Submit a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report

Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting is when a company has to provide information about their “beneficial owners”. Beneficial owners are people who own or control the company (directly or indirectly).

Start collecting your owner's info in Gusto for free, then submit the report right from your account.

Use the dropdowns below to learn more. Use CMD + F (or CTRL + F) to search for words in the article. 

Overview of BOI reporting—who has to file, when, how, what's included in the report, and more

The Corporate Transparency Act, which began Jan 1, 2024, requires many companies in the US to share who their beneficial owners are. This helps the government prevent illegal activities by making it harder to hide who really owns a company.

You share this information by filing a BOI report to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)—a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Companies that have to file a BOI report

You need to file if your company is:

  • A domestic corporation, limited liability company (LLC), or another type of company created in the U.S. or registered to do business in the US. 
  • A foreign company registered to do business in any US state or Indian tribe.

Sole proprietorships usually do not need to file unless they registered to do business in the US with a Secretary of State (or similar office).

Exempt businesses

There are 23 types of businesses that do not need to file, like public companies or nonprofits. FinCEN’s Small Entity Compliance Guide has checklists for each of these exemptions to help figure out if a company is exempt.

Answer a few questions in Gusto, and we can help check if you’re exempt.

When the BOI report is due

The filing deadline is based on when your company was legally created or registered to do business in the US.

  • If your company was created before Jan 1, 2024: You have until January 1, 2025, to file.
  • If your company was created in 2024: You have 90 days from when your company was officially created to file.
  • If your company is created after January 1, 2025: You have 30 days from when your company was officially created to file.

You only need to file once, but you must update your report if there are changes to ownership details, like ownership structure or an owner’s address.

How you can file a BOI report

You can file your report on the FinCEN website, or use Gusto’s secure reporting service.

  • Anyone the company authorizes, like an employee, owner, or third-party service, can file the report. The filer is asked to provide basic contact information when filing.

We’ll charge a small fee to help you file, and if we spot ownership changes that need to be updated with FinCEN later, we’ll let you know.

Determine who your beneficial owners are

Beneficial owners have to be real people, not corporations, trusts, or other organizations. There's no limit on how many people can have “substantial control” over a company. 

A beneficial owner is anyone who:

  • Owns or controls at least 25% of the company’s ownership interests, or
  • Has significant control over the company, like a CEO or someone with important decision-making power over the company’s business, finances, or structure. Examples include:
    • Chief Executive Office (CEO)
    • Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
    • Chief Operating Officer (COO)
    • President
    • General Counsel
    • Other Senior Officers
    • An individual with the authority to appoint or remove a senior officer, or a majority of the board of directors.

Go to the FinCen website for more detail about beneficial owners

If you have a unique ownership structure, additional guidance can be found in the BOI Small Entity Compliance Guide.

What needs to be included in the BOI report

For each beneficial owner, you'll need to provide:

  • Full legal name
  • Date of birth
  • Residential address
  • A copy of a valid ID, like a US passport, state driver’s license, or other government-issued ID.

If a beneficial owner does not have any of these documents, a foreign passport may be accepted.

Gusto reporting service FYI

If you use Gusto’s reporting service, we’ll also ask for each owner’s email. Once we have their email, we help you collect and organize their beneficial ownership information, making it easy to review the information in Gusto and submit the report. 

Changes to ownership info after the BOI has been filed

If your company’s ownership information changes, you have 30 days to update your BOI report.

This includes reporting any changes to ownership structure, including:

  • Adding new beneficial owners
  • Removing beneficial owners
  • Changes to existing beneficial owner’s identifying info (ex. home address change)

You can do this on the FinCEN website or through a reporting service like Gusto. We keep your information secure and help you stay compliant.

Gusto reporting service FYI

When you file your BOI report through Gusto, we securely store the information in your account so you can easily update it (and refile it) later.

Request owner info, or let us know if you're exempt or want to file on your own

Gusto can help you file a BOI report, and if we spot ownership changes that need to be updated with FinCEN later, we’ll let you know. We securely store the information in your account so you can easily update it (and refile it) later.

You can start getting the owner's details you'll need for the report in Gusto. If there's a cost to you, you'll only pay after you've approved the owner's information and submitted the report. 

Get your owners' information for the BOI report (or let us know if you're exempt or want to file on your own)

  1. Sign in to your admin profile.
  2. Go to Taxes & Compliance and click Stay compliant
  3. Look for “File your Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report” and click View.
  4. Review the cost to submit (if any) on the right-side of the page, and click File with Gusto.
  5. Choose if your business started before Jan 1, 2024.
  6. Select the team members in Gusto who are the owners of your company.
    • Ownership is as any owner who owns or controls at least 25% of the ownership interests of the company, or has substantial control (e.g., President, CEO, CFO, etc).
  7. Check the box if you have additional owners not listed in Gusto. You'll need to enter some details (name and email) so we can send them a request for the required info.
    • Click + Add another until you've added all owners.
  8. Select what state you formed your business in. 
  9. Click Continue

We’ll email your owners asking them for the information needed for the report.

After all owners have finished submitting their info, you'll get a to-do on your Home page to review their information. 

How owners add their info for the BOI report

Owners will only be asked for BOI report details if an admin requests them.

  1. Owners sign in to their employee profile.
  2. On the Home page, click Let’s do it on the to-do titled “Add required details for company ownership”
  3. Enter or upload:
    • Birthday (if we do not already have it)
    • Home address (if we do not already have it)
    • The type of identification documentation (ID) they want to submit, either:
      • Passport, or;
      • Driver's license
    • Which government agency issued the ID
    • The number on the ID
    • An image of the ID
      • An acceptable ID can be a state driver’s license, a state or local ID, a U.S. passport, or a foreign passport.
        • Foreign passports should only be used if they do not have any of the other options.
      • Pictures must be clear, complete, and show the unique ID number and other details.
      • If the name and ID number are on different sides, upload a picture showing both sides together.
      • Accepted file formats: JPG, JPEG, PNG, or PDF file. The file size cannot be more than 4 MB.
  4. Click Submit.

Once all the other owners at the company have submitted their information, admins can review it.

View submission and report status, edit owners or add info for them, and view report history

To view and manage report details:

  1. Sign in to your admin profile.
  2. Go to Taxes & Compliance and click Stay compliant
  3. Look for “File your Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report” and click View.
  4. Here, you can:
    • View the current report status
    • View and edit owners
    • Add or edit owner info for them
    • View report submission history
Review and submit the BOI report

Once all owners have submitted their details:

  1. Sign in to your admin profile.
  2. From your Home page, click Let’s do it on the to-do titled “Review BOI Reporting Information”.
  3. Click Review and submit to review the owner’s info. 
  4. You can Accept or Reject the details and documents.
    • If you reject: We’ll request that they resubmit and let you know when it’s ready to review.
  5. When all information looks correct, click Submit
    • For Premium customers: Submitting this report is included in your plan.
    • For all other customers: A $49 fee will be added to the invoice for the month the report was submitted in.

You cannot make changes while the report is being reviewed by FinCEN. We’ll let you know when we get a response from FinCEN.

FAQs

Q: My company has a unique ownership structure, who counts as an owner?

A: See above for general guidelines and resources for whom an owner is. If you have a unique ownership structure, additional guidance can be found in the BOI Small Compliance Guide.

Q: An owner cannot find the request, what should we do?

A: Make sure the owner signs in to their employee profile. If they have more than one Gusto profile, they may need to switch between them after signing in to find the right one. Admins can also help add their info for them.

Q: Does Gusto send reminder notifications to owners?

A: When owners get a request for their info, they'll get an email. If they do not finish the task in time, we'll send a reminder in a 'things to do' email. The to-do on the owners' Home page will only be removed after they've uploaded their information.

Q: How long does it take for FinCen to review the report after it's been filed?

A: We're unable to give a definitive timeline—agency turnaround times vary based on volume, etc. We'll let you know as soon as we hear back from them.

Q: My company name on the report is wrong, what do I do?

A: If your legal business name listed in Gusto is wrong, you'll need to send us supporting documentation from agencies before we can help with an update.

Q: How do i fix the error "The report you previously filed with the government doesn’t match the information provided below. Please visit FinCEN to get the correct information, update this report, and resubmit"?

A:

  1. Contact FinCEN to get the report you previously filed.
  2. Find what information from the previous report does not match what's been entered in Gusto.
    • Gusto will not be able to help with this. FinCEN only send us an error, but no additional info about the mismatch.
  3. Update the information in Gusto to match the previous report.
  4. Resubmit.