Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty images
The American Treasury Department requirement for small businesses To report information on their owners to the federal government. This is the last twist of a booming saga for the emerging rule.
The law on business transparency, adopted in 2021, demanded millions of companies to report basic information on their “beneficial owners”. By identifying who had certain entities, legislators sought to limit criminal activities and illicit finances carried out through opaque shell companies.
The rule was to take effect on March 21, after months of delays in court. He Bring financial penaltiesPotentially thousands of dollars, for non-compliance.
However, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network – also known as Fincen, which is part of the Treasury – issuing An interim final rule on March 21 free of all American citizens and American companies from the declaration of declaration.
The rule is open to public comments and should be finalized later this year.
“It absolutely makes the waters of the rule”
If he is able, the Fincen rule would be a significant difference in the objective of the law on business transparency and would offer criminals to continue to whiten money through American entities, according to legal experts.
“This is absolutely reduced by the rule,” said Erin Bryan, partner and co -president of the Consumer Financial Services Group in Dorsey & Whitney. “Many screens companies will be exempt from reporting now,” she added.
Some foreign companies that do business in the United States will still have to submit reports, said Fincen.
Fincen estimates that this revised declaration requirement will apply to around 20,000 entities in the first year – considerably reduced compared to 32.6 million entities, including certain companies, limited liability companies and others before estimated be subject to the requirement of declaration during the first year.
Most of the Western world already has such requirements in place, said Bryan.
Fincen refused to comment on this story.
A deregulating push
Potential escape
The declaration requirements remain in force for certain foreign companies that have been trained in another country and are registered to do business in the United States, said Bryan.
However, if these entities had a beneficial owner based in the United States, they are no longer obliged to report information on this person, added Bryan,
“In the world of potential gap societies, it is a small subset with which we are dealing” which must still provide reports on beneficial owners, she said.
Some observers believe that the interim rule would easily allow criminals to judge detection.
“From that day, criminals can escape this national security law by starting and simply managing these front companies in the United States,” said Scott Graytak, director of advocacy for the international transparency of the United States, a coalition against corruption, in a statement.