal.
Who must report
All US LLCs, corporations and partnerships. Foreign-owned single-member LLCs are included. A short list of exemptions exists (large operating companies, public companies, regulated banks) — the default position is: you file.
Information required
For every beneficial owner: full legal name, date of birth, residential address, and a passport or driver-licence number with a scanned image of the ID document. For the company: legal name, EIN, US business address, jurisdiction of formation.
Filing deadlines
Companies formed before January 1, 2024 had a one-year deadline; new entities have 90 days from formation (30 days for entities formed in 2025 onward). Every later change to reported information triggers a 30-day update window.
Lifetime
The BOI filing obligation continues for the life of the entity. Even on dissolution, the safer practice is to file a final update reflecting the dissolution rather than going silent. FinCEN case law is still developing — under-reporting carries the same penalty as not reporting.
How we assist — step by step
We handle every stage of BOI reporting — identification of beneficial owners, document collection, FinCEN portal submission, and ongoing 30-day update tracking.
Identify every beneficial owner
We review your cap table AND your org chart. Anyone with 25 percent equity is named. So is every officer, director and senior decision-maker who exercises substantial control — the prong founders most often miss.
Collect IDs and addresses
For each beneficial owner we collect the passport or driver-licence scan, residential address, and date of birth. Foreign-owned entities need passport plus foreign residential address — we handle the format-normalization FinCEN demands.
Pre-validate and file with FinCEN
Every field is pre-validated against FinCEN technical specs before submission. We then file directly through the FinCEN portal and store the confirmation receipt in your Documents vault.
Track the 30-day update rule
Every reported field is tracked. If an owner moves house, renews their passport, or ownership shifts by even one percent, we open the 30-day filing window and prepare the update report. This is where most BOI penalties happen — and where we work hardest.
Annual compliance review
Once a year we re-confirm every beneficial owner with you. Officers may have changed, equity may have shifted, IDs may have renewed. Anything that should have triggered an update but did not, we file as a remedial update — best practice for keeping FinCEN clean.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about BOI Report filing for non-US founders.
Every US LLC, corporation, limited partnership and similar entity formed or registered to do business in the United States must file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report with FinCEN under the 2024 Corporate Transparency Act. Foreign-owned single-member LLCs are included. A small list of exemptions exists (large operating companies, public companies, regulated banks) but the default is: you file.
Civil penalties accrue at 500 US dollars per day the violation continues. Wilful failures can escalate to criminal penalties up to 10,000 US dollars and two years of imprisonment for the beneficial owner. The penalty meter starts the day after your filing deadline.
Any change to reported beneficial-owner information triggers a new 30-day filing window. That includes: an owner moves house, an owner renews their passport (the ID number changes), ownership shifts by even one percent, a new officer is appointed, a beneficial owner legally changes name. Missing the 30-day window is treated the same as missing the initial filing — 500 US dollars per day.
No maximum. FinCEN expects you to report every individual who meets the beneficial-owner test: 25 percent or more equity ownership, OR substantial control (officer, director, senior decision-maker who can sign for the company). Most filings list two to five people. Under-reporting is the most common error.
Yes — and the scrutiny is stricter. Foreign-only ownership requires a passport scan and the foreign residential address of each beneficial owner. FinCEN cross-checks against international sanction lists. We handle the document collection and formatting so the filing clears on first submission.
It depends on timing. Entities that existed on or after January 1, 2024 are inside the reporting regime even if they later dissolved. The safer position is to file the initial BOI Report and then file a final update reflecting the dissolution. FinCEN is still building case law here — under-reporting risks the same 500 US dollars per day penalty.
No. The structure is: one initial filing within 90 days of company formation (30 days for entities formed in 2025 onward), then update filings within 30 days of any change to reported information. There is no annual return. The danger is in the silent update obligation — most filers think one-and-done, then miss an ownership change a year later.