Treasury Outreach on Beneficial Ownership Rules

In remarks in Lexington, Kentucky Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson spoke to common concerns about the implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) which requires certain U.S. and foreign companies to report to FinCEN information about their beneficial owners:

"FinCEN is working around the clock to stand up this program in a way that allows you to understand your obligations, provides you the resources to meet them, and ensures the smallest possible burden on you.

We are particularly mindful of the costs to American companies, especially small businesses, that will result from the beneficial ownership information reporting requirements and have made, and will continue to make, every effort to minimize burdens where possible.

We will be standing up a contact center to assist small business owners in filing beneficial ownership reports, respond to questions from the public, and reduce regulatory burden.

In fact, FinCEN has already published an initial set of guidance materials in the form of infographics, videos, and Frequently Asked Questions—FAQs—on its website and

[FinCEN] will soon be publishing a Small Entity Compliance Guide. This guide will describe in simple, easy-to-read language each provision of the Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Rule, which implements the reporting requirements of the CTA and goes into effect January 1, 2024.  It will also provide answers to key questions, with checklists and other tools to assist businesses in complying with their reporting obligations.

We recognize, also, that protecting the security and confidentiality of this beneficial ownership information is a critical concern for businesses, especially in this era of increased cyber-related fraud and crime. Reporting companies can be confident that their sensitive information is protected in a secure, confidential database built to meet the highest security standards, and that only authorized users can access the information for authorized purposes – to protect national security and to fight crime.