Beneficial Ownership is a requirement from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN - a bureau of the United States Treasury), under the Bank Secrecy Act, which mandates all covered financial institutions collect and verify from certain non-exempt legal entities specific information about the beneficial owners of the entity at the time a new account is opened. The intent of the Beneficial Ownership Rule is to assist authorities in counteracting money laundering, tax evasion, and other financial crimes. FinCEN requires all financial institutions to begin collecting the required information for new accounts opened no later than May 11, 2018.
Providing Beneficial Owner information is required if your business is:
- A Corporation, LLC, or Partnership / Limited Partnership / Limited Liability Partnership, and
- If one or more individuals own 25% or more of the corporate entity.
Note, a Beneficial Owner cannot be another company (or other corporate entity), nor a nominee owner.