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Freelancers, BOI Reporting is back! What you need to know

03/15/202503/26/2025 by Miche

UPDATE: As of March 21, 2025

In an update FinCen said it removed the BOI requirement for U.S. companies and U.S. persons.

Foreign entities that meet the new definition of a “reporting company” and do not qualify for an exemption s must report their BOI to FinCEN under new deadlines.

But those foreign entities, WILL NOT be required to report any U.S. persons as beneficial owners.And U.S. persons will not be required to report BOI with respect to any foreign entity operating in the U.S. for which they are the beneficial owner. If you need additional details, find them here.

Okay, freelancers, let’s talk about Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI), the upcoming deadline for it, and all the back and forth that’s left a lot of people not knowing what the hell is going on.

What’s a BOI report

BREAKING NEWS/ January 1, 2021

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is enacted mandating certain U.S. and foreign entities report beneficial ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to combat illicit finance.

What is this thing—this BOI report—you may be asking.

Basically, the U.S. government wants to know who really owns and controls businesses. The idea is to crack down on money laundering and illegal activities by making it harder for criminals to hide behind shell companies.

That’s where the BOI report comes in. It connects people to business names, tax ID numbers, etc. Business owners–including single-person LLCs–are required to file the information with FinCEN by the deadline. Otherwise, under the original rule, a business owner could get hit with fines up to $500 a day or criminal penalties up to $10,000. ~ FinCEN

But the situation got messy because, not only was there pushback, but folks started firing off lawsuits.

Back and forth

Initially, businesses that existed before January 1, 2024 were supposed to file a BOI report by January 1, 2025.

Businesses that started in 2024, were supposed to file a BOI report within 30 days of setting up shop. But FinCEN jumped in and extended that to 90 days.

And businesses that open in 2025 would still only have 30 days to file.

But there was back and forth in the courts that stopped and started BOI reporting so the deadline dates were shifting around around.

Where are we now?

As of February 18, 2025, BOI reporting is BACK ON! FinCEN extended the deadline to March 21 for most companies. Because of one of the previously mentioned lawsuits, businesses registered with the National Small Business Association do not have to register at all.

Later in February, FinCEN announced that even though the reporting requirement is back, there won’t be any fines, penalties, or enforcement for not filing right now.

No fines or penalties will be issued, and no enforcement actions will be taken, until a forthcoming interim final rule becomes effective and the new relevant due dates in the interim final rule have passed.

There are still efforts underway to get the BOI scrapped. Even FinCEN cited a commitment to reducing regulatory burden on businesses and said they’ll be looking at its options to further modify deadlines.

FinCEN also said they plan to revise the reporting rule this year to reduce the burden on low-risk entities, including small businesses.

FinCEN is supposed to provide an update before the March 21 deadline. So, if you haven’t already, subscribe or follow on social media (subscription and links above) to get the latest on what’s happening with this BOI chaos.

Oh, and if you want to file, you can do it here for free.