FinCEN Permanently Ends Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements

On August 11, 2026, the US. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule that permanently removes the requirement for U.S. companies and persons to report beneficial ownership information to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act. FinCEN also announced that it will delete information previously reported by U.S. persons–now exempt from the reporting requirements–from the beneficial ownership information database.

Under the final rule, foreign entities that are reporting companies will still be required to report beneficial ownership information for foreign individuals.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following questions and answers were published by FinCEN here. Below are the first few entries.

1. What are the key changes between the interim final rule (IFR) and the final rule?

The final rule adopts all of the changes made on an interim basis by the IFR as permanent changes to the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements. Most notably, the final rule permanently removes the requirement for U.S. companies and U.S. persons to report BOI to FinCEN.

In addition, the final rule makes two substantive changes that expand on the relief the IFR extended relating to U.S. persons.

• It exempts foreign companies from the requirement to report U.S. person “company applicants” (i.e., the individuals who helped those foreign companies register to do business in the United States).
• It exempts U.S. persons who have applied for FinCEN identifiers (FinCEN IDs) from having to update or correct the information they provided to FinCEN when they applied.

2. What is beneficial ownership information?

Beneficial ownership information (BOI) refers to identifying information about the individuals who directly or indirectly own or control a company.

3. Who is still required to report BOI under the final rule?

“Reporting companies” under the revised reporting requirements include only those entities that are formed under the law of a foreign country and have registered to do business in any U.S. State or Tribal jurisdiction by the filing of a document with a secretary of state or similar office.

There are multiple types of entities that are exempt from the reporting requirements. Foreign entities potentially falling under the definition of “reporting company” should carefully review the qualifying criteria before concluding whether the foreign company must report BOI.

If you have any questions about this new final rule from FinCEN, please contact us. Further resources on this topic are linked below.

Treasury Press Release
Final Rule
Frequently Asked Questions