Treasury Permanently Ends Beneficial-Ownership Reporting for U.S. Companies

The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a final rule Aug. 11 permanently eliminating the requirement that U.S. companies and U.S. persons report their beneficial owners under the Corporate Transparency Act, a 2021 law meant to help law enforcement trace shell companies used for money laundering and other illicit finance. The rule took effect immediately upon publication. FinCEN also said it would delete beneficial-ownership data already submitted by U.S. companies from its database. Foreign entities registered to do business in the U.S. must still report their beneficial owners.

The Corporate Transparency Act was created specifically to close the gap that let anonymous shell companies move illicit money through the U.S. financial system. Eliminating the domestic reporting requirement and purging existing records removes a tool federal law enforcement had described as central to tracing that activity, though the administration frames the change as reducing paperwork for small businesses.

The rule is final and already in effect; it makes permanent an exemption Treasury first adopted on an interim basis in March 2025.