Corporate Transparency Act for Authors Part 2: A Quick FAQ

One of the biggest questions I've gotten so far in response to my first post about the CTA is "Who will be able to see this information?"

First, if you're here and have no clue what I'm talking about, head back to this post that explains these new requirements for registered businesses in the US (including us authors if we're registered as LLCs or corporations). 

And to remind everyone: my experience is as a regulatory compliance analyst. I know what I'm talking about but I'm not a lawyer and I'm definitely not your lawyer. If you have questions beyond the publicly available information that I've been pleased as punch to help decipher, you should consult a business lawyer in your state.

The Dept of the Treasury has an extensive FAQ that I encourage you to review, but in short, anyone who wants to access your BOI will need to present a compelling reason through various applicable government agencies, and receive your permission. 

The full answer you're looking for:

FinCEN will protect beneficial ownership information. 

FinCEN will permit Federal, State, local, and Tribal officials, as well as certain foreign officials who submit a request through a U.S. Federal government agency, to obtain beneficial ownership information for authorized activities related to national security, intelligence, and law enforcement.

Financial institutions will also have access to beneficial ownership information in certain circumstances, with the consent of the reporting company. Those financial institutions’ regulators will also have access to beneficial ownership information when they supervise the financial institutions.

FinCEN is developing the rules that will govern access to and handling of beneficial ownership information. Beneficial ownership information reported to FinCEN will be stored in a secure, non-public database using rigorous information security methods and controls typically used in the Federal government to protect non-classified yet sensitive information systems at the highest security level.

FinCEN will work closely with those authorized to access beneficial ownership information to ensure that they understand their roles and responsibilities to ensure that the reported information is used only for authorized purposes and handled in a way that protects its security and confidentiality.

I know that will still not be enough information for some, and in that case, I encourage you to contact FinCEN with further questions.

Now, stay tuned for a walkthrough of the actual filing process! I'll be getting to that here in the next few weeks.