Conversations with TED: The Corporate Transparency Act

In this episode of Conversations with TED, we address the importance of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Adopted in December of 2020 shortly after the election, the Corporate Transparency Act came into law without much attention but with great impact.  

The Corporate Transparency Act is an attempt by the government to collect more information about private companies in order to fight money laundering. We walk through scenarios and public filing requirements in Europe, noting the lack of such a public registry in the United States. The Corporate Transparency Act seeks to change that status and effectively kill corporate anonymity and affects corporations, limited partnerships, LLCs and general partnerships.   

The discussion highlights new federal requirements that include listing every company applicant and beneficial owners. For each of those individuals, you need to provide personally identifiable information for each with full legal name, DOB, home address and unique ID number and image of file. While the law exists, no one can file a report until FinCEN finalizes its regulations. Once in effect, every company that exists before FinCEN takes effect will have one year to complete the report. Any company formed after the effective date of regulation has 14 calendar days to complete the report.