What is FinCen and How Do I Comply with the New Rules as a Mental Health Private Practice??
Before we dive in… though this may feel like another ridiculous bureaucratic requirement, for most counseling practices it’s not a big deal.
What is FinCen?
FinCEN is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury. It is responsible for collecting and analyzing information about financial transactions to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. The U.S. Beneficial Ownership Information Registry is a national company beneficial ownership registry that will be accessible only by law enforcement, government agencies, and other officials. It requires reporting companies to provide certain identifying information of its beneficial owners and company applicants to FinCEN. Starting January 1, 2024, many companies will be required to report information to the U.S. government about who ultimately owns and controls them . For more information on how to file, exemptions, and FinCEN ID, please visit the official website.
So what’s the new rule effecting (almost) every small business January 1, 2024?
Here’s a link to FinCen’s BOI website for more information.
Effective January 1, 2024, you will be required to report Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) to the federal government. This will require you to disclose specific ownership information about your business unless you’re exempt. For mental health practitioners who own a private practice, that’s most likely NOT YOU and you’ll need to report. See below for additional links on who is required to report.
Here’s a link to the government’s website with additional information on how to report your business information online. Basically, all businesses that are not exempt (which is essentially every counseling practice that operates under a corporation, or LLC) must file the appropriate information with the federal government.
The good news is everything can be completed online and it really doesn’t require that much information. Here’s a link to the SMALL ENTITY COMPLIANCE GUIDE to learn about completing the requirements.
All of this clear as mud??
Not to worry! I’ll be providing additional information on the process of complying with FinCen’s BOI in the near future. I’m going to complete the online process myself and document everything along the way to provide you step-by-step instructions from the perspective of a single member LLC (which is the business structure for many of us in private mental health practice).