The Corporate Transparency Act
Beginning on January 1, 2024, many companies in the United States will have to report information about their beneficial owners, i.e., the individuals who ultimately own or control the company. Businesses must report the information to the Federal Government Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) because of the enactment of the Corporate Transparency Act.
Your church may receive notice about this new law from the Federal Government or your Secretary of State. Please note tax-exempt entities are not required to file this information so churches will not need to take any action. It is also worth noting this is a federal law and does not change the requirement to file an annual report with the Secretary of State.
Even though the new law does not apply to churches, and is not exactly the law Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount, I thought you might find some background interesting.
FinCEN is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Director of FinCEN is appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury and reports to the Treasury under the Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. FinCEN’s mission is to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering, and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities.
The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is a federal law enacted by U.S. Congress requiring companies to report beneficial ownership information. Beneficial ownership information refers to identifying information about the individuals who directly or indirectly own or control a company. This law creates a new beneficial ownership information reporting requirement as part of the U.S. government’s efforts to make it harder for bad actors to hide or benefit from their ill-gotten gains through shell companies or other opaque ownership structures. Again, tax-exempt churches are not required to report this information.
Please let me know if you have questions.
Scott Thorson