Loma is live for FinCEN BOI Reporting Q&A!

here is, uh, is a continuation of the one I just got through doing. Um, the last one was mostly— it was about sales tax, Texas sales tax, and also about Texas franchise tax and the new rules that Texas just passed for this starting this year. But for this video, I wanted to go into how the, the FinCEN BOI filing requirement works and what it's about. So, um, I was saying at the end of the last video, but I'll say it again for this one, the BOI report is specifically being required by the federal government. It is federal level. That means every business in every state, basically— this is generally speaking, but basically everybody Small business owners, all of y'all, if you registered your business with your state— and for us, because we're in Texas, every LLC, every corporation, every nonprofit, everybody that registered their company with, uh, the state of Texas, and all the other states have the same requirement— FinCEN, which is like the sister of the IRS, FinCEN is requiring everybody to file an initial report where you, where you tell them who is the owner of the company. And they don't just want to know who the owner of the company is, they want to know who the beneficial owners are. So basically, if there are— if a company has two owners and both of them are benefiting off of it, and I think there's some percentage you got to watch out for, you have to file that BOI report, but it's a one-time report if you— if everything stays the same. So basically, um, it's like, uh, it's like getting a library card. You fill out your information, your name, address, phone number. If everything stays the same and you live in that same, uh, address and your phone number never changes, your name never changes, everything stays the same for, for years to come, you won't have to file another BOI report. But if anything changes, you will. And when I, uh, when I, when I put my YouTube video together for you where I actually show you step by step how to file the BOI report, I'm going to break down a hack that I, I think that everybody should actually do in order to save themselves effort on other filings, because most business owners don't just own one business name, or in their lifetime they'll register more than one business. And every business, regardless of whether or not you've been active in the business or not, are required to file this BOI report. And so because they made it effective for this year, what they've said was that every business that was, that was in existence, that was registered with their state in 2023 and going backwards All of those companies have to file this BOI report, and you have until December 31st, 2024. So by the end of this year, you have to file that report. Now, if anything changes going forward once you filed it, if anything changes from any change that you make in ownership or beneficial owners, address, whatever the, the change is from the information you reported, you're gonna have to file that BOI again, and you'll have 30 days to file that change. Now, the companies that are created, though— anybody that registers their LLC, a new LLC, or a new corporation, or nonprofit, or whatnot— if you registered this year, your deadline is 90 days. You have 90 days to file. Um, actually, yeah, they moved it because it was— they were giving you only 60 days. They moved it to 90 days. And so now you'll have 90 days if you register a new LLC or a new corporation. Those will give you— they'll give you like 90 days to file your BOI in order to be in compliance. And then starting next year starting in 2025. If you start a company in 2025 going forward, in any of those years going forward, you— if, if it's an LLC, a C-Corp, any of those that you register with your state, you have to file the BOI for that company within 30 days. So it's going to be to the extent where when you register your LLC you need to go ahead and file your BOI, and that way you're in compliance. And remember that if anything changes in your situation, just go ahead and file another one. And to me, the best way to do it is to set up the online account because they have two different options for you to be able to file that BOI. You can download the PDF and then fill it out and then upload it, or you can, uh, set up an account online and then file it there with their website. I think it's going to be more efficient and easier just to set up an account online and fill it out online and submit it there. And that way you pretty much got an account already set up. Because honestly speaking, if you're doing business the right way, as you continue to profit in your business, you're going to want to set up more than one entity. And each entity has to— you have to fulfill the responsibilities for that entity. So, um, Ed, you asked if there's a fee for the BOI. There is no fee. It's free to file. It's just— it's a filing requirement that they have, just like— just like there's no fee to file your IRS tax return. Technically, if you know— if you know how to do it or you know what software is to use, you can file it for free. And, and there you go. So it's It is a government-required filing item, and they don't charge a fee for you to do that. But thank you for asking the question, and y'all could keep the questions coming because I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. I don't get a chance to go live very often. This is actually only my second time going live, and I just, you know, I had a few minutes. I was thinking about everybody's tax situations and seeing if maybe I could just jump in and answer some questions for y'all. You're welcome. I appreciate you hopping in. I'm not sure how you got notified about it. I didn't make any announcements or anything. I just kind of just jumped online, um, to see, uh, if there were any questions anybody had. But yeah, like I was saying, on that, that BOI requirement, it, um, now on that one, I will tell you, there, um, the, the other YouTubers I've seen or TikTokers bring up this subject of the filing requirement. They have been basically using a scare tactic, and it's not that this— the, the threat that they're telling you about is not real. It's absolutely real. There's actually a fine and a jailable incident if you don't file like you're supposed to, um, and it, it could be very expensive as far as the actual fines. So I would say because FinCEN is like the sister to the IRS, they are going to be strict about their fees. So if you fail to file in a timely manner, remember, um, you have 30 days if you create a new company starting next year. This year they're being a little bit lenient. You'll have still 90 days to, to report that you've— the— your BOI information to file that form. Um, but anybody that had an older company— and oh, I know that's going to be a little bit hard— but, um, anybody who's been in business for a long time, imagine how many companies you could have possibly set up. Because I know people that have set up like multiple LLCs, right? And they're gonna have to file a BOI for each company, whether they've been you like working the business or not, whether they forgot about it, whatever it is. In fact, one of the other YouTubers, I think he's like a tax attorney, Mark Kohler, he suggested that if you have an LLC that you created like back in the day or whatever that you're just not doing anything with, that it would be— it would make more sense for you to just go ahead and report to the Secretary of State that you're ready to close the business. Just make sure you're in compliance, make sure if you have any comptroller filings you need to do, get those filed. Um, but yeah, he's saying that— he was saying it would be less of a headache for you to just close out any of those accounts that, that you may have opened up in the past that you're not working the business for anymore. But, and, and I would have to say, if you don't imagine you're going to do business in that name again in the future, I guess it does make sense to go ahead and kind of, uh, clean up your books, if you will. So if you have any questions about that, let me know. Um, that part, that process is pretty simple as well if you have Um, I think you would still have to— like closing a company, uh, that you register, like an LLC for example. If you have an LLC and you— it was an old one and you're no longer doing business, but you kind of like— you've been keeping up with your filings, you just keep filing even though you don't have any— anything to necessarily file. Like the franchise tax, uh, report, that one, it was— even though you're not having to pay anything, you're still having to file that no tax return due report. But You would go follow their process for closing the business down so that they can put it in their books that this company is no longer open and doing business. And then you would also go to the Secretary of State's website and let them know so that they can close out your, your, uh, your filing as well, so that nobody is transacting business, which is really a scare. It's possible because you're— when you— once you register with the state to create an LLC or like a corporation or anything like that, your information is public. Your company's information is public, and even the director person's information is public. And I would have to say it's fairly simple for a scammer to go around, um, doing a little digging, and they could possibly go out and put in an application for credit with stores and stuff like that where where maybe the person who's processing the application isn't taking proper care to protect your information or to verify whether or not that person has the authority. That's a big one. I noticed that a lot, a lot of these, a lot of these stores or businesses where, you know, even when you're trying to get like a vehicle and stuff like that, they're very relaxed on verifying whether or not you have the authority to act on that business. Behalf. Meaning, if, say, if, if I were to want to act like I was the owner of another person's company, they don't go looking— like the store or, or any of those creditors, they don't— I haven't noticed they stopped to look up the proper information. I think the bank is pretty strict about looking up that type of stuff. They'll look at the actual original documents, they'll look up on the internet, you know, stuff like that. But Yeah, so that all— to say all of that was just to say, you know, if you have a company you're not using anymore, you got it registered, you might as well get it closed out if you're not using it. I hope that, uh, I hope that was helpful, at least to anybody out there that's listening. Um, I don't know if you have any other questions. If you do have anything else, just let me know. I'm getting ready to shut down this live. Um, is the BOI due on May 15th as well, or only when there's an official change in the structure? Okay, so the BOI is a one-time filing, and the only time you have to file another BOI is if you need to update some information that you originally filed. So you want to keep a copy of what you file so that you can always refer to that and compare whether or not anything has changed for you in order for you to have to file one. Because, you know, if, if nothing changes, you can go years before you actually need to do anything, or Or, you know, eventually if you end up closing your business, then you would file a BOI to let them know that it's closed now. So that would be yet another department that you have to let them know that you closed. As far as the actual due date, so it, it's based on when your company was formed, when you registered with the Secretary of State. So if you registered in 2023 or before, like years ago, anything from 2023 going backwards, that return, the BOI report, the first one, is due by the end of this year, December 31st. Now, if you created a new LLC or C-Corp, if you registered a company with the state of Texas this year in 2024, you had 90 days. You have or had, depending on when you, when you started that company, when you registered, that BOI report is due within 90 days. And from the time that, that they officially put that you were recognized as being a valid company registered with the state. I hope that wasn't lightning. It's been a lot of lightning today. But yeah, so if you register a brand new company this year only, you have 90 days. If you— once, once this year is up Starting next year, any company, any new company that registers in 2025 and going forward, you only have 30 days. So make sure that you do what you're supposed to do as far as your filing. Like, your checklist should include registering with the State of Texas. You should also be registering with— well, the Comptroller will automatically get your registration there, uh, at least for your franchise tax return. And Then if you're selling product where you need to charge sales tax, you'll register for a permit with the, with the state. And then in addition to those filings, you also need to register your— or turn in your BOI report. That way you'll be in compliance already for your business. But if you put that all kind of together, you'll make sure that you don't miss that step. In fact, I I heard, uh, I heard that it's possible that the banks, like when you're opening new accounts, they might actually ask for your BOI report as a way to validate that you're the owner of the company. When you come in with your, like, your stack of paperwork, you come in with your, your, um, your registration paperwork for the LLC and, um, anything that, that, like your EIN and all of that, all that paperwork that the bank asks for when you open a new account. I heard that they might also start asking for that BOI report in addition to that, just to also validate what they have in their books, because— and that's a smart thing to do to make sure that all the information matches. But yeah, that's, that's something to think about. So it's, it's, it's a new addition to the filing requirements for Texas business owners, so it's definitely something that y'all need to pay attention to. I will be posting a video very soon on that because I've had my eye on, you know, the requirements since last year, but they also made changes. Like, at first it wasn't 90 days. They had changed. They had had it at 60 days, but they gave everybody— I guess they're getting feedback that they need a little bit more time to make sure everybody's in compliance. But the biggest thing is, if you set up your company in 2023 or before, just make sure you get this BOI filed before the end of the year. I don't think it's a big scary thing, but at the same time, like I said, since they are a sister to the IRS, you're going to want to make sure that you're filing your tax returns correctly as well, your actual income tax returns. And with Texas, since we don't— Texas doesn't charge income tax within Texas, you do still have that federal tax return you have to worry about. So just make sure you're keeping good bookkeeping because that's where everything starts. Um, if there's nothing else, I guess I'll say good night to you guys, and I appreciate you popping in for me. Um, if you have any other questions, you can always post to, to put to this video in the comments, because I do, I do answer all my comments. So even if the video is ending, I'll still be— I'll still have some questions I'm open to answering later. But you have a good rest of your evening, and I appreciate your questions tonight, Ed. Bye-bye.