On August 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule that removes the requirement for U.S. companies and persons to report beneficial ownership information under the Corporate Transparency Act.
The final rule does not impose any new reporting obligations; rather, it solidifies the exemptions FinCEN created in its March 26, 2025 interim final rule.
Below, Business Law Attorney, Taisha K. Tolliver-Duran, Esq., shares an update on the Corporate Transparency Act and explains how FinCEN’s final rule brings clarity to U.S. companies and persons.
In short, U.S. companies and persons are no longer required to file, update, or correct beneficial ownership information reports under the CTA. The remaining reporting obligations apply only to certain foreign reporting companies, and even those companies need not report information about U.S. beneficial owners or company applicants.
History of Reporting Rules
On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) in an effort to protect national security and combat financial crimes. The CTA amended the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by adding a section that required many businesses to report Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI), while exempting others.
The CTA authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to exempt any other “entity or class of entities” from whom “requiring beneficial ownership information . . . would not serve the public interest” and “would not be highly useful in national security, intelligence, and law enforcement efforts.” Moreover, the BSA permits the Secretary to make exemptions. Together, these provisions allow the creation of regulations establishing additional exemptions. The Secretary of the Treasury delegated this regulatory authority to FinCEN.
On January 1, 2024, FinCEN issued a final rule requiring certain domestic and foreign companies to report information about themselves and their beneficial owners to FinCEN. Litigation followed, challenging the final rule and creating uncertainty regarding its filing requirements.
Then, on March 26, 2025, the Treasury Department issued an interim final rule removing the reporting requirements for domestic reporting companies and U.S. beneficial owners of foreign reporting companies. Now, FinCEN has issued a final rule that makes those modified, interim reporting requirements and exemptions permanent.
2026 Final Rule Eliminates Reporting Obligations for U.S. Companies & Persons
The final rule modifies the BOI reporting requirements “permanently, rather than on an interim basis,” to exempt domestic reporting companies “from any BOI reporting requirements.”
Foreign reporting companies are also exempt from reporting the BOI of any U.S. person who is a beneficial owner or company applicant. Those U.S. beneficial owners and company applicants likewise do not have to provide BOI to their foreign reporting companies.
The final rule also revises the special rule for foreign pooled investment vehicles, which are now exempt from reporting the BOI of an U.S. person who exercises substantial control over the entity.
Finally, no U.S. person will be required to update or correct information previously provided to FinCEN to obtain a FinCEN ID.
Key Takeaways
The final rule clarifies that it “does not impose any new obligations.” Domestic companies—including corporations and limited liability companies—therefore are no longer required to submit BOI reports to FinCEN.
Given that no new obligations are imposed, the final rule took effect immediately upon publication in the Federal Register on August 14, 2026.
