A group of leading House Republicans are asking Biden administration officials for details on its plan for educating small businesses about their reporting responsibilities pertaining to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) proposed beneficial ownership rule.
“We write today to express our concerns with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) planned rollout to inform reporting companies of their forthcoming obligations to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN. Specifically, we believe that press releases are insufficient to ensure that the approximately 32.6 million small business that will be expected to comply in 2024 understand their upcoming responsibilities,” the Republican lawmakers wrote in a letter to Acting FinCEN Director Himamauli Das and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The letter was signed by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), chair of the House Financial Services Committee; Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), chair of the National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions Subcommittee; Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), chair of the House Committee on Small Business; and Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.
This letter builds on McHenry’s work to ensure beneficial ownership rulemaking adheres to Congressional intent. This would ensure that reporting companies cannot avoid transparency and prevent FinCEN from instituting an overly burdensome compliance regime on small businesses.
“As you know, the impending Beneficial Ownership Information collection rule will go into effect January 1, 2024. It is concerning that with six months until its effective date, FinCEN has yet to lay out a clear plan for engagement. It is highly unlikely that the 32 million small business owners know what FinCEN is, let alone know to look for a press release on FinCEN’s website. As a result, there is a real possibility that these small businesses could be held civilly or criminally liable for noncompliance,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “To that end, we would like to better understand FinCEN’s plans to educate small businesses.”