Though legal back-and-forth has been ongoing as of this writing in the federal court system, the United States Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) continues to cautiously move ahead with elements of a reporting system aimed now only at foreign-owned small businesses throughout the United States.
Following an original implementation date of January 1, 2024, any newly established LLC, corporation, LLP and some other business types, including any owner-operator or small fleet who’s filed with their Secretary of State to establish the business, had to report “Beneficial Ownership Information” (BOI) to FinCEN.
The requirement has also been intended to be in play for businesses that existed prior to that January 2024 date. Yet as of late March 2025, Treasury was set to exempt most owner-operators and many small fleets doing business in the United States. Any foreign-owned small business in trucking, however, will still have to report -- the deadline to complete the initial filing with FinCEN was originally at the end of 2024, and legislation pending in Congress would extend it all the way to January 2026. For now, the deadline for foreign-owned businesses could come soon after publication of an interim final rule publishing in the coming days. [Update as of March 25, 2025.]
A federal court in March of the prior year declared the new requirements unconstitutional, and enjoined Treasury from enforcing them in limited fashion. That ruling was interpreted narrowly by FinCEN to apply only to the the entities directly involved in the case, a single business owner and members of the National Small Business Association. For everyone else, penalties for not reporting by the letter of the law can be as high as $500 per day beyond the deadline, and potential criminal penalties up to imprisonment for the worst cases.
If that sounds harsh for what amounts to failure to check a few boxes on an online form, there’s a reason Treasury was motivated. The BOI program was created as a result of the Corporate Transparency Act, legislation passed in Congress in 2021 as part of that year’s defense reauthorization package and aimed at the problem of money laundering from abroad and at home through shell companies.
[Related: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's new reporting requirement hits owner-operators, small fleets]
The good news is that reporting is a fairly simple matter for most owner-operators, requiring little more than an individual owner’s name, date of birth, address and identifying document like your CDL or passport. The owner applicant must identify his/her company with its name, address and Employer Identification Number (Social Security number will suffice, too, for most one-truck businesses that are LLCs). The owner then will need to identify any other individual either with “substantial control” of the business or with an ownership stake above 25%, such as they may exist.
In the program’s early days, ATBS estimated the new requirement might apply to roughly 15% of their owner-operator clients, those who’ve set up LLCs or other business entities with their Secretaries of State.
Except in certain circumstances (such as if you move your business to a new home base address), it’s likely the reporting business will need to report only once in the business’ life.
Filing can be done via this link to FinCEN's BOI e-filing website.
Find more guidance on navigating the system at this link.
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