The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network yesterday said it will not issue fines or penalties against companies that fail to report their beneficial ownership information by the current deadline. Instead, it plans to issue an interim rule with a new deadline and later revise the reporting requirements to ease the burden on businesses.
BOI collection had been on hold until recently because of preliminary injunctions against enforcement issued in two lawsuits challenging the Bank Secrecy Act. The courts have since lifted both injunctions, allowing collection to resume. FinCEN had set a March 21 reporting deadline for affected businesses, but in a statement, the agency said it now plans to issue an interim rule by that date to extend the deadline.
“FinCEN also intends to solicit public comment on potential revisions to existing BOI reporting requirements,” the agency said. “FinCEN will consider those comments as part of a notice of proposed rulemaking anticipated to be issued later this year to minimize burden on small businesses while ensuring that BOI is highly useful to important national security, intelligence and law enforcement activities, as well to determine what, if any, modifications to the deadlines referenced here should be considered.”
