Beneficial ownership information report
In accounting, beneficial ownership information report means the report of a company's beneficial owners to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act. Since the March 2025 interim final rule and the final rule effective August 14, 2026, companies created in the United States and US persons are exempt; only entities formed under foreign law and registered to do business in a US state still report.
Also called BOI report.
Authority: FinCEN — BOI (opens in a new tab). Sources
The lessons that teach this
From the free founder back-office course, taught on one company's books, with exercises to work it yourself.
For founders
The same idea written for a founder: what it costs a startup that ignores it, and what to do in a real month.
- Startup tax deadlines by month for a C-corpFederal tax deadlines for a calendar-year C-corp, month by month: W-2s, 1099s, Form 941, Form 1120, estimated taxes and Delaware franchise tax.
- First-year compliance calendar for a Delaware C-corpDelaware franchise tax, 1099s, the federal return, payroll filings, state annual reports and sales tax: the deadlines a young C-corp misses most, by month.
What it is not called
Each of these means something else. Use one here and an accountant reading the product notices.
- cap table
- KYC (a bank's own check)
Also in Entity & compliance
Defined in Lexicon. This page is generated from that document, so the two can't disagree.