BOI question

[sjrcpa]

@joshuabarksatlcs So it probably goes along with FATCA compliance or some similar int'l agreement?

[BobKamman]

@PATAX  To repeat my earlier question:

In the words of my political hero Mayor Daley, "what trees do they plant?"  What is your solution to law enforcement trying to police money laundering by the criminal elements who do their best to masquerade as legitimate enterprises?  I can agree that an AK-47 is not the best way to kill cockroaches, but so far no one has suggested a better way.  

[PATAX]

@BobKamman off the top of my head Bob I really don't know. Maybe resort to Draconian measures?

[BobKamman]

@PATAX Well, I do sometimes think about resorting to Drake when I get frustrated with Intuit.  

[PATAX]

@BobKamman yeah you're right Bob. Years ago I went to a drake seminar and received their disk. I was thinking about switching, but if my memory serves me right, I wasn't sure if 990 clients would come forward. I also didn't want to worry about double checking everything, and the learning curve with new software. I think pro series is also much better for business returns.

[joshuabarksatlcs]

@PATAX  To jump or not to jump: If you wanted to be part of the team - let alone being the team leader - you **bleep** well would.

@BobKamman  RE: perfect vs the enemy of good.  Call me a cynic, but I've for a long time conceded that unless greed and thirst for power are removed from the human DNA, there is no perfect solution for many problems.  There are always loopholes to rule of law.  I remember vividly a scene from Criminal Minds, where the wiz Dr. Reed profiled that a young man would definitely become a sadistic sex offender, but the FBI had to release him.  Reed asked the seasoned agent Gideon what if the young man did the crime.  Gideon said, "Then we catch him."   That's as good as our system gets.  I think CTA provisions are useful in that they tag on additional charges against money launderers - when they are charged (as leverage for settlement or investigation of conspirators), or found guilty (for punishment).  Just like gun laws.  Just like tax evasion provisions.  They work squat for prevention.  Only the removal of greed and thirst for power would.  Arguably, if the world was ruled by a benevolent dictator, it would get a lot closer to "perfect".  

[Taxes-by-Rocky]

Just to respond to the question above, CTA does not apply to entities with greater than $5 million in gross receipts, 20 full-time employees and which have a physical office in the US.  Presumably, collusion with 20 or more is not a thing and I guess the landlords are on the hook next.  So we're not really talking about very large entities (or those with a significant amount of assets or funds flow).

On the assumption that these small entities are conducting some form of money laundering or criminal activity that is being funded with (or incentivized by) US currency or crypto, then that currency (whether in paper or electronic form) goes through the US banking system (or fintech equivalent system).  So it seems to me that the end points of the US banking/fintech system are where the risk lies (i.e., the weak link), not from corporate ownership or control of those assets (though that may be helpful information).  That is, ownership of a financial account should be ascertained at the outset, and transaction activity 'could be' effectively reviewed and monitored.  Yes, you could incentivize an evil doer with shares of stock or a profits interest (i.e., something that would never hit the US banking system currently), but eventually, the assets owned by that entity would end up in (or are already in) the US banking system.  If those assets were "non-productive" and not reported (due to the exception above), it's unlikely they would be unproductive or go unreported for long.

On the other hand, if we are concerned about hard currency moving through the 'black market' then no CTA system is going to help you, period.  You would be better off setting up DieBold machines at the banks (or endpoints) to scan and electronically track all US currency as it moves through the system.  The serial number on a dollar bill seems to be the one number in our financial system that isn't subject to being hacked, no one pays attention to, and yet, there it is.  I simply think we are going to spend inordinate amounts of effort tracking bad information on who owns the suitcase that the money was once held in.  And in many states, the "unique identifier" for BOI (the owner of the suitcase) will be less than conclusive to begin with (i.e., garbage in, garbage out).

[HOPE2]

B. 8. Who can file a BOI report on behalf of a reporting company, and what information will be collected on filers?

Anyone whom the reporting company authorizes to act on its behalf—such as an employee, owner, or third-party service provider—may file a BOI report on the reporting company’s behalf. When submitting the BOI report, individual filers should be prepared to provide basic contact information about themselves, including their name and email address or phone number.

[Issued December 12, 2023]

[BobKamman]

@Taxes-by-Rocky   Well, no, that currency is not moving through the US banking system.  As much as one-half of the value of U.S. currency is estimated to be circulating abroad.  Because, for one reason, the banks are already doing a good job of keeping the criminals from having accounts.  Also, the cannabis dealers who operate under our schizophrenic regime of dual sovereignty.  

Was it India that recently recalled all its old currency and replaced it with new currency?  We could try that.  At least the Bitcoin investors would profit.  

[Taxes-by-Rocky]

Require that everyone take all of their existing US currency to a bank within the next 30 days (or forego the value of the currency).  Have the bank scan the currency for its serial number, associate that serial number with its owners SSN or EIN, and then have the bank post-it to a block-chain ledger so there is no dispute over ownership of the currency.  Every retailer would then obtain modified debit/credit card scanning devices which can also scan the serial numbers of US currency.  If you want the ham sandwich at Subway, you're $20 bill must be scanned by Subway and now becomes the property of Subway's EIN on the block-chain ledger.  Currency that was not scanned at the bank has no value.

Certainly, it's not perfect.  But give me more than a weekend to think about it and I'm sure we can do away with the CTA.

[PATAX]

@Taxes-by-Rocky Your quote: "But give me more than the weekend to think about it and I'm sure we can do away with CTA"... don't worry, I got a feeling that once small businesses try to file this nonsense or find out about it, that they are going to start contacting their Federal Representatives and the Boi BS will get delayed again or hopefully rescinded.

[gmohan123]

For FinCEN's BOI reporting:

(a) If it's a single member LLC does that qualify for BOI filing as federally it's not regarded as a legal entity

(b) If it's an LLC Series and tax reporting is done by the parent LLC then only parent LLC need to file BOI?

Thanks

[Username is two words]

I know this kind of an old thread so maybe this "news" is also old, but, the registered agent companies like LegalZoom, Parasec, CT Corp are offering to file the BOI's. Tax1099.com, which I use for 1099s and Federal payroll reports, has a BOI product in the works. 

[PATAX]

@Username is two words thanks for that information. Looks like entities are now going to profit off of this.  But I thought we were told that this was going to be easy for businesses to prepare and that anyone could prepare it? What a joke.

[IRonMaN]

Our official game plan is to let folks know where to find the website.  For those technically challenged - come on down and we will help you get it done.