Before I get into explaining my experience using the FinCEN website to register one of my existing entities so I could get a feel for what is going on, I want to make sure you understand a recommendation I’m making that has no material benefit to me but should have a huge protection for you. If you do not already have in place good identity theft insurance, you need to get that right away because it’s more likely than ever that your identity will now be exposed. You need to make sure that identity theft insurance covers the family-owned businesses you may operate and control.
I understand that on page 21 of the 22-page bill, Congress set forth requirements regarding the cyber security for FinCEN’s website, and they are saying it has been given the highest non-classified cyber protection possible; but I also know that there is a history of even classified websites in our federal government being hacked by foreign operatives. That information will be stolen some way, somehow. I don’t know when or by whom or how, but I’m preparing for it now, and I recommend you do the same.
Now for my thoughts regarding my first attempt to use the FinCEN website. At the outset, let me say that I’m impressed by the fact that the site was up and working, but I was highly annoyed at the fact that it looks to be a complicated, multi-page process that seeks to collect far more information than was collected by the office of the Secretary of State when I established my LLCs.
What I and other practitioners I’ve talked with have yet to determine is whether certain information can be auto-populated or auto-saved if you get a FinCEN identification number or if you get an applicant identification number. I would hope, at a minimum, that the applicant ID number would apply across all the entities I have and will be forming in the future.
Given that in the latter part of December, the bureaucrats once again changed their positions on one of the regulations giving a new filer 90 days instead of 30 days in which to register an entity formed in 2024, it allows adequate time for us to figure out how this website functions and how to use it correctly before the deadline for getting things submitted for our newly-filed entities. It also gives each of us time to make sure we develop a list of all the entities we have that we believe are “reporting entities” and gather the necessary information such as drivers licenses or passports and current physical addresses for ourselves and any individual who owns the entities with us.
As of the time I’m writing this email, I don’t know if there are any particulars that the website is requiring relative to the quality or size of the photo identification, such as your drivers license or passport. Remember, we are in the early days of this brand new, invasive, and broad legislation, so there will be a lot of learning to do going forward.
