FinCEN will delete all previously reported ownership data
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network finalized the repeal Tuesday, ending a disclosure obligation that had applied to U.S. companies and individuals and had been in force since 2024. FinCEN is the Treasury bureau charged with safeguarding the financial system from money laundering, terrorism financing and other illicit activity, and with supporting national security interests, according to United Press International.
Under FinCEN’s definition, a beneficial owner is a person who directly or indirectly owns at least 25 percent of a company, or who exercises “substantial interest” over it.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent characterized the repeal as “a victory for common sense” and said it eliminates a “burdensome reporting requirement.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., issued a statement Tuesday asserting that the repeal “guts” the Corporate Transparency Act. She called the move a “gift to cartels, criminals and U.S. adversaries that exploit shell companies to move millions through our financial system.”
Warren argued that the Trump administration “has dismissed law enforcement warnings, ignored the role that shell companies play in crimes ranging from drug trafficking to fraud to sanctions evasion and gutted a statue that Secretary Rubio once championed as ‘the most significant anti-corruption and money-laundering law in decades.’” Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted that characterization of the act on social media in December 2020.
The final rule also exempts U.S. citizens who hold FinCEN identification numbers from any obligation to update or correct their filings, and it eliminates the requirement that foreign businesses report U.S. citizens who assisted them in registering to operate in the United States.
Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act in 2021, and the beneficial-ownership reporting requirement took effect in 2024. An interim final rule has been in place since March 2025. The permanent rule Treasury finalized Tuesday removes the obligation entirely.