Why is your business partner or property manager opposing filling out a free BOI Report?
BlackTechLogy: Is opposition to the Corporate Transparency Act a matter of waiting on the Supreme Court or political bias?
In 2021, Congress enacted the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) to curb illicit finance. This law requires organizations (many of which are LLCs, including condominium owners associations, homeowners associations, etc.) doing business in the United States to report information about who ultimately owns or controls them. The form is free to file, only required to fill out one time ever (unless there are additional ownership changes, which would need to be updated in 90 days), and can be done online or via PDF document.
For LLCs that already pay the annual renewal to list board members, updated contact information (mailing addresses, phone numbers, registered agents), a considerable amount of the information to fill in will look familiar. The primary difference is it will be submitted to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) instead of your state Secretary of State office.
If you are concerned about submitting this information to the federal government, as opposed to your state officials, and/or your business partner or property management company (if you’re housed in a COA or an HOA), ask yourself the following five questions:
Is your business partner or property management company already transparent about any current bills or ongoing expenses? (Note: This means your organization does not have outstanding bills due for longer than 30 days, vendors have been paid in a timely manner, property and liability insurance is current, and annual taxes have been paid by a credible accounting firm.)
Is your business partner or property management company saying the BOI Report is “not fair” without any concrete information to back up this claim — or does it sound more like political bias? (Note: Twenty-five Republican-led states have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court defending a court injunction against enforcement of the CTA and the law's requirements that businesses, including farms, file BOI Reports with the Department of Treasury.)
Is the property manager or any business partner helping to run your LLC transparent about who all the owners and vendors are? (For example, are there conflicts of interest such as retainer fees or legal funds being paid to a law firm that is linked to the property management company, such as a spouse? Are any of the vendors related to a business partner?)
Would you prefer to avoid the risk of a $591 fine, along with criminal penalties of two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, should the Supreme Court side in favor of FinCEN and your property manager or business partner still refuse to fill out the form?
Are you in opposition to the CTA, which is intended to stop corporate anonymity, money laundering, drug trafficking, terrorism and corruption under the guise of an LLC? Do you oppose a centralized database of beneficial ownership information to eliminate critical vulnerabilities in the financial system?
Recommended Read: “SEC sues Elon Musk, alleging failure to properly disclose Twitter ownership”
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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I want to continue promoting cool products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. As of the first date of Black History Month 2025, each new post will ALWAYS include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site to verify that Amazon Black-owned logo.) I am (slowly) doing this with older, popular posts too. If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
While voters — on the blue side and red side — may be wary of passing on ownership information to the federal government (especially) at this time, it is imperative that any small business (including LLCs and condo associations) understand why someone within their organization would be opposed to ownership transparency.
For more information on the BOI Report:
BOI Report not in Trump's executive orders, Supreme Court OKs HOAs and COAs to continue filing ~ HOAs and COAs: Avoid the risk of a $591 fine by filling out the Beneficial Ownership Information Report
Supreme Court Lets Lower Courts Fight It Out Over BOIR While Tardy Business Owners Avoid $591 Fine
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