FinCEN Permanently Scraps Ownership Reporting for U.S. Firms

The Corporate Transparency Act required many companies from Jan. 1, 2024, to disclose their beneficial owners to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. The registry covered individuals owning at least 25% of a company or exercising substantial control, giving law enforcement a central tool for tracing shell companies, money laundering and illicit finance. The regime was billed as a major upgrade to U.S. anti-money-laundering safeguards, but businesses and privacy advocates criticized its cost and reporting burden.

FinCEN on Aug. 11, 2026, finalized a permanent exemption for roughly 33 million U.S.-formed companies and U.S. persons, cementing an interim rule issued on March 26, 2025. Foreign entities registered to do business in the United States must still report non-U.S. beneficial owners, while information tied to exempt U.S. persons will be deleted from FinCEN’s database. The change sharply reduces compliance work for domestic businesses but removes ownership records that investigators had expected to use in financial-crime cases.